Rick The Model Martel vs. Jake The Snake Roberts (Oct 1990 – Mar 1991)

Background

Jake Roberts was known for his cerebral promos, dark charisma, psychology, and the DDT, and he carried a python named Damien to the ring in a bag.[1] In 1990 he came out of a feud with Ted DiBiase over the Million Dollar Championship. On Superstars in January 1990, he dared DiBiase to reach into his snake bag to get the belt back, showing off Damien's "big brother," Lucifer.[3] After a brief feud with Bad News Brown that summer, he was free for a new program.[1] The Wrestling Observer reported at the time that with Bad News Brown gone, the Arrogance angle was put together to set up the Martel feud as his replacement.[18]

Rick Martel, from Quebec City, debuted at seventeen when his brother Michel asked him to replace an injured wrestler.[2] He beat Jumbo Tsuruta for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on May 13, 1984, and held it for nearly nineteen months, the longest AWA title reign of the 1980s.[2] In the WWF he teamed with Tito Santana as Strike Force, and at WrestleMania V in 1989 he walked out on Santana against the Brain Busters.[2]

Martel has said he pitched the heel turn himself because he felt he had done everything he could as a babyface. Vince McMahon "almost laughed him out of the room" and wasn't keen, then changed his mind.[4] McMahon and J.J. Dillon came up with the name "The Model." Martel wasn't sold at first, but his wife's view was, "At least it's not the Red Rooster!"[4] He wore a turquoise sweater tied around his neck and a big lapel pin reading "Yes, I am a model."[2][5]

The prop that started this feud came next. On the Brother Love Show at a January 1990 Superstars taping, Martel unveiled a large atomizer of his own cologne, Arrogance, calling it "the fragrance of the 90s."[3] He used it as a weapon all year. Dusty Rhodes won a disqualification over him in January 1990 after Martel sprayed him, and on the April 16 Prime Time Martel pinned his old partner Santana after spraying him in the eyes.[3] He even sprayed Roberts at a Honolulu house show that April.[3]

Martel loved being a heel, he said, because a heel had "much more creativity and freedom."[4]

Build-up

The feud started on the Brother Love Show, taped September 18 in Toledo and aired on the October 6, 1990 Superstars.[3][6] Martel was about to spray Damien's bag with Arrogance when Roberts stopped him, and Martel sprayed Roberts in the eyes instead. Big Bossman and several officials came out to help, and Bossman threw a cup of water in Roberts' eyes.[3] The next week's shows replayed the footage along with Roberts being treated, and Martel apologized, saying he didn't do it on purpose.[3]

Roberts played the injury for months, appearing in dark sunglasses and carrying a cane.[7] On the October 27 Superstars, Martel came onto the Brother Love Show with a walking stick as a gift for the blinded Roberts. Roberts came out led by Tony Garea, and Martel teased and slapped him before officials led Martel away. Roberts swung at the nearest man and hit the DDT on Brother Love, thinking he was Martel, and in the scuffle his glasses fell off to show his injured left eye.[3] Martel also used the word "human-an-tarium" to describe his charitable nature, and McMahon called the character "a creep."[7]

Roberts kept blundering into the wrong man. At an October 10 Wrestling Challenge taping, he came to the ring during Martel's match with Santana and attacked Santana by mistake, giving Martel a disqualification win. Santana handed him a microphone, and Roberts promised he would get Martel in time.[3] On a November 24 house show in Detroit, Martel rubbed something into Roberts' eyes and Roberts DDT'd the referee, thinking it was Martel.[3]

The October 9 Superstars taping had already set up Survivor Series: Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, and the Rockers against Martel, the Warlord, Paul Roma, and Hercules.[3] At Survivor Series on November 22 at the Hartford Civic Center, in front of 16,000, the Warlord pinned Marty Jannetty, Martel pinned Snuka by grabbing the tights, and Roma pinned Shawn Michaels.[3] Roberts hit the DDT on the Warlord, then went after Martel when Martel tried to spray him again, and chased him to the back with Damien. He was counted out, and Martel's team won without losing anyone.[3] Dave Meltzer rated it three and a quarter stars, felt it was mostly a showcase for the Rockers, and thought the finish was lame.[19]

At the Royal Rumble on January 19, 1991, in Miami, Martel entered sixth and Roberts ninth. At 27:12, Martel, standing on the apron, snapmared Roberts over the top rope and out.[8] Martel lasted 52 minutes in the match, and Meltzer took it as some kind of punishment.[21] Around the same time, the Observer reported that Roberts already wanted to turn heel once the Martel feud was over, seeing where the opportunities were.[20]

The feud was a house show staple that winter. Through February 1991, Roberts and Martel worked nearly every night, from Sacramento, Oakland, and San Diego to Edmonton, Calgary, Dallas, and Montreal. Early in the run Roberts mostly won by disqualification, and later he pinned Martel with the DDT.[8]

The blindfold match was announced for WrestleMania VII at a Superstars taping in early January.[8] Martel was hesitant about it. He has said they tried it first and he couldn't see through the hood, but Roberts told him to hang with it and it went fine.[4] Martel's account places that test run in Florida, and the records back him up: Roberts pinned Martel in a blindfold match at a February 19, 1991 Wrestling Challenge taping in Fort Myers.[8] It wasn't the first one. WWE's own archive has a January 29 blindfold dark match in Savannah, Georgia, where Roberts pinned Martel with the DDT at 8:46 after Martel took off his own blindfold late and attacked him.[8][12]

The Matches

WrestleMania VII was held on March 24, 1991, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. It had been planned for the Coliseum next door, which holds more than 100,000.[10] With the Gulf War raising security concerns, and with only about 14,000 tickets sold less than two months out, sales were halted in early February and the show moved next door.[10] "There was a short window before the event, and we really didn't know what kind of run-up we would get at that point, so they asked about moving the event next door to the Sports Arena," Coliseum general manager Joe Furin said.[10] The WWF announced 16,158; Dave Meltzer reported the paid crowd at about 10,500.[10][9]

The Observer covered the money in detail at the time. The show had been budgeted to make $4 million at the Coliseum, and the gate at the Sports Arena would be closer to $1 million, even as McMahon called it the fastest sellout in history.[24] Three weeks out, the Observer reported a gate of $975,000 on 15,000 tickets, which would make it the smallest WrestleMania crowd yet.[25] About 3,000 tickets were still unaccounted for until hours before the show and had to be given away.[22] The buyrate turned into its own fight: Turner Home Entertainment said 2.8, the WWF insisted it was at least 3.5, and people inside the company were saying the 2.8 was real.[26]

The pay-per-view ran a video package on the feud and a pre-taped Roberts promo before the match.[8] Both men wore hoods for the entire match.[7] Roberts has said the idea was "genius" because it made the fans part of the match.[11]

The match itself was mostly the two men feeling their way around the ring, reaching for each other and stumbling.[7] Roberts finally found Martel, hit the DDT, and pinned him at 8:33.[8] Meltzer, who had the match at 8:43, said that given they had to pretend to be blind it was OK, but as a wrestling match "this would have been negative as many stars as there are in the Texas sky." He also noted the ring lights were so bright it was obvious both men could see through the hoods, which hurt the effect in the building. He rated it a DUD.[22]

Afterward Roberts stomped on Martel's atomizer, then took Damien out of the bag, and the unhooded Martel ran from the ring when the snake touched him.[8][15]

Roberts has called blindfold matches "the easiest money I ever made." Of the crowd shouting directions, he said, "You can't ask for anything more, really can't man," and he has said fans still tell him they were yelling at their televisions.[11]

Aftermath

Roberts went from Martel into a program with Earthquake, who "squashed" Damien with two Earthquake splashes on the April 27, 1991 Superstars. In reality the bag held hamburger meat and a small mechanical device to make it move.[1] The Observer counted the Damien "killing" among several hotshot angles at those TV tapings, run even though house show gates were up.[27] After that came a slow heel turn. In the summer of 1991, a series of vignettes had The Ultimate Warrior turning to Roberts for help against The Undertaker. In the final one, Warrior opened a chest and was bitten by a king cobra, and Roberts revealed he had been working with The Undertaker and Paul Bearer all along: "I'm a snake."[1] After SummerSlam he moved into a feud with Randy Savage, which began when Miss Elizabeth opened a wedding gift at the post-SummerSlam reception and found a live cobra inside.[1]

He lost to The Undertaker at WrestleMania VIII in April 1992, and it was his last WWF match for nearly four years.[1] His only WCW pay-per-view match came against Sting at Halloween Havoc in 1992.[1] He came back to the WWF from 1996 to 1997.[1]

Martel stayed in the upper midcard. Tatanka pinned him at WrestleMania VIII, he feuded with Shawn Michaels over Sensational Sherri in the summer of 1992, and he challenged Bret Hart for the Intercontinental title at UK Rampage that year. He also made the final four of the 1993 Royal Rumble.[2] In 1997 he went back to Canada to team with Don Callis as the Supermodels, feuding with Edge and Christian before they reached the WWF.[2]

In WCW, Martel feuded with Booker T over the Television Championship, lost at Souled Out in January 1998, and won the title on the February 16 Nitro. In the rematch at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, he landed badly on a throw and hurt his leg on the ropes, which cut his comeback short.[2]

Behind the Scenes

Martel took to the heel side. His explanation was that a heel could say what a department store clerk never could to an irate customer, which gave him "much more creativity and freedom" than he'd had as a babyface.[4] Even so, he said there was never any discussion of him getting a run against Hulk Hogan at the top of the card.[4]

Martel and Roberts got along. In a shoot interview, Martel said he "very much admires" Roberts and compared his ring psychology to King Curtis Iaukea's.[4] He credited Roberts with talking him through his doubts about the blindfold match after the hood test went badly.[4] Roberts, for his part, was already thinking past the feud. By January the Observer was reporting that he wanted to turn heel as soon as the Martel program ended, and within months he had.[20][1]

Martel was going through something else at the time. His sister died in 1991 after a long illness, a few weeks before WrestleMania VII. The Observer's review of a February 23 house show at Arizona State, one the WWF stretched from 7:00 to 11:30 the night before WCW's pay-per-view in the same area, where Roberts pinned Martel in 13:47, noted that Martel's sister had died earlier that day and that he could be forgiven for being distracted. Meltzer called the match little more than a chinlock, saved somewhat by Roberts' ring psychology.[23][8] He was deeply depressed and gave his notice, and the blindfold match came, as the interview recap put it, when he "had one foot out the door."[4] He also had outside interests. He got into real estate in 1990, and he said McMahon could see his priorities had changed and held no resentment about it.[4]

Nobody inside the WWF was celebrating the show itself. The week after WrestleMania VII, the Observer reported that everyone was simply relieved the show was over and they could move on.[22]

Roberts was carrying far more. His father, Grizzly Smith, raped a 12-year-old girl who became Roberts' mother. Roberts was abused as a child, lost the grandmother who raised him to cancer, and lived through a stepfather's electrocution, a stepmother's sexual abuse, and his sister's kidnapping and murder.[13] He lived with his grandmother until she died in 1966, and then had to move back in with his father.[1] He fought alcohol, pills, and cocaine for decades.[13]

The turnaround came in 2012, when Roberts moved in with Diamond Dallas Page, who was helping wrestlers get sober through DDP Yoga.[13][14] "When I'd screw up, he'd sit me down, we'd have a talk and we'd work through it," Roberts said. "A year and a half he gave me, and he never complained about it."[14] Page told him he'd never give up on him as long as Roberts didn't give up on himself.[13] The documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake followed his recovery and reached theaters in 2015.[13]

Legacy

The blindfold match splits people. WrestleCrap called it "awful," with the two men stumbling around the ring and "no real action whatsoever," and argued "the WWF knew it was awful because they never tried it again."[7] Other reviewers have been kinder. One called it "an absolute hoot" and "a DUD wrestling match in terms of movesets" but "a blast as pure entertainment."[15] Another wrote that it "wasn't really a wrestling match and more an elaborate pantomime taking place in a wrestling ring," adding, "I didn't hate it though."[16]

Roberts, for his part, has always defended it for the way it pulled the crowd in: "You can't ask for anything more."[11]

The critics and the participants have never agreed on it. Meltzer rated the WrestleMania match a DUD in 1991. Roberts, more than thirty years later, called it the easiest money he ever made.[22][11] The feud's best-reviewed match in the Observer was the Survivor Series elimination match, at three and a quarter stars, and even that was carried by the Rockers.[19]

WWE has since put the January 1991 blindfold dark match from Savannah on its official WWE Vault channel.[12]

WWE did try the format again. On the November 18, 2020 NXT, Dexter Lumis and Cameron Grimes had a blindfold match that ended in a no contest when a blindfolded Grimes hit the referee, then fled once Lumis pulled off his own blindfold.[17]

Roberts was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014 in New Orleans, about a year and a half after moving in with Page, and signed a legends deal with WWE afterward.[14][1] In March 2020 he turned up on AEW Dynamite, warning Cody that he had a "client" on the way.[1]

See Also

Sources & Further Listening

1. Jake Roberts — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Roberts
2. Rick Martel — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Martel
3. WWF 1990 results (TV tapings, house shows, and pay-per-views) — The History of WWE. http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/90.htm
4. Dave Newman, recap of the RF Video shoot interview with Rick Martel — Scott's Blog of Doom, May 7, 2022. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2022/05/07/rf-video-shoot-interview-with-rick-martel/
5. "The Model Rick Martel" — WrestleCrap. https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-model-rick-martel/
6. "Rick 'The Model' Martel sprays Arrogance in the eyes of Jake 'The Snake' Roberts: Superstars, October 6, 1990" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/videos/rick-the-model-martel-sprays-arrogance-in-the-eyes-on-jake-the-snake-roberts-superstars-october-6-1990
7. "Rick Martel vs. Jake Roberts Blindfold Match" — WrestleCrap. https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/rick-martel-vs-jake-roberts-blindfold-match/
8. WWF 1991 results (TV tapings, house shows, and pay-per-views) — The History of WWE. http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/91.htm
9. WrestleMania VII — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_VII
10. Arash Markazi, "The story of WWE's attempt to fill the LA Coliseum for WrestleMania VII" — ESPN, March 29, 2018. https://www.espn.com/wwe/story/_/id/22956778/wwe-story-wwe-attempt-fill-la-coliseum-wrestlemania-vii
11. Dakota Cohen, "Blindfold matches were the easiest money Jake Roberts ever made" — Wrestling Inc., March 28, 2023 (Roberts podcast interview on The Ten Count). https://www.wrestlinginc.com/1239165/blindfold-matches-were-the-easiest-money-jake-roberts-ever-made/
12. "FULL MATCH: Roberts vs. Martel in pre-WrestleMania Blindfold Match: From the WWE Vault" — WWE Vault (WWE's official YouTube channel). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0KCbXOJLz8
13. Justin Barrasso, "Jake 'The Snake' Roberts film delivers sad tale with happy ending" — Sports Illustrated, September 23, 2015. https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2015/09/23/jake-snake-roberts-documentary-dallas-page-scott-hall
14. "Exclusive: Jake Roberts and DDP discuss The Snake's WWE Hall of Fame journey" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/classics/wwe-hall-of-fame/jake-roberts-diamond-dallas-page-wwe-hall-of-fame
15. "Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel (WWF, 3-24-1991)" — Tape Machines Are Rolling. https://tapemachinesarerolling.wordpress.com/2018/04/02/jake-roberts-vs-rick-martel-wwf-3-24-1991/
16. "Mike Reviews: WWF WrestleMania VII" — Scott's Blog of Doom, March 11, 2023. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2023/03/11/mike-reviews-wwf-wrestlemania-vii/
17. "WWE NXT results, Nov. 18, 2020" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwenxt/2020-11-18/article/wwe-nxt-results-nov-18-2020
18. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, October 1, 1990 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–10.01.90," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/03/wrestling-observer-flashback-10-01-90/
19. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, December 3, 1990 (Survivor Series review) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–12.03.90," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/16/wrestling-observer-flashback-12-03-90/
20. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, January 21, 1991 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–01.21.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/24/wrestling-observer-flashback-01-21-91/
21. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, January 28, 1991 (Royal Rumble review) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–01.28.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/26/wrestling-observer-flashback-01-28-91/
22. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, April 3, 1991 (WrestleMania VII review) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.03.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/08/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-03-91
23. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, March 4, 1991 (Tempe house show review) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.04.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/01/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-04-91/
24. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, February 25, 1991 (WrestleMania VII venue change) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–02.25.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/11/30/wrestling-observer-flashback-02-25-91/
25. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, March 11, 1991 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–03.11.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/03/wrestling-observer-flashback-03-11-91/
26. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, April 15, 1991 (WrestleMania VII buyrate) — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.15.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/10/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-15-91/
27. Wrestling Observer Newsletter, April 8, 1991 — issue recap, "Wrestling Observer Flashback–04.08.91," Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2016/12/09/wrestling-observer-flashback-04-08-91/

Further Listening

• Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard — WrestleMania VII episode
• RF Video Shoot Interview with Rick Martel — covers the Model gimmick, the blindfold match test run, and his relationship with Roberts
• The Resurrection of Jake the Snake (2015 documentary) — Roberts' recovery from addiction with DDP's help
• Dark Side of the Ring S3E6: "In the Shadow of Grizzly Smith" — Roberts' family history and childhood trauma