Jake Roberts had a memorable feud with Andre the Giant over the latter’s on-screen fear of snakes, and he recalled a great story about Andre getting bit once. Roberts was a guest on the The Paradox of Sports and was asked about the feud, acknowledging that Andre wasn’t actually scared of snakes and recalling how the late Hall of Famer once got two fangs broken off in his shoulder. He also talked about his various snakes over the years and a serious injury he suffered from a snake bite; you can check out the highlights below:
On if Andre was scared of the snakes: “Hell no! No, Andre wasn’t afraid of anything, man. He did a phenomenal job in making people believe he was afraid. Hell, one night the snake broke two fangs off of his shoulder, and he didn’t even know it. And I went back to the locker room because the snake had bit me too, and I didn’t even want to go in the locker room because I’m afraid he’s gonna kick my ass. Because I knew the snake had bit him. And I walk into the locker room like, ‘Andre, you okay?’ ‘Oh, well yeah, why? No problems.’ And Rick Rude walked up behind him, Andre he was sitting down. He goes, ‘Hey boss, look at this!’ And he grabbed, and he pulled the fangs out of his shoulder. ‘Look at that! There’s a fang that broke off in his shoulder!’ Andre laughed and said, “Oh, snake must be hungry.’ And that’s all he said. He didn’t get mad, he didn’t want help, he didn’t need a damn Band-Aid. ‘Hell, it’ll quit bleeding after a while, don’t worry about it.’ That was it, and I was glad too.”
On his various snakes outside of Damien: “Oh man, the cobra was my favorite. I named the Cobra ‘SOB.’ And that’s not son of a gun, because it doesn’t doesn’t work. But he’s son of a bitch. And a couple of the other ones had different names I don’t even want to say. I called one of them Lucy, Lucifer. Lucy, that’s what I called her though. She was badass too, she got me for I think 36 stitches in my arm. Yeah, that was a nice night. Couldn’t stop the bleeding, had to go to the hospital. Get a get a vein cauterized on the inside of my elbow. Yeah, it was really messy man, but you know.
“Those damn things, think about what their life is like, man. They sit around in a hotel room inside a bag, or outside breaking stuff off the walls and stuff. Then you put them in a bag, you take them to an arena, and you carry them down to the ring. You toss them up on the ring apron and leave him there. And then all of a sudden, out of the darkness he’s shoved into the bright light and all this noise. You know, that’s where they pick up their data man, for their brains. And they figure out what the hell they’re going to do. And then you go up, grab it, and you put it on somebody who’s thrashing around, flailing around, falling down, landing on it. Yeah, you’re going to get bit sooner or later. And there were a few guys that got bit, bite just happened, but the only one that was on purpose was of course was Macho Man. That cobra bit him man, and it was awesome. He wouldn’t let go. That’s my favorite moment of all-time.”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Paradox of Sports with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
