JAKE ROBERTS

'Aurelian Jake Smith, Jr.' (born on May 30, 1955), better known by his ring name of 'Jake "The Snake" Roberts', is a second-generation American professional wrestler, the son of former wrestler Grizzly Smith. Roberts is best known for his stint in the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 to 1992.
Roberts was known for his promos and his dark charisma, his extensive use of psychology in his matches, and for inventing the DDT finishing maneuver.
Jake Roberts is credited with training Diamond Dallas Page and Raven, as well as teaching much about wrestling psychology to Steve Austin and The Undertaker. Roberts and fellow wrestler Vader appeared on the ABC sitcom ''Boy Meets World'' for one episode.

Wrestling career

Mid-South Wrestling and National Wrestling Alliance

Roberts started his career in 1974 in the Louisiana area, as a referee and wrestler, making his name in Mid-South Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance. It was in the NWA during 1983 that Roberts became part of Paul Ellering's heel stable, The Legion of Doom, and began a feud with Ron Garvin over the NWA World Television Championship that lasted into 1984. Roberts returned to Mid-South Wrestling for 1985, ending his run there in February 1986 after a feud with Dick Slater.

The origins of the DDT

In the 1980s, Roberts had his opponent, The Grappler, in a front facelock, but tripped. Roberts' opponent fell on his head, legitimately knocking him out. From that match, Roberts incorporated the move as his finisher, naming it the 'DDT', though instead of falling back, he stepped back before falling (which, as he explained on his DVD ''Pick Your Poison'', was the quickest way to drive his opponent's head into the mat and also gave the move a "snap" effect). When asked what the initials DDT stood for, he famously replied "The End."

How he became "The Snake"

Roberts derived his nickname from being thin and snake-like. Roberts also said that he got his nickname from Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken "The Snake" Stabler. To accentuate this, he often would slide ("slither") into and out of the ring on his belly under the bottom rope. Once he reached the WWF in March 1986, Roberts would bring a huge, live Burmese Python (though various snakes were used over the years, most were named "Damien") to ringside in a canvas bag. After executing a DDT, Roberts would coil the constrictor around the opponent's neck, and the snake would slither around on top of the fallen wrestler, sometimes appearing to strangle him. It was a masterful show of kayfabe (besides the fact that numerous fellow wrestlers and commentators were legitimately afraid of snakes, as the wrestler lay twitching and sometimes foaming at the mouth with the monstrous snake appearing to squeeze the life out of him. This display of theatricality got over with professional wrestling fans when George Wells, former Canadian Football League player turned wrestler, played "victim" to Damien at WrestleMania 2. His frothing at the mouth sold the gimmick as being something lethal.

World Wrestling Federation

1986-1988

Roberts' first major feud was against Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Few WWF fans knew that the two were former tag team partners in the National Wrestling Alliance, as it was never acknowledged on camera. The feud began on a nationally televised episode of ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' in May 1986. Roberts DDT'ed Steamboat on the floor right in front of his wife, Bonnie, whom Roberts had pointed to just before delivering the blow and then proceeded to rest Damien on top of a prone Steamboat. Roberts went so far as to put the snake in Steamboat's mouth. He later stated that he was initially against doing the angle for fear that he might seriously injure or kill Steamboat. While Vince McMahon and booker George Scott were adamant about wanting the DDT to take place on the floor, he refused until Steamboat told him that he would be able to adequately protect himself from injury. Steamboat was rendered unconscious and sustained a concussion from the force of the blow.
After Steamboat's recovery, the feud featured Steamboat introducing a "Komodo dragon" (actually a small alligator) as his "pet" to combat the psychological effects Roberts' reptilian counterpart had on most adversaries. The feud continued with Steamboat winning most of the matches, most notably a Snake Pit Match (obstensibly a no-DQ match) at ''The Big Event'' in Toronto, and the rematch on the October 1986 edition of ''Saturday Night's Main Event''. Since their feud ended, both men have cited tremendous respect for one another, stating that the feud was a personal favorite for both. When asked about "The Dragon" in an interview, Roberts stated, ''"[Steamboat] was a great wrestler, but an even better man."''
One of the more memorable moments in his career was when he had Alice Cooper in his corner at 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'', making Roberts into a babyface. In reality, The Honky Tonk Man's guitar shot legitimately injured Jake's neck.Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.228) The shot was prior to the use of breakaway guitars, so it caused a legit injury. Jake started using pain killers following the injury, which led to severe opiate addictions later in his life. The Honky Tonk Man denies that he legitimately injured Jake, although a video of the incident (seen on Jake's "Pick Your Poison" DVD) does much to suggest otherwise.
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 inadvertently chose Jake's real-life wife Cheryl Mick, who refused the kiss; Jake rescued her before Rude could attack, although Cheryl slapped him hard enough to send Rude reeling. At another event, Rude wore a pair of tights emblazoned with a visage of Mrs. Roberts, which an irate Jake tore off. This sent Rude running apparently naked from the ring when shown on TV, although those at the arena saw Rude in a thong.

1989-1990

Next, "The Snake" engaged in a feud with André the Giant. In this storyline, Roberts used his snake to gain a psychological edge over the snake averse André (who as part of the angle staged a heart attack on national television), to nullify the Giant's overwhelming size and strength advantage. Jake can claim a victory via disqualification over André after André attacked special guest referee Big John Studd at WrestleMania V.
Shortly after his feud with André had ended, Roberts entered into a feud with "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. It was at this time that Roberts' disc problems were publicly acknowledged, as DiBiase attacked Roberts after a victory over his bodyguard Virgil on ''WWF Superstars of Wrestling''. In the attack, Roberts was "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 to retrieve it. The culmination of their feud took place at WrestleMania VI, where in a match where the Million Dollar Belt was on the line, DiBiase gained a count-out victory over Roberts, thus regaining the non-sanctioned title. After the match, Roberts, to the delight of his fans at the packed SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, mounted an offensive against DiBiase and Virgil and began giving away DiBiase's "money".
Following a brief feud with Bad News Brown in the summer of 1990, Roberts feuded with "The Model" Rick Martel throughout late 1990 into early 1991, after Martel blinded Roberts (kayfabe) by spraying cologne 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. The bout ended after Roberts vanquished his rival with the DDT.

1991-1992

In early to mid-1991, Roberts engaged in a feud with Earthquake after his 450-pound 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 on-air commentator Lord Alfred Hayes. Jake appeared on Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's interview segment ''The Barbershop'' and stated that "you could do two things: Roll over and die, or get yourself a bigger snake", in which he revealed that his new snake was a larger python, a reticulated python whom he named "Lucifer"- the supposed big brother of Damien and "the devil himself."
In mid-1991 Jake Roberts turned heel once again. For weeks, he was the one the Ultimate Warrior turned to in his feud with The Undertaker. The angle involved Roberts telling the Warrior that he would have the knowledge of the dark side necessary to defeat his adversary after passing three tests, which would be shown on WWF TV in consecutive weeks. The first was to be locked inside of a coffin, repeating an incident that occurred on ''The Funeral Parlor'' (which was hosted by 'Taker's manager Paul Bearer), a few months prior. The second test had Roberts "bury" the Warrior alive in dirt and walk offscreen. The third test involved Warrior entering a room full of snakes and having to walk through them to find "the answer" in a chest in the middle of the room. When the Warrior opened the chest, he was alarmed to find a King Cobra, which (kayfabe) bit him in the face; in actuality, the snake was devenomized and in fact, never actually bit him. As Warrior "weakened" from the "effects" of the cobra's strike, Roberts was joined by The Undertaker and Paul Bearer, revealing the three were in cahoots all along with Roberts telling Warrior ''"Never trust a snake."'' The feud was quickly canceled after The Ultimate Warrior was fired by the WWF the night of ''SummerSlam''.
Afterward, Roberts had an intense feud with Randy Savage after he interrupted the Savages' wedding reception by putting a snake in one of the gift boxes at SummerSlam 1991 and later used a (devenomed) cobra to bite Savage's arm. According the Jake's DVD "Pick Your Poison", he had trouble getting the cobra to release his bite. The segment went on longer than planned, and Randy's blood was clearly visible, dripping from the puncture wounds. In an ironic twist, the snake died after the incident, due to a toxic reaction (Savage would later joke in shoot interviews that the snake received the venom from him). WWF president Jack Tunney reinstated Savage, who had lost a retirement match (to the Ultimate Warrior) earlier that year at WrestleMania VII, as an active wrestler to get revenge for the attack. He and Roberts feuded for the next few months. Their first match was at the ''Tuesday in Texas'' pay-per-view, which saw the "Macho Man" earn a victory over Roberts, but it was Roberts who would have the last laugh as he attacked Savage after the match and slapped Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth, in the middle of the ring. The feud would continue through the early part of 1992, and included Savage eliminating Roberts from that year's Royal Rumble match. The feud ended on ''Saturday Night's Main Event'', with Savage getting the duke. Roberts, livid at having lost to his arch-nemesis and having received two of Savage's patented flying elbow drops (one of which happened after the match; Savage was going for a third until officials intervened), was helped backstage. Enraged, he grabbed a steel chair and said that he was going to hit whoever came backstage first, whether it was Savage or Elizabeth. Just as he was about to swing the chair, someone stopped him. While Savage and Liz, seeing they had averted a potential attack, left, Jake turned to confront The Undertaker, who distracted Roberts long enough so that Savage could hit Roberts with a chair instead.
In early 1992, Jake turned on The Undertaker, who had been his partner in the assault on Savage's wedding, thus completing the Undertaker's babyface turn. After an incident on ''The Funeral Parlor'' in which Roberts locked the Undertaker's hand in a casket and DDT'ed the show's host and Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer, before hitting Undertaker repeatedly with a steel chair. At WrestleMania VIII, Roberts was defeated. He left the WWF soon after that, 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 post on the writing staff, Vince decided that out of respect for Patterson, the spot would be left vacant. Jake felt he was not only being lied to, but also being betrayed. In response, Jake threatened to no-show WrestleMania VIII if he wasn't given a release from his contract.

World Championship Wrestling

Jake went on to work for World Championship Wrestling alongside his father, Grizzly Smith, where he aligned himself with The Barbarian and Cactus Jack to feud against Sting and Nikita Koloff. However, before he could officially join WCW, he had to wait almost 90 days. According to the ''Pick Your Poison'' DVD, Jake had initially signed a lucructive contract under Kip Allen Frey, who was running WCW at the time. On the 87th day, Frey stepped down and was replaced by Bill Watts, for whom Jake had legitiment heat with back in his days at Mid-South Wrestling. Ultimately, Jake estimates that we went from making about $3 and a half million a year to approximately $200,000 and year. His single WCW pay-per-view match was against Sting at Halloween Havoc 1992. Their match was determined via the Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal gimmick,Foley, Mick. Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks (p.229) 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.

The mexican stint

Jake debuted in the mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración in April 1993, causing the defeat of Konnan on the career vs. career match in the first, historic Triplemania. Jake's run-in lit a feud that lasted until Triplemania III of 1994, in which Konnan managed to defeat Roberts in a hair vs. hair match.

Return to WWF

Jake returned to WWF at the 1996 Royal Rumble, as a Bible-preaching face. To go along with his new gimmick, his new snake was named "Revelations." Revelations was an Albino Burmese Python, the same breed as his past snakes, just albino. His gimmick also mirrored his real life, as Roberts had recently become a born-again Christian and had been preaching around the country.
Roberts was pushed as a "Cinderella story" and faced Steve Austin in the final match of the King of the Ring tournament. Austin defeated Roberts and mocked the Snake's recital of the biblical passage by saying ''"You come out here and you talk about your Psalms and you talk about your John 3:16—well, Austin 3:16 says I just whooped 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.
Then Jake feuded with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who went to great lengths to ridicule Jake's past bouts against alcoholism. At one point Lawler spat real whiskey at Roberts. Roberts was released from the WWF in 1997.

Second mexican stint

For some months of 1997 Jake fought again in the AAA, teaming with Gorgeous George III, Glen Jacobs, and Rick Bogner. This stint was without success and Roberts left AAA after Triplemania V.

''Beyond the Mat'' & ''Heroes of Wrestling''

The year 1999 featured two notorious incidents showcasing the depths of Roberts' drug and alcohol addiction.
Jake was unflatteringly featured in the wrestling documentary ''Beyond the Mat''. Throughout the film he made numerous confessions about his tragic past, including the murder of his sister and the collapse of his marriage. Amongst the more disturbing moments was Roberts reportedly smoking crack in a hotel room after a reunion with his daughter Brandy, though the act is not shown on camera. In 2005, Jake, along with others, heavily criticized the film for showing him in a negative light, complaining that the depiction of him was "not the real Jake Roberts." Roberts also claimed that director Barry Blaustein and Terry Funk lied to him about the aims of the film, telling him it was a television special on the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.
Also in 1999, at an Independent PPV show entitled ''Heroes of Wrestling'', Jake cut a rambling, incoherent promo in which he heavily slurred his words. Minutes later, he staggered toward the ring, apparently drunk, for an awkward match with Jim Neidhart.

2001-2007

In 2001, Jake Roberts moved to Great Britain, where he began competing for Brian Dixon's All-Star Wrestling. In December, he made his debut for Richard Knight's World Association of Wrestling in Lowestoft.
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 months.
Jake made a WWE appearance on March 14, 2005 on ''RAW'', where he confronted Randy Orton, who was preparing to challenge the Undertaker at WrestleMania 21. Roberts warned Orton that facing The Undertaker, particularly at WrestleMania, could be a soul-altering experience; he then fell victim to Orton's signature "RKO," helping to fuel Orton's "Legend Killer" gimmick. He worked with the company to create a DVD retrospective of his career, which was released later that year.
Jake now lives in Sprowston, Norwich, England as of May 2007.(source needed)

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

Jake made an appearance on the October 19, 2006 edition of ''TNA iMPACT!'', making a surprise appearance to a huge pop from the live audience. He announced he would referee the Monster's Ball match between Brother Runt, Abyss, Raven, and Samoa Joe at Bound for Glory. Jake proceeded to cut a rambling, incoherent promo that was barely audible to the live audience. At least once he ended up on his back during the promo and had trouble getting up. The promo lasted a couple of minutes live but was so incoherent that it was edited down to about 15 seconds on iMPACT. He had a snake in a bag, which he placed on Brother Runt after Runt came out and confronted Jake. At one point he even stuffed the snake's head down the front of Runt's pants. The confrontation was only partially aired on iMPACT. At ''Bound For Glory'' on October 22, 2006, he performed a DDT on Raven, giving Samoa Joe the win in the Monster's Ball match. Jake did his signature after match ritual by putting a snake (which resembled "Revelations") on Raven.

In wrestling

★ 'Finishing and signature maneuvers'
:
★ '''DDT'''
:
★ Short-arm clothesline
:
★ Swinging knee lift
:
★ Gutbuster

★ 'Managers'
:
★ Alice Cooper (WrestleMania III)
:
★ Paul Ellering
:
★ Jimmy Hart
:
★ Paul Jones
:
★ Sherri Martel
:
★ Cheryl Roberts (wife)
:
★ Kevin Sullivan

Championships and accomplishments

Personal life

Jake is the son of wrestler Aurelian "Grizzly" Smith, with whom he has a strained relationship.^[1] He has a half-brother, Michael (the former wrestler known as Sam Houston) and a half-sister, Robin (Rockin' Robin), both of whom also became wrestlers.
Jake has a daughter named Brandee, who appeared in the documentary, Beyond the Mat and a son named Dustin.^[2]

Notes

1. http://prowrestling.about.com/od/reviews/fr/jakerobertsdvd.htm
2. Jake and his son Dustin show off the catch of the day.

References

★

★ Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks, Mick Foley, , , HarperCollins, ,

External links

★ Gordon Solie's Title Histories

★ Jake "The Snake" Roberts Shoot Interview

★ Official Jake The Snake Roberts Website

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