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After Ultimate Warrior won the WWE Championship from Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 6, the company started to line up challengers for his title. Much like Hulk Hogan before him, WWE used the system to build up heels and then have the champion withstand their attacks and eventually put them down. There were several options for Warrior at the time, but few wrestlers were bigger in WWE than Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He had gotten over with the fans as both a heel and babyface, but he hadn't had a chance to work a world title feud in the company.

Sadly, WWE waited to put Jake into a feud with the Warrior until after he lost his world title. They then even pulled the rug out from under Jake, and by the time all was said and done, The Ultimate Warrior had left WWE, the feud died before it got started, and many fans scratched their heads wondering why. It could have been a big money feud. However, as Roberts has explained in the years since, the implosion of the feud was not his fault. Not only that, but he said it also cost him millions of dollars.

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Jake The Snake Roberts And Ultimate Warrior

Jake "The Snake" Roberts had already built a solid fanbase before he arrived in WWE. He worked mostly in Mid-South Wrestling, and it was there that he developed his persona as a slimy heel who would do anything to win. However, his attitude and charisma made him someone that fans enjoyed watching, making it hard for him to remain a heel for long stretches of time. That was also true when he arrived in WWE. The company decided to gimmick Jake up when he signed with the company. WWE took his nickname and gave him a gimmick where he carried a snake to the ring and put it over his defeated opponents after knocking them out with his DDT finishing move.

Once again though, fans started to cheer for Jake in his matches. This resulted in him losing a chance to possibly make millions of dollars in a major feud with former champion Hulk Hogan. According to reports, when Jake and Hogan fought at a house show to prepare for the feud, fans were chanting for Roberts. This scared both Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan, knowing that the champion was their money machine. The feud ended up being canceled before it started. The only sin was that Jake Roberts was too popular. When it came time to take the title off Hogan and put it on Warrior, WWE started to create monster challengers for him. Sadly, for Jake, his time came too late, and then it all fell apart.

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The Ultimate Warrior's Ego Destroyed His Feud With Jake Roberts

Jake Roberts with Ultimate Warrior

In an episode of his DDP’s Snake Pit podcast, Jake Roberts remembered how this feud began. Jake said that Blackjack Lanza told him that Vince McMahon wanted to talk to him. When he showed up, Vince said that he felt Jake was ready to move into a feud with "the champ." When Jake asked if he was getting to feud with Ultimate Warrior, Vince told him that it wasn't that easy. Vince said that Jake had to go talk to Warrior and asked him if he would work with him. Warrior was getting hard to work with at that time in WWE. Jake had to convince Warrior that they should feud with each other. The Warrior agreed to it, but Jake said the champion said he didn't care about Jake and that the Snake better never be late or miss any shots. It was clear Jake's memories were fuzzy because Warrior wasn't the champion at this time, but it was still a feud that fans were excited about.

Jake and The Warrior had some amazing moments leading into the feud. Things really started after Jake "The Snake" Roberts turned heel again. Warrior was feuding with The Undertaker, and he knew that he needed to get dark to compete with the Dead Man. He asked Jake for help. This led to a series of vignettes where Jake put Warrior through various tests, basically torturing the champion every step of the way. By the time Warrior was beaten and bruised, Jake sprung the truth on him that he was the one behind the Undertaker attack, and he was the one wanting the opportunity to fight him at WrestleMania, but it never happened.

The story of why is famous, with Ultimate Warrior holding up Vince McMahon at SummerSlam, demanding more money. McMahon reportedly gave in and even agreed to pay Warrior $550,000 for WrestleMania VII. However, right after the SummerSlam match, McMahon suspended Ultimate Warrior. Undertaker and Roberts never appeared on the SummerSlam card after feuding with Warrior for the summer, with Warrior teaming with Hulk Hogan in a tag team match. Jake said in his podcast that he took time off from wrestling during the vignettes, and that cost him a lot of money. Since Jake was going to start his feud with Warrior to lead to WrestleMania the next day, the feud ended up being canceled completely and Jake never got his big opportunity. As one post note, Jake said that Warrior approached him at their 2014 WWE Hall of Fame induction and apologized for everything. Jake said he let it go, and three days later, Ultimate Warrior died.