Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Jake Roberts
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
====Debut and championship pursuits (1986–1990)==== Roberts debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on March 8, 1986, at the [[Boston Garden]] defeating [[Jose Luis Rivera]]. A month later, he made his [[pay-per-view]] debut, defeating [[George Wells (wrestler)|George Wells]] at [[WrestleMania 2]]. During the match, Roberts made Wells foam from the mouth when he wrapped his snake Damien around Wells' head;<ref>{{cite web |last=Powell |first=John |title=WrestleMania 2: Caged Heat |publisher=Slam Wrestling |url=http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Wrestlemania20/WrestleMania2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429201521/http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/Wrestlemania20/WrestleMania2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 29, 2015 |access-date=July 12, 2016}}</ref> however, contrary to popular belief, he had been using the "Snake" nickname before his WWF debut, including while in Georgia Championship Wrestling.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WikQbnqAk0g</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9-MdpDZJlk</ref> [[File:Jake Roberts snake Damien on Ricky steamboat 1986.png|thumb|Jake Roberts (left) puts his snake, Damien, on top of Ricky Steamboat (right), circa 1986]] Roberts' first major feud was against [[Ricky Steamboat|Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat]], beginning on a nationally televised episode of ''[[Saturday Night's Main Event VI]]'' in May 1986. Roberts executed the DDT on Steamboat on the exposed concrete floor right in front of his wife Bonnie and then proceeded to rest his snake Damien on top of a prone Steamboat. While [[Vince McMahon]] and booker [[George Scott (wrestler)|George Scott]] were adamant about wanting the DDT to take place on the floor, Roberts initially refused until Steamboat told him that he would be able to adequately protect himself from injury. Unfortunately, Steamboat was unable to stop his head from hitting the concrete and was rendered unconscious, sustaining a concussion.<ref name=WWF6389Book>{{cite book |last=Cawthon |first=Graham |year=2013 |title=the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 1: WWF 1963 – 1989 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1492825975}}</ref> After Steamboat's recovery, Steamboat introduced a "[[Komodo dragon]]" as his pet to combat the psychological effects of Roberts' snake. The feud continued with Steamboat winning most of the matches (losing only one because he threw Roberts back in the ring before the 10 count, while not beating the count himself), most notably a Snake Pit Match (ostensibly a no-DQ match) at ''[[The Big Event]]'' in [[Toronto]], and the rematch on the October 1986 edition of ''[[Saturday Night's Main Event VII]]''. Recognizing his microphone skills, Roberts was given his own talk segment called "The Snake Pit", which debuted on the first episode of ''[[WWF Wrestling Challenge]]'' in late 1986. "The Snake Pit" was patterned after "[[Piper's Pit]]", wherein Roberts would conduct interviews with wrestlers or managers to help push wrestlers and get feuds over with the crowd. The segment was eventually moved to ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling]]'' (to replace "Piper's Pit" after [[Roddy Piper]]'s retirement following [[WrestleMania III]])<ref name=WWF6389Book/> until the final segment aired in July 1987.<ref name=Encyclopedia281>{{cite book |last1=Shields |first1=Brian |last2=Sullivan |first2=Kevin |year=2009 |title=WWE Encyclopedia |title-link=WWE Encyclopedia |publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |isbn=978-0-7566-4190-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wweencyclopediad0000shie/page/281 281]}}</ref> [[File:Jake "The Snake" Roberts.jpg|thumb|right|Many of Roberts' storylines revolved around the use of his snake, Damien, seen here in the middle of the ring (March 7, 1989)]]In late 1986, Roberts began to enjoy an upsurge in fan popularity, despite the WWF's attempts to cast him as an unpopular villain. In November 1986, Roberts challenged [[Randy Savage]] for the [[WWE Intercontinental Championship|Intercontinental Championship]]. Before the match, announcer Vince McMahon said the fans would probably support Savage against the disliked Roberts. However, to the surprise of both McMahon and fellow broadcaster [[Jesse Ventura|Jesse "The Body" Ventura]], the fans cheered loudly for Roberts throughout the bout. The match ended in a double disqualification. Around the same time, the WWF had also tried to set Roberts up as a nemesis to then fan-favorite [[WWE Championship|WWF World Heavyweight Champion]] [[Hulk Hogan]], and challenging him for the title. However, after Roberts hit Hogan with a DDT during an episode of ''The Snake Pit'', fans responded positively to the attack by chanting "DDT" rather than for Hogan, and McMahon abandoned his plans for a feud between them. Years later in a 2015 shoot interview, Roberts jokingly thanked the fans for ruining what would have been the biggest (and most profitable) run of his career as at the time Hogan was the biggest and most popular babyface and a run against Hogan would have meant main event television and pay-per-view matches. He officially turned face when he feuded with [[The Honky Tonk Man]], an [[Elvis impersonator]], who attacked Roberts<ref>{{cite web |title=Honky Tonk man|website=WrestlingGoneWrong.com|url=http://www.wrestlinggonewrong.com/video/igw_jtsr.html |access-date=December 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109205735/http://www.wrestlinggonewrong.com/video/igw_jtsr.html |archive-date=9 November 2006 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> 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.<ref name=mf228>{{cite book |last=Foley |first=Mick |year=1999 |title=Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks |publisher=[[ReganBooks]] |isbn=978-0-06-039299-4 |page=288 |url=https://archive.org/details/mankindhaveniced00fole/page/228 |url-access=registration}}</ref> 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 [[Ted DiBiase|"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.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 9, 2014 |title=WWE: 10 Things You Need To Know About Jake 'The Snake' Roberts |website=WhatCulture.com |url=https://whatculture.com/wwe/wwe-10-things-need-know-jake-snake-roberts?page=7 |access-date=April 3, 2016}}</ref> He then had a feud with [[Rick Rude|"Ravishing" Rick Rude]] and his manager [[Bobby Heenan|Bobby "the Brain" Heenan]], who began a gimmick of selecting a woman from the crowd to kiss after each match. On the April 23, 1988 edition of ''WWF Superstars of Wrestling'', Rude chose Roberts' real-life wife Cheryl, who refused the kiss and revealed that she was in fact the wife of Jake "the Snake".<ref name=history699>{{cite book |last=Cawthon |first=Graham |year=2013 |title=The History of Professional Wrestling: The Results WWF 1963–1989 |publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform |isbn=978-1-4928-2597-5 |pages=699}}</ref> After Rude began insulting Roberts, Cheryl slapped him, angering Rude before Roberts ran out for the save.<ref name=history699/> This began a heated feud throughout the summer of 1988, which escalated after Rude began wearing a pair of tights emblazoned with a visage of Mrs. Roberts, which an irate Roberts tore off. [[File:Jake Roberts and Andre.jpg|thumb|[[André the Giant]] feuded with Roberts based on André's fear of snakes (pictured March 7, 1989)]] Roberts moved from the feud with Rude into a feud with [[André the Giant]] who was also managed by Bobby Heenan. On the March 11, 1989, episode of ''[[Saturday Night's Main Event XX]]'', André got involved in a match between Rick Rude and [[Brutus Beefcake|Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake]], siding with fellow [[The Heenan Family|Heenan Family]] member Rude. Roberts came to the ring to help Beefcake, who eventually won by disqualification.<ref>{{cite book |last=Krugman |first=Michael |year=2009 |title=Andre the Giant: A Legendary Life |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1439188132 |page=279}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Cawthon |first=Graham |title=Saturday Night's Main Event |publisher=The History of WWE |url=http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/snme.htm |access-date=July 5, 2016}}</ref> Roberts used his snake Damien to scare Andre into an eventual "[[heart attack]]".<!--This appears to have been in January--the SNME interference was taped in February and broadcast in March--> Although the subsequent feud on the house show circuit saw André victorious after most of those matches, Roberts can claim a victory via disqualification over André after The Giant attacked special guest referee and former foe [[Big John Studd]] at [[WrestleMania V]]. During the first match of their feud in [[Los Angeles Sports Arena|Los Angeles]], André treated it like Jake was a jobber out there for an old fashioned squash match, giving Roberts virtually no offence and not selling anything Jake did to him. After the match, an angry Roberts physically confronted André in the locker room and told him that he had to give Jake something out there or the program just wouldn't work. The Giant simply answered "We're OK Boss. We're good now" and they went on from there. Jake later learned it had been a test from André to see if he went running to complain to management, or if he had the guts to confront him man to man. From then on André had no problem selling Jake's offence in the ring.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UdVOVu7Aaw Jake The Snake Roberts on Standing Up To Andre The Giant]</ref> [[File:Jake Roberts vs. Rick Martel - 1991-01-27 - 01.jpg|thumb|Jake Roberts vs. [[Rick Martel]] at a WWF Live Event House Show in Omaha, Nebraska 1991]] Shortly after his feud with André had ended, Roberts entered into a feud with Ted DiBiase. Instead of fighting for the Intercontinental Championship, the prize of the feud was DiBiase's own [[Million Dollar Championship]]. It was at this time that Roberts' problems with the discs in his back were publicly acknowledged, as DiBiase attacked Roberts after a victory over his bodyguard [[Mike Jones (wrestler)|Virgil]] on ''[[WWF Superstars of Wrestling]]''. In the attack, Roberts was (storyline) injured by DiBiase and needed time off to have surgery to repair the damage. Roberts returned and feuded with DiBiase throughout the end of 1989 into 1990, including a point where Roberts stole DiBiase's Million Dollar Belt, daring him or Virgil to reach into the canvas sack where Damien was to retrieve it. The culmination of their feud took place at [[WrestleMania VI]] at the [[Skydome]] in Toronto, wherein a match where the Million Dollar Belt was on the line, DiBiase gained a count-out victory over Roberts, thus regaining his non-sanctioned title. After the match, Roberts mounted an offensive against DiBiase and Virgil and then began giving away DiBiase's "money" including giving some money to actress [[Mary Tyler Moore]] who was seated at ringside. Following a brief feud with [[Allen Coage|Bad News Brown]] in the summer of 1990, Roberts also feuded with [[Rick Martel|Rick "the Model" Martel]] throughout late 1990 into early 1991, after Martel ([[kayfabe]]) blinded Roberts by spraying his cologne "Arrogance" into his eyes. Roberts went so far as to wear white contact lenses to "prove" his blindness. After several months, the feud culminated in a match at [[WrestleMania VII]], in which both contestants were blindfolded (though both Roberts and Martel did later confess to having some limited vision due to mesh holes in the masks - these were briefly visible due to Jake putting his hand inside the mask after donning it shortly before the start of the match). The bout ended after Roberts was able to "locate" Martel and deliver a DDT.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)