Jake Roberts

Jake Roberts
Born	(1955-05-30) May 30, 1955 Gainesville, Texas
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Jake Roberts El Diablo The Texan
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (196 cm)
Billed weight	249 lb (113 kg)
Billed from	Stone Mountain, Georgia
Debut	May 13, 1975

Aurelian Smith, Jr. (born May 30 1955 in Gainesville, Texas), is a second-generation American professional wrestler and the son of former wrestler Aurelian "Grizzly" Smith. He is best known by his ring name of Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

Roberts is arguably best known for his two stints in the World Wrestling Federation—the first between 1986 and 1992, and the second between 1996 and 1997—though he also wrestled in World Championship Wrestling in 1992 and the Mexico-based Asistencia Asesoría y Administración between 1993 and 1994 and again in 1997.

Throughout his career he was known for his intense and cerebal promos, his dark charisma, his extensive use of psychology in his matches, and has been credited for inventing the DDT, though that has been challenged. He is also credited with training the wrestlers Diamond Dallas Page and Raven, as well as teaching much about wrestling psychology to his on-screen enemies, Steve Austin and the Undertaker.

Roberts was one of the subjects of the 1999 documentary film Beyond the Mat.

Career

Early career

Roberts started his career in 1974 in the Louisiana area, as a referee and wrestler, making his name in Mid-South Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling. It was in the National Wrestling Alliance 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. In 1984, Roberts entered World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) joining up with "Gentleman" Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez in their feud against the Von Erichs, winning the WCCW Television title and 6-Man Tag Team title (with Adams and Hernandez). 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

Main article: DDT (professional wrestling)

In the 1980s, Roberts had his opponent, The Grappler, in a front facelock, but tripped. Roberts' opponent fell on his head. 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." In his 2005 DVD, WWE employee Bruce Prichard said Roberts named the move after the pesticide of the same name. Urban legend has it that it was an acronym for 'Damien's Dinner Time' (referring to his on camera pet snake), but this has been disproven as he did not have the snake at the time the move was created.

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 would often slide ("slither") into and out of the ring on his belly under the bottom rope. Once he reached the World Wrestling Federation (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 (Other snakes used were a Reticulated Python named Lucifer, whom was called Damiens' older brother after Earthquake sat on the bag which Damien was in, and the famous devenomised Cobra that bit Macho Man Randy Savage). 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. Besides the fact that numerous fellow wrestlers and commentators were legitimately afraid of snakes, it was a masterful show of kayfabe, 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, a former Canadian Football League (CFL) football 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 (First run)

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 DDTed 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 Roberts with a guitar during his interview segment The Snake Pit, turning Roberts babyface. In reality, The Honky Tonk Man's guitar shot legitimately injured Roberts' neck. The shot was prior to the use of breakaway guitars, so it caused a legitimate injury. Roberts 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 Roberts, although a video of the incident (seen on the Pick Your Poison DVD) does much to suggest otherwise. Roberts would go on to, unsuccessfully challenge The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship several times throughout the rest of 1987.

Perhaps his best-known feud was against "Ravishing" Rick Rude, whose gimmick was to select a woman from the audience to kiss after each match. Rude inadvertently chose Roberts' real-life wife Cheryl, who refused the kiss; Roberts rescued her before Rude could attack, although Cheryl slapped him rather hard. At another event, Rude wore a pair of tights emblazoned with a visage of Mrs. Roberts, which an irate Roberts tore off. This sent Rude running apparently nude from the ring when shown on TV, although those at the arena saw Rude in a thong.

1989-1990

Next, Roberts 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. Roberts 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 SkyDome, mounted an offensive against DiBiase and Virgil and then began giving away DiBiase's "money".

Following a brief feud with Bad News Brown in the summer of 1990, Roberts feuded with Rick "The Model" Martel throughout late 1990 into early 1991, after Martel (kayfabe) blinded Roberts 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 beat Martel with a DDT. Martel was not pleased with how that match turned out and feels that a better conclusion could have happened.

1991-1992

In early to mid-1991, Roberts engaged in a feud with Earthquake after he "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. Roberts 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 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 the Undertaker'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 working together 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 1991.

Afterward, Roberts had an intense feud with "Macho Man" Randy Savage after he interrupted Savages' wedding reception by putting a snake in one of the gift boxes at SummerSlam and later used a (de-venomed) cobra to bite Savage's arm. According to Roberts' DVD Pick Your Poison, he had trouble getting the cobra to release his bite. The segment went on longer than planned, and Savage'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. To explain the absence of the cobra in kayfabe, Tunney "banned" Roberts from ever bringing a snake to the ring again. Savage and Roberts feuded for the next few months. Their first match was at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, which saw Savage earn a victory over Roberts, but it was Roberts attacked Savage after the match and slapped his 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 win. Roberts, livid at having lost to him 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 Elizabeth, seeing they had averted a potential attack, stalled, Roberts turned to confront the Undertaker, who distracted Roberts long enough so that Savage could hit him with a chair instead.

In early 1992, Roberts turned on the Undertaker, who had been his partner in the assault on Savage's wedding, thus completing the Undertaker's face turn. On The Funeral Parlor, Roberts locked the Undertaker's hand in a casket and DDT'ed the show's host and Undertaker's manager Paul Bearer, before hitting the Undertaker repeatedly with a steel chair. At WrestleMania VIII, Roberts was defeated by the Undertaker. 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 such previously. After Pat Patterson stepped down from his post on the writing staff, McMahon decided that out of respect for Patterson, the spot would be left vacant. Roberts felt he was not only being lied to, but also being betrayed. In response, he threatened to no-show WrestleMania if he wasn't given a release from his contract.

World Championship Wrestling

Roberts went on to work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) 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, Roberts had initially signed a lucrative 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 Roberts had legitimate heat with back in his days at Mid-South Wrestling. Ultimately, Roberts estimates that he went from making about $3.5 million a year to approximately $200,000 a 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, 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 Roberts soon left WCW.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (First run)

Roberts debuted in the Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in April 1993, causing the defeat of Konnan on the career vs. career match in the first ever, Triplemania. Jake's run-in started a feud that lasted until 1994 at Triplemania III, in which Konnan managed to defeat Roberts in a hair vs. hair match.

World Wrestling Federation (Second run)

Further information: The Attitude Era § The Beginning

Roberts 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 signaling at Hunter Hearst Helmsley in 1996

Roberts can be credited as being one of the ones to help start the "Attitude Era" in the WWF as he was the one that Steve Austin's initial Austin 3:16 speech was directed at. During his second tenure with the company, Roberts was pushed as a "Cinderella story" and faced "The Ringmaster" Steve Austin(who became Stone Cold Steve Austin the next night on RAW) in the final match of the King of the Ring tournament. Austin defeated Roberts and mocked his recital of the biblical passage John 3:16 by saying "You sit there, and you thump your bible, and you say your prayers, and it didn't get you anywhere... Talk about your Psalms, talk about your John 3:16 ... Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass!". The infamous catchphrase would help propel Austin to the top of the WWF and pro wrestling throughout the "Attitude Era" of the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Then Roberts feuded with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who went to great lengths to ridicule Roberts' past bouts against alcoholism. At one point, Lawler spat real whiskey at Roberts. Roberts was released from the WWF in 1997.

During this time, Roberts and fellow wrestler Vader appeared on the ABC sitcom Boy Meets World for one episode.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (Second run)

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

Beyond the Mat and Heroes of Wrestling

Further information: Heroes of Wrestling § The infamous Jake Roberts interview

1999 featured two notorious incidents showcasing the depths Roberts' drug and alcohol addiction had reached.

Roberts 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, Roberts, 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, Roberts 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 "The Anvil" Neidhart. Before the match, Roberts pulled his snake out of the bag, put it between his legs and simulated masturbation. Because it was obvious that Roberts was unable to participate in a singles match, the match was changed to a tag-team match involving Yokozuna and King Kong Bundy. The pay-per-view ended abruptly, cutting to black with the commentators in mid-sentence just as Roberts was motioning that he was about to remove his pants.

2001-2005

In 2001, Roberts moved to Great Britain, where he began competing for Brian Dixon's All-Star Wrestling. In December, he made his debut for Ricky Knight's World Association of Wrestling in Lowestoft.

On October 20, 2002, 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, though. In November 2002, Roberts started his own wrestling promotion in the U.K., called "Real Stars of Wrestling".

Roberts' legal troubles continued, after he was accused of animal cruelty for leaving the snakes at his house unfed for several months.

Roberts made his final British appearance at WAW's October Outrage show in Canvey Island, Essex, once again teaming with Steve Quintain against the U.K. Pitbulls. However, Roberts turned up at the show "in no fit state to compete", but went ahead with his match. Roberts cut a drunken promo paying tribute to Ray Traylor, who had died a few days before, and almost got into a scuffle with several WAW wrestlers who were sent out to defuse the situation. This involved challenging Zak Zodiac, son of Ricky Knight and Sweet Saraya, and who was only 13 at the time, to a fight.

Roberts 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.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2006 - 2008)

Roberts made an appearance on the October 19, 2006 edition of TNA iMPACT!, making a surprise appearance to a huge ovation 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. Roberts 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 the broadcast of iMPACT! He had a snake in a bag, which he placed on Brother Runt after Runt came out and confronted Roberts. 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 his signature DDT on Raven, giving Samoa Joe the win in the Monster's Ball match. Roberts did his signature after match ritual by putting a snake (which resembled "Revelations") on Raven.

Roberts made a one-night return to TNA as a guest of "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and SoCal Val's (kayfabe) wedding at Slammiversary 2008.

2007 rehabilitation

In 2007, WWE started a policy that they would pay all expenses for any former WWWF/WWF/WWE performer who needed to enter into any form of substance abuse rehabilitation.

According to various wrestling news reports, as well as his own MySpace page, Roberts was placed in a 14-week voluntary rehab program by WWE as of December 10, 2007.

In May 2008, Jim Ross reported that, "Jake Roberts has been doing well the past few weeks, after completing a treatment program."

Roberts' official MySpace page reported that he was back to working indy shows, and claimed that he was doing well after rehab. However, on September 12, 2008, Jake had an incident at a Firestorm Pro Wrestling event in Lakewood, Ohio in which he was very visibly not sober, and was disruptive and unable to properly work. Jake then got into a fight backstage after the show, and police had to be called to the event.[1][2]

On September 15, 2008, a statement released on his Myspace page by his assistant claimed that Jake had been drugged at the venue and that Roberts has no recollection of the incident that happened during the show.

The assistant also claimed that "One of the men IN THE RING with Jake is somebody we are going to take a much closer look at. Somebody saw this man with an envelope with some powder in it at the show. Somebody saw what happened here. We now are very SURE Jake was in fact drugged."

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature maneuvers

• DDT - Innovated
• Swinging knee lift - Used as a finisher before adopting the DDT; used as a regular move thereafter
• Arm wrench short-arm clothesline
• Gutbuster
• Knee drop
• Quick left-handed jabs followed by a right hand

• Managers

• Alice Cooper (WrestleMania III)
• Paul Ellering
• Jimmy Hart
• Paul Jones
• Sherri Martel
• Cheryl Roberts (wife)
• Kevin Sullivan

Championships and accomplishments

• All-Star Wrestling Network (Georgia)

• AWN World Heavyweight Champion (1 time)

• Americas Wrestling Federation

• AWF Puerto Rican Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Georgia Championship Wrestling

• NWA National Television Championship (1 time)
• NWA World Television Championship (Georgia version) (2 times)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1996)
• PWI ranked him # 100 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.

• Mid-South Wrestling Association

• Mid-South Louisiana Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• Mid-South Television Championship (1 time)

• Smoky Mountain Wrestling

• SMW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• World Class Championship Wrestling

• NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (Texas version) (1 time) - with Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez
• WCCW Television Championship (1 time)

Personal life

Roberts is the son of wrestler Aurelian "Grizzly" Smith, with whom he has a strained relationship. He has a half-brother, Michael and a half-sister, Robin, both of whom also became wrestlers (Sam Houston and Rockin' Robin).

Roberts has one daughter named Brandy, who appeared in the documentary, Beyond the Mat and a son named Dustin.

References

• Jake "The Snake" Roberts: Pick Your Poison. Silver Vision. 2005. ASIN B000BVK83M.
• Mick Foley (2000). Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. ISBN 0061031011.
• Injuries at The Wrestling Buzz
• Tons Of News: TNA, Jake Roberts, New Jack, Jillian, Batista/Edge, More - 24Wrestling.com

External links

• Official website
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts at MySpace
• Gordon Solie's Title Histories
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts Shoot Interview
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts interview on Uncensored Net Noise