Wrestling Career
|
|
Roberts started his career in 1975 in the Georgia area and made his name in the NWA as part of Paul Ellering's heel stable The Legion of Doom. He feuded with Ron Garvin in the 1980s over the NWA World Television Championship. His invention of the DDT, which Roberts says is short for "Demonic Death Trap" was purely an accident. During a match when he had his opponent in a front facelock, he slipped and fell down and his opponent fell on his head, rendering him legitimately unconscious. From that match, he incorporated the move as his finisher. For a long time, many fans had tried to figure out what DDT had stood for- some even believing it stood for Damien's Dinner Time: as to the fact that Jake routinely placed his pet python Damien on top of unconcious wrestlers following the DDT. One of the more memorable moments in his career was when he had Alice Cooper in his corner during WrestleMania III in 1987. Jake's WrestleMania III opponent the Honky Tonk Man brutally attacked Jake with a guitar on Jake's interview segment "The Snake Pit." In reality, The Honky Tonk Man's guitar shot legitimately injured Jake's neck, rupturing two discs. Jake admitted in interviews that the shot was prior to the use of breakaway guitars, so when Honky clubbed him, he really got hit hard. Jake started using pain killers following the injury. Perhaps his best-known feud was against "Ravishing" Rick Rude, who was doing a gimmick where he would select a woman from the audience to kiss after each match. Rude inadvertantly chose Jake's real-life wife Cheryl, who refused the kiss; Jake rescued her before Rude could attack. At another event, Rude wore a pair of tights emblazoned with a visage of Mrs. Roberts, which an irate Jake tore off, sending Rude running apparently naked from the ring when shown on TV, when those at the arena saw Rude in a thong. Jake also began a brief feud with Hulk Hogan, but the angle was dropped when Roberts started receiving cheers from the crowd (even though Jake was initially intended to be a heel). This was seen as bad for business considering that Hogan was the top box office draw for the WWF. Jake was also supposed to wrestle the Ultimate Warrior after SummerSlam 1991, but due to a financial dispute that the Warrior had with the WWF around this same period, nothing was fully materialized. In early to mid-1991, Roberts engaged in a bitter feud with Earthquake after his 450lb. body "squashed" Damien (in actuality, it was hamburger stuffed in pantyhose with a small motor to make it look like a live snake was in the bag.), and then used "Damien"'s carcass to make "Quakeburgers", which he fed to Lord Alfred Hayes. Afterwards, Roberts had an extremely intense feud with "Macho Man" Randy Savage, in which Jake famously used a(devenomed)cobra to bite the Macho Man's arm (Ironically, the snake died after the incident due to a toxic reaction). WWF president Jack Tunney reinstated Savage, who had lost a retirement match earlier that year, as an active wrestler to get revenge for the attack, and he and Roberts feuded for the next few months. Jake feuded with The Undertaker in early 1992, following his run with Savage, but he left the WWF after WrestleMania VIII, upset that WWF chairman Vince McMahon didn't offer him a position on the writing staff despite being promised previously. After Pat Patterson stepped down from his the writing staff, Vince decided that out of respect for Patterson, the spot would be left vacant. Jake felt that he was not only lied to but also betrayed. In response, Jake threatened to no-show WrestleMania VIII if he wasn't given a release from his contract. Jake went to work for World Championship Wrestling alongside his father, Grizzly Smith, where he aligned himself with The Barbarian and Cactus Jack to feud with Sting and Nikita Koloff. His one WCW pay-per-view match, against Sting at Halloween Havoc 1992 after picking their match via a wheel, which was inspired by the movie Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. There was a series of gimmick matches on the wheel, but because the wheel wasn't gimmicked, it landed on what many pundits believed was the worst option - The Coal Miner's Glove Match. However, it was the company's top-selling PPV for several years, but Jake soon left WCW after his wife gave him an ultimatum to either focus on his career or his family. The two would divorce not long afterwards. Jake returned to the WWF in 1996, as a Bible-reading face (his new snake was named “Revelationsâ€). Roberts claimed to be a changed man who regretted his past, though some in the industry felt he was holding religious seminars as a way to make money rather than out of genuine faith. Roberts was pushed as a "Cinderella story" and faced Stone Cold Steve Austin in the final match of the King of the Ring tournament. Austin won, and as Roberts was helped to the back, Austin mocked the Snake's recital of the biblical passage John 3:16, saying "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass!" "Austin 3:16" became a catchphrase that helped propel Austin to the top of the WWF and pro wrestling for the next three years. Jake later feuded with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who went to great lengths to ridicule Jake's past bouts with alcoholism. Roberts later said this angle was personally uncomfortable; at one point Lawler spat real whiskey at Roberts. Roberts was fired from the WWF in 1997 for failing to show up for work during a series of house shows. He competed briefly in Mexico, where he was shaved bald by Konnan, and began appearing in the indepedent circuit in the U.S. and Great Britain. Jake's career was derailed by problems with drugs and alcohol. He still wrestles on the independent circuit, though along with his drug and alcohol abuse (well chronicled in the documentary Beyond the Mat) his career has also been hampered by a series of legal problems. In one notorious 1999 PPV show, Heroes of Wrestling, he cut a rambling, incoherent promo in which he heavily slurred his words. Minutes later, he staggered toward the ring, apparently drunk, for his scheduled match with Jim Neidhart. During the match, when his snake wriggled free from the bag, he waved the snake toward the audience while it was protruding from his crotch. On October 20, 2002, Jake Roberts became the NWA (UK) Hammerlock Heavyweight Champion in Maidstone, Kent, England by defeating "Vigilante" Johnny Moss. Moss defeated him for the title the next night in Ashford, Kent, England though. In November 2002, Jake started his own wrestling promotion in the UK, called Real Stars of Wrestling. Jake's legal troubles continued, after he was accused of animal cruelty for leaving the snakes at his house unfed for several days. In the Febuary 2004, Jake wrestled for Wrestle Zone Wrestling who are the leading wrestling promotion in the North East of England. Jake headlined wZw's first sellout tour of Scotland and Carlise. The tour would bring about even more controversy to Jake's already controversal career. On the night of the first show in Dumfries, Jake got into a backstage confrontation with established UK wrestler Alex Shane. Alex, who after being taunted by Jake, attacked the legendary wrestler. Alex later said that he couldn't take anymore of Jake's insults and felt it nessercary to hit Jake. Jake who after a warning by then wZw owner Gary Graham went out and faced the UK Hardcore Icon Iceman. Jake won via his patented DDT. The next night at the Lakes Court Hotel in Carlise, Jake lost his match to Phil Powers but on the afternoon show Jake would get his revenge, when he beat Powers in what has been described as Jakes best match this side of the Atlantic. Jake made a WWE appearance in March 2005, where he confronted Randy Orton. He worked with the company to create a DVD retrospective of his career, which was released later that year. Jake the Snake Roberts |
|
Stats