He officially turned face when he feuded with The Honky Tonk Man, an Elvis impersonator, who attacked Roberts with a guitar during his interview segment "The Snake Pit". The Honky Tonk Man's guitar shot actually injured Roberts' neck, as at the time guitars were not prepared to break easily. The Honky Tonk Man denies that he purposefully injured Roberts, although Honky's manager Jimmy Hart, as well as a video of the incident (seen on the "Pick Your Poison" DVD) suggests otherwise with Roberts later claiming that he was picking pieces of wood out of his back for weeks after. The attack led to their match at WrestleMania III in which Roberts had Detroit native Alice Cooper (a known lover of snakes) in his corner. After Honky Tonk won the Intercontinental Championship from Ricky Steamboat, Roberts unsuccessfully challenged him for the Championship several times throughout the rest of 1987. The initial plan was for Roberts to win the Intercontinental Championship shortly after The Honky Tonk Man's win over Steamboat and begin an angle with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, but because of the injuries from the guitar shot, the decision was made to keep the belt with The Honky Tonk Man.