Jake "The Snake" Roberts was one of pro wrestling's first antiheroes and left an indelible mark on the industry with his use of the DDT finishing maneuver and his use of a python in the ring to. Roberts has several siblings, but one of them is no longer with us. 145k Followers, 1,155 Following, 1,539 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Jake 'THE SNAKE' Roberts (@jakethesnakeddt) 145k Followers, 1,155 Following, 1,539 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Jake 'THE SNAKE' Roberts (@jakethesnakeddt) . The segments included Warrior being locked inside a coffin (a reprise of an incident that occurred on The Funeral Parlor, hosted by the Undertaker's manager, Paul Bearer; earlier in the year); the Warrior being "buried alive" in dirt before being abandoned; and Warrior walking through a room full of live snakes to reach a chest containing "the answer". [60] Doctors also found an abnormality on his brain which they felt could be a result of all the bumps Roberts took over his long career. He also hoped to, one day, finally hear his dad say he was proud of him. I grew up in the small Texas town where Jake was born (the same town where DDP picks him up at the beginning of the Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary). Watts voided Jake's contract, forcing him to sign for a mere $200,000 per year. I wanted everyone to be afraid of me." Smith began wrestling in 1958. Rooftop alligator men should be visible. [24] Roberts and the Undertaker attacked Savage, until Sid Justice ran them off. But he seemed as optimistic as ever: "If the devil can't defeat me, cancer doesn't stand a chance in Hell!" Then, once released, she and her ex collected the money from Jake's sister's life insurance and ran off together. Its hard to hide in a small house, he said. [6], Roberts started his career in 1974 in the Louisiana area, as a referee and wrestler, making his name in Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling. Clearly, he succeeded. Savage and Roberts feuded for the next few months. Reclamation's CVP power facilities, in an average summer, generates 5,000 gigawatt hours (GWh). The WWE icon was hit in the head with chairs and guitars and once broke his arm so badly during a match his bone was sticking out. He was booked to face Jim Neidhart in one half of the card's double main event in what was billed as a "special grudge match" between the two. If you've never seen the film, it follows Jake through an independent wrestling event "I like his snakes, I like his style!" and a failed attempt to reconnect with his daughter, and speaks. Roberts does believe he may have played better during WWEs Attitude Era. That famous period of wrestling popularity was led by the anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin, who Roberts helped create at King of the Ring 1996. [63] He missed AEW tapings on December 16 and 17, citing this illness. Its why Roberts, who is currently working backstage with AEW after a run as Lance Archers on-screen manager, wants his story to be an inspiration for others trying to break their own cycle of addiction and help them rebuild their lives. Roberts was present at Wrestlecon 2018, where he was . After spending over a year in hiatus, Roberts returned to WWF at the Royal Rumble in 1996, as a Bible-preacher. Roberts then attacked Gillmore. When the wheel stopped, it had landed on what many observers believed was the worst option the Coal Miner's Glove match. Smith, who was wrestling under the ring name Ski Hi Jones, and Jonathan held the title from March 25, 1968 until the following month, when The Assassins regained the championship in a rematch. . See full bio Born: August 6, 1932 in Whitesboro, Texas, USA Died: June 12, 2010 (age 77) in Amarillo, Texas, USA Known For In his promo, Roberts claimed that he had a "client" incoming to AEW to bring him down, hinting that he would be a manager for a new talent. In fact, he downright hates them, but used them to keep people from getting too close to the real him. "[59] In July 2014, he announced that he was cancer-free after various surgeries. Its allowed him to truly feel good about himself for the first time in a long time. Hopefully Im building a lot of people as we speak, showing them a way out of their alcohol addiction or your drug addiction, Roberts said. Randy Savage said he enjoyed his run with Roberts, whose work was impressive. Over 20 bottles of airplane vodka were littered all around him. Being a traditional architect was out the window. I built a house full of furniture for my first marriage, but I loved working with wood. Ultimately, Roberts estimates that he went from making about $3.5million a year to approximately $200,000 a year.[26]. His gimmick also mirrored his real life, as Roberts had recently become a born-again Christian and had been preaching around the country.[28]. According to Jaker, a year after his sister left, she had a child with this older man. He teamed with Eric Chapel and CraziiWolf (Crazii Shea and Greywolf), defeating the team of Salvatore Sincere, Steve C Wrestling and Pretty Ugly (Jimmy Dream and Adam Ugly). Coolmath's snake game is different from most. What many people may not realize is that Roberts had a fear of them! The World Wrestling Entertainment (Previously WWF . With his trademark snake companion at his side, Jake created and mastered the "DDT," a deadly maneuver used regularly today by wrestlers all over the world. Roberts has a role in the 2019 film The Peanut Butter Falcon. He was one of the subjects of the 1999 documentary film Beyond the Mat. To prevent Roberts from sustaining a further injury, he was quickly defeated by Austin; in a post-match interview, Austin 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! Unfortunately, Steamboat was unable to stop his head from hitting the concrete and was rendered unconscious, sustaining a concussion. Slithering to the ring with a monstrous python concealed in a burlap sack, Jake used fear as a weapon as deftly as he used pain. They continued to pursue the belts and regained them later that month, holding them until a loss to The Spoilers later that year. Jake "The Snake" Roberts is 64 years old. Unfortunately, Jake's life outside the ring has largely been filled with tragedy, and much of his life has not been happy. But Roberts, real name Aurelian Jake Smith Jr, . While working in Mid-South in 1986 he caught the eye of Vince McMahon and WWE then the WWF. (Matsuda later recommended Smith's daughter Rockin' Robin to work for All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling in the 1990s). He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5, 2014, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2020. Jake, untrained and drunk, got battered and stretched worse than he'd ever been. Life as Grizzly Smith's kid wasn't easy, but the man only made it worse when it came to how he made his living: professional wrestling. 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). According to the documentary Jake Roberts: Pick Your Poison, after Jake left WWF in 1992, he and WCW had agreed to a mega-deal worth up to $3 million a year. So it was he posed for a "Just say no to drugs" poster, even if he couldn't say no himself. [46] In July 2021, Roberts announced he had signed a 2-year contract extension with AEW. In an April 1971 match that was scheduled to see Bill Watts and Billy Red Lyons challenge Waldo Von Erich and Karl Von Brauner for the Tri-State version of the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, Smith and Brown took the place of the challengers. In February 1993, he took part in a tour in Australia. Her areas of practice include general legal advice, probate . It led to him praying to the devil to help him one day become a bigger wrestling star than his father. The Hon. He won the American Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Title defeating Don Muraco on March 4. Shortly after agreeing to the contract, WCW hired a man named Bill Watts to run the place. The segment was eventually moved to WWF Superstars of Wrestling (to replace "Piper's Pit" after Roddy Piper's retirement following WrestleMania III)[10] until the final segment aired in July 1987.[11]. Hours: Su-Th 10-5, F-Sa 10-6 (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access. He was a part of the League of Doom ensemble for the National Wrestling Alliance in 1983. I was trying to die at the time.. Roberts slow, methodical and intense promo style was the opposite of the loud and boisterous ones of that era. The Kentuckians' biggest rivals were the Assassins, with whom they feuded in matches across the United States. [15] 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. In January 1967, the Kentuckians showed up in Japan's International Wrestling Enterprise. Never trust a snake. So when Dallas brought this to me, the first thing I did was scream, No way! Weve done this. So we finally sat down and he said, Jake, were going to film all of this. Roberts went so far as to wear white contact lenses to "prove" his blindness. Their first match was at This Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view on December 3 in San Antonio, Texas, which saw Savage earn a victory over Roberts. [27] His first WCW match came six days later when he defeated Marcus Alexander Bagwell on a house show in Chicago, Illinois. That in itself is usually a very bad idea, but how it ended took it from "bad idea" to pure tragedy. This summer, however, due to low river and reservoir levels, CVP facilities are expected to generated only about 4,100 GWh--which is 18% below average. After SummerSlam, Roberts was placed in a feud with Randy Savage. Harry Smith Involved In Incident With Jake Roberts At WrestleCon By TS Staff Published Apr 10, 2018 Harry Smith didn't take too kindly to some things Roberts said about his late father, Davey Boy Smith, so he confronted Jake The Snake at WrestleCon. I had given up on life completely, I was just waiting to die. As he told Newsday, "We're changing the oil, we're changing the headlights, we're changing the damn tires, everything. Nobody knows what else he's gotten away with except the Snake himself. You got to have outlets and when the time comes and you know things are gonna happen then you just try to go through that and find a hole to hide in within yourself while its going on. That all changed thanks to events like Heroes of Wrestling, a pay-per-view that exposed the Snake as the near-hopeless mess he truly was at the time. My God, he giveth but he ain't got the balls to do nothin' else." After Snake stumbled to the mat, an exasperated Lightning forcefully held him down for an unscripted three-count. I never got a nickel out of that. I stayed there for some period of time. You couldnt see through my st.. In the attack, Roberts was (storyline) injured by DiBiase and needed time off to have surgery to repair the damage. McMahon wanted to add a live snake to his persona. Things got so awkward and bad, the promoter had to send two other wrestlers out to make it a tag team match, simply so Roberts didn't embarrass himself any further. Roberts always had a complicated family reality because his father was a pedophile with young women. I can wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and go, You know what dude, youre a bad son of bitch. In the late 1980s, Roberts made a guest appearance on the DJ Kat Show on Fox, challenging DJ to a match after the Kat had badmouthed the profession. In wrestling, Roberts got to be someone else when he walked through the curtain and the documentary gives you a look at the journey, which did not include going to a wrestling school. "NWA Wrestling Legends Hall of Heroes: Grizzly Smith, Class of 2008", "Southeastern Wrestling News, Notes, and Nostalgia: 11/13/2008", "NWA United States Tag Team Title (Tri-State)", "Mid-South (Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi)", "Sam Houston talks about his life after wrestling", "Sam Houston and Grizzly Smith rebuild their lives", "Cauliflower Alley Club: Remembering those we have lost in 2010", "Beyond the Mat - Pro Wrestling Documentary", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grizzly_Smith&oldid=1142379244, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 02:14. It's little wonder he preferred working with Lucifer, the devenomized king cobra he wielded as a bad guy. During a panel at Tidewater Comicon, Jake revealed why Watts did it. In 2013, Roberts announced his desire to return to WWE as a participant in the 2014 Royal Rumble. While Vince McMahon and booker 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. "[39] After his induction, he would continue to make sporadic appearances, and would also be a regular on WWE Story Time, even making an appearance on the show after his AEW debut. 6. Roberts finally got sober, all of which is chronicled in the Resurrection of Jake the Snake documentary. His attack on Randy Savage with a cobra stunned the fans. Use the arrow keys to control your snake and spacebar to pause. Once he began coming into his own, he stumbled into his famous DDT when The Grappler stepped on his left foot and he fell flat on his ass. The accident became one of pro wrestlings most devastating and protected finishers and changed Roberts career. Almost as well known is the dark side of Jake's life. Afterward, you just got to know that its not you, its them thats sick.. That in itself is usually a very bad idea, but how it ended took it from "bad idea" to pure tragedy. Roberts scored a pinfall victory over Sting, which built their feud further. In early to mid-1991, Roberts engaged in a feud with Earthquake who "squashed" Damien with a pair of Earthquake splashes during their match on the April 27 (taped March 26) edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling. Jake, perhaps finally sick of his old life, gave the program a shot between that and actually eating real food for once, he dropped 40 pounds in just a few months and dedicated himself entirely to the program. The Resurrection of Jake The Snake. Several years later, he's still in great shape, and is growing back the mullet to boot. Resurrection of Jake The Snake. It's a sign that, at long last, he's ready to live the good life he's always deserved. That was a bunch of BS. [27] These allegations were also the subject of the season 3 episode of Dark Side of the Ring named "In The Shadow of Grizzly Smith". As he told SI, "The snake was something to hide behind. Roberts admitted to Sports Illustrated in 2015 that he "can't stand snakes." It's a tale about trauma, tragedy and redemption. Rogers was knocked out when Roberts stuck the snake in Roger's pants. [15] After Rude began insulting Roberts, Cheryl slapped him, angering Rude before Roberts ran out for the save. In the spring of 1994, Roberts returned to the United States to wrestle for Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). February 26, 2023. As he explained, "I never wanted you to trust me.". Roberts proceeded to unleash a king cobra on Sid, until Hacksaw Jim Duggan intervened. In the summer of 1991 there were a series of televised vignettes featuring the Ultimate Warrior turning to Roberts for help in his feud with The Undertaker. Sadly, few if any higher-ups told him to get help until it was almost too late. Smith's health had been deteriorating for several years, and he developed a staphylococcal infection after scraping his leg the day before the storm hit. Roberts, who has been sober for 10 years, now wants to show others you can come back from anything. He was released in February 1997. It is the first time we hear some of his kids feelings about the pain his absence caused and the healing that has brought him back into their lives. Jake The Snake Net Worth: Jake The Snake has a net worth of $3 million. Other types used were a reticulated python named Lucifer, an unnamed devenomized cobra, and an albino Burmese python named Revelations (during Roberts' Christian conversion gimmick in 1996). But I'm excited.". In 2012, he moved in with fellow wrestler Diamond Dallas Page to seek help in getting his life back on track following years of alcohol and drug addiction, a period covered in the 2015 documentary The Resurrection of Jake the Snake. In November 2002, Roberts started his own wrestling promotion in the UK, called "Real Stars of Wrestling". But soon, Sid injured his biceps, which forced the feud to end.[10]. 116 Jake The Snake Roberts Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO All Sports Entertainment News Archival Browse 116 jake the snake roberts stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. His father wrestled as Aurelian "Grizzly" Smith, his half-brother, Michael Smith, wrestled as Sam Houston, and his half-sister, Robin Smith, wrestled as 'Rockin' Robin. [9], Smith then returned to Texas, where he was involved in a rivalry with The Spoiler. 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