10 Things You Didn't Know About The Honky Tonk Man
4. He Was Only Supposed To Be A Transitional Champion
During that time, the Honky Tonk Man had been feuding with Jake 'The Snake' Roberts, and the plans were for him to drop the belt to Damian-wrangling superstar. However, a persistent back injury put paid to that idea, one in fact caused by the Honky Tonk Man himself. During an edition of Robert's regular interview-segment, 'The Snake Pit', the Honky Tony Man cracked Jake across the side of the head with his guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwEQ7bMpx-k However, the guitar was either not properly rigged to break, or was an actual unrigged guitar, because this stiff shot caused persistent neck and back injuries in Jake The Snake, on which Roberts has gone on recording as blaming for his subsequent addiction to painkillers. The plan was initially for Roberts to take the belt off The Honky Tonk Man, but his recurring injuries put paid to the idea and the strap stayed with the Shake Rattle and Roller. Then, the fans began responding to the Honky Tonk Man's title reign in a big way and he was allowed to run and run and run with it. The intentional DQs, countouts and assorted skullduggeries the champion used to cling to his precious gold had audience lining up around the block, because they wanted to see The Pompous Presley finally lose the title. I knew how to make them want me to lose it. I knew the key words to say, I knew how to put the matches together with everyone. The end result would be the fans would go away from there going Gosh darnit, I coulda beat him myself! That brought the prestige to that title.
