March 14, 2005 RAW - Randy Orton gives Jake "The Snake" Roberts an RKO
Jake “The Snake” Roberts has taken on some of WWE’s toughest competitors, including Andre the Giant, Earthquake, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Undertaker. Known for his ability to outwit his opponents and mess with their psyches, Roberts was just as much of an enigma outside of the ring as he was inside it. After leaving WWE in 1997, Roberts went on an eight-year hiatus until resurfacing in March of 2005.
His re-emergence into the sports-entertainment world came with an unselfish goal in mind: to pass along some advice to rising WWE Superstar Randy Orton. At the time, Orton was preparing for a match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. After successfully “killing” the Legends of high-profile Superstars like Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Sgt. Slaughter — just a few in a long list of Orton’s victims — he felt he was ready to take down the Deadman at the biggest event of all.
Having gone through the perilous task of facing Undertaker at WrestleMania VIII, Roberts felt it was his obligation to explain just how difficult a task it is for anyone — especially someone as young as Orton — to defeat Undertaker in any match, let alone in the nerve rattling atmosphere at WrestleMania. And on the March 14, 2005 edition of RAW, “The Snake” showed up on Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel to do just that.
Never known for his diplomatic approach, Roberts told Orton to “reintroduce your brain to your mouth, because you’re talking out of your ass.” Behind the bluntness, “The Snake” was only trying to help. But, instead of graciously accepting the free piece of advice from an experienced WWE Legend, the Legend Killer responded by mocking Roberts. He snidely asked how it felt losing to Undertaker at WrestleMania VIII, and declared that at WrestleMania 21 he was going to make a bigger impact than Roberts did in his entire career. Although he looked significantly greyer and heavier since his last WWE appearance in 1997, “The Snake” wasn’t going to let anyone talk down about his WWE career, especially someone as brash Randy Orton.
Tempers flared, and Roberts delivered a stiff clothesline to Orton, knocking the Legend Killer to the ground. But when “The Snake” was about to land his feared DDT, Orton reversed out of it and hit him with an RKO. Orton then smirked as Roberts lay unconscious on the mat, having become another victim of the Legend Killer.
Randy Orton’s RKO on Jake Roberts proved that nobody, not even a family friend, has the authority to deter him from doing whatever he wants to do.