Jake Roberts is best known for his two stints in the World Wrestling Federation ; the first between 1986 and 1992, and the second between 1996 and 1997.
96 Facts About Jake Roberts
2.
Jake Roberts wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance in 1983, World Championship Wrestling in 1992, and the Mexico-based Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion between 1993 and 1994 and again in 1997.
3.
Jake Roberts appeared in Extreme Championship Wrestling during the summer of 1997 and made appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2006 through 2008.
4.
Jake Roberts often brought snakes into the ring, most famously a python.
5.
Jake Roberts was one of the subjects of the 1999 documentary film Beyond the Mat.
6.
Jake Roberts was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 5,2014, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2020.
7.
Jake Roberts lived with his grandmother until she died in 1966, forcing him to move back to live with his father and his new wife.
8.
Jake Roberts has a half-brother, Michael Smith, and a half-sister, Robin Smith, both of whom became wrestlers.
9.
Jake 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.
10.
Jake Roberts had trouble developing his character, so in the late 1970s he traveled to Canada to wrestle.
11.
In 1984, Jake Roberts entered World Class Championship Wrestling 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.
12.
Jake Roberts debuted in the World Wrestling Federation on March 8,1986, at the Boston Garden defeating Jose Luis Rivera.
13.
Jake 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.
14.
In late 1986, Jake Roberts began to enjoy an upsurge in fan popularity, despite the WWF's attempts to cast him as an unpopular villain.
15.
In November 1986, Jake Roberts challenged Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Championship.
16.
However, after Jake 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.
17.
Years later in a 2015 shoot interview, Jake Roberts jokingly thanked the fans for ruining what would have been the biggest 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.
18.
Jake Roberts officially turned face when he feuded with The Honky Tonk Man, an Elvis impersonator, who attacked Roberts with a guitar during his interview segment The Snake Pit.
19.
The attack led to their match at WrestleMania III in which Jake Roberts had Detroit native Alice Cooper in his corner.
20.
Jake Roberts then had a feud with "Ravishing" Rick Rude and his manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who began a gimmick of selecting a woman from the crowd to kiss after each match.
21.
Jake Roberts moved from the feud with Rude into a feud with Andre the Giant who was managed by Bobby Heenan.
22.
Jake Roberts came to the ring to help Beefcake, who eventually won by disqualification.
23.
Jake Roberts used his snake Damien to scare Andre into an eventual "heart attack".
24.
Shortly after his feud with Andre had ended, Jake Roberts entered into a feud with Ted DiBiase.
25.
Jake Roberts returned and feuded with DiBiase throughout the end of 1989 into 1990, including a point where Jake Roberts stole DiBiase's Million Dollar Belt, daring him or Virgil to reach into the canvas sack where Damien was to retrieve it.
26.
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 Jake Roberts, thus regaining his non-sanctioned title.
27.
Jake Roberts went so far as to wear white contact lenses to "prove" his blindness.
28.
The bout ended after Jake Roberts was able to "locate" Martel and deliver a DDT.
29.
In early to mid-1991, Jake Roberts engaged in a feud with Earthquake who "squashed" Damien with a pair of Earthquake splashes during their match on the April 27 edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling.
30.
In reality, Jake Roberts' bag contained hamburger meat intended to look like a snake and a small mechanical device to depict movement.
31.
Jake Roberts later introduced a new snake, Damien's "big brother" Lucifer.
32.
Jake Roberts proceeded to unleash a king cobra on Sid, until Hacksaw Jim Duggan intervened.
33.
Jake Roberts stated that the cobra died a week after the angle and he joked that the cobra must have got the venom from him.
34.
Just as Jake Roberts was about to swing the chair, he was stopped by the Undertaker; Jake Roberts was distracted long enough for Savage to hit him with the chair instead.
35.
Jake Roberts stated in a shoot interview with Jim Ross that the feud with Savage had to end early because Elizabeth's parents were upset with Savage for not protecting Elizabeth when Jake Roberts kayfabe slapped her.
36.
Jake Roberts appeared on The Funeral Parlor to demand answers from the Undertaker about why he stopped him from attacking Elizabeth.
37.
When Jake Roberts was dissatisfied with the answers, he hit Bearer with a DDT and, after jamming Undertaker's hand in a coffin, began hitting him with a steel chair; however, Undertaker got up after each chair shot and eventually chased Jake Roberts backstage dragging the coffin behind him.
38.
At WrestleMania VIII, Jake Roberts lost the match, becoming the second man to lose to The Undertaker at WrestleMania.
39.
Jake Roberts's departure came after he was upset that WWF chairman Vince McMahon did not offer him a position on the writing staff, despite being promised such previously.
40.
Jake Roberts felt he was not only being lied to, but being betrayed.
41.
On his Pick Your Poison DVD, Jake Roberts expressed his regret for his actions to get a release from his contract.
42.
Jake Roberts 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.
43.
Jake Roberts made his first television appearance on August 2,1992, at a Main Event taping in Baltimore, Maryland after coming through the crowd to attack Sting.
44.
Jake Roberts scored a pinfall victory over Sting, which built their feud further.
45.
Jake Roberts was replaced in the tournament by The Barbarian.
46.
Jake Roberts's gimmick mirrored his real life, as Roberts had recently become a born-again Christian and had been preaching around the country.
47.
Jake Roberts next feuded with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who went to great lengths to ridicule Jake Roberts' past alcoholism.
48.
Jake Roberts's introduction came towards the end of a match between Lawler and Tommy Dreamer, which was the main event of the show.
49.
Moments later when the lights came back on, Jake Roberts was already in the ring, and proceeded to give Tommy Dreamer a clothesline.
50.
Jake Roberts teamed with Tommy Dreamer at the 1998 November to Remember as his mystery partner defeating Justin Credible and Jack Victory.
51.
In October 1999, Jake Roberts was one of several former NWA, WWF, and ECW wrestlers brought in to compete in the first Heroes of Wrestling event in Bay St Louis, Mississippi.
52.
Jake Roberts 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.
53.
Jake Roberts was so intoxicated that during the course of the night, he slurred his way through a promo before the match and staggered to, from, and around the ring during his entrance.
54.
Jake Roberts, who was so drunk that he could not stand up, took the fall in the match after Bundy splashed and pinned him.
55.
In 2001, Jake Roberts moved to Great Britain, where he began competing for Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling.
56.
On October 20,2002, Jake Roberts became the NWA UK Hammerlock Heavyweight Champion in Maidstone, Kent, England by defeating "Vigilante" Johnny Moss.
57.
In November 2002, Jake Roberts started his own wrestling promotion in the UK, called "Real Stars of Wrestling".
58.
However, Jake Roberts turned up at the show "in no fit state to compete", but went ahead with his match.
59.
Jake 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.
60.
Jake Roberts made an appearance at Booker T's Houston-based Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, in which he cut a promo urging those who want to enter the wrestling business to not follow along his path.
61.
PWA wrestler "Rockstar" Robbie Gillmore then interrupted Jake Roberts and attempted to make an alliance based upon the fact that Robbie wears an 80s style shirt featuring a cobra.
62.
Jake Roberts had just said all he ever wanted was a little respect, and the Rockstar's interruption irritated him.
63.
On January 29,2011, Jake Roberts wrestled what was billed as his retirement match, when he defeated Sinn Bodhi at the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend.
64.
On May 18,2013, Jake Roberts returned to the ring for First State Championship Wrestling, a Delaware-based wrestling promotion, as part of an eight-man tag team main event.
65.
Jake Roberts teamed with Eric Chapel and CraziiWolf, defeating the team of Salvatore Sincere, Steve C Wrestling and Pretty Ugly.
66.
On March 15,2014, Jake Roberts debuted in Regional Championship Wrestling's Rumblemania 9 in Reading, Pennsylvania as a surprise partner for Cliff Serenyi against Russian Mafia with Rich Rogers.
67.
Rogers was knocked out when Jake Roberts stuck the snake in Roger's pants.
68.
On June 15,2014, Jake Roberts was an entrant in the CWF Hollywood Red Carpet Rumble which was won by Willie Mack.
69.
Jake Roberts announced he would referee the Monster's Ball match between Brother Runt, Abyss, Raven, and Samoa Joe at Bound for Glory.
70.
Jake Roberts made a one-night return to TNA in 2008 as a guest of "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and SoCal Val's storyline wedding at Slammiversary.
71.
Jake Roberts made an appearance on March 14,2005, on Raw, where he confronted Randy Orton, who was preparing to challenge The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21.
72.
Jake Roberts warned Orton that facing The Undertaker, particularly at WrestleMania, could be a soul-altering experience; he then fell victim to Orton's "RKO," helping to fuel Orton's "Legend Killer" gimmick.
73.
Jake Roberts worked with the company to create a DVD retrospective of his career, which was released later that year.
74.
In 2013, Jake Roberts announced his desire to return to WWE as a participant in the 2014 Royal Rumble.
75.
On January 6,2014, Jake Roberts made an appearance on the "Old School" episode of Raw, laying a python over the face of an unconscious Dean Ambrose.
76.
Notably, although Ambrose's onscreen character was unconscious, he himself was visibly attempting not to smile during the segment as Jake Roberts had been his favorite wrestler during his childhood.
77.
Jake Roberts did not appear at the Royal Rumble event, but was announced as part of the 2014 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame.
78.
Jake Roberts was inducted by Diamond Dallas Page on April 5,2014.
79.
On March 11,2020, Jake Roberts revealed Lance Archer as his new client.
80.
At Double or Nothing on May 23,2020, Archer lost the final to Cody Rhodes after Mike Tyson prevented Jake Roberts from interfering on Archer's behalf in the finals match for the new AEW TNT Championship.
81.
In July 2021, Jake Roberts announced he had signed a 2-year contract extension with AEW.
82.
In 2022, Jake Roberts would reunite with Archer, who at the time aligned himself with American Top Team leader Dan Lambert, during Archer's feud with Adam Page for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship.
83.
In 2018, Jake Roberts embarked on his a series of spoken word shows dubbed The Dirty Details Tour, subtitled "Tales From The Pit".
84.
In 1999, Jake Roberts was unflatteringly featured in the wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat.
85.
Jake Roberts was shown enjoying the taste of a post match cigarette.
86.
Jake Roberts appeared as Mr Lucas, the owner of a gourmet condom company, in the comedy film, The Bet which featured Dallas Page and Roddy Piper.
87.
Jake Roberts made an appearance in An Almost True Story: TOXIC TUTU in 2015, as himself, in a scene with Jonny Fairplay from Survivor.
88.
Jake Roberts has a role in the 2019 film The Peanut Butter Falcon.
89.
Jake Roberts was placed in a 14-week voluntary rehab program by WWE in December 2007.
90.
In May 2008, Jim Ross reported that Jake Roberts "has been doing well the past few weeks, after completing a treatment program".
91.
In February 2014, TMZ reported that Jake Roberts had muscular cancer below his knee and was scheduled to go into surgery.
92.
Magee said that Jake Roberts was induced to a "coma-like" state in order to treat pneumonia.
93.
Jake Roberts was diagnosed with the flu two weeks earlier and ignored doctors' advice of rest and continued to travel to events.
94.
Doctors found an abnormality on his brain which they felt could be a result of all the bumps Jake Roberts took over his long career.
95.
Jim Ross in one of the episodes of his 'Grilling JR' podcast revealed that Jake Roberts still remains in poor health with breathing issues and pending surgeries.
96.
In November 2020, Jake Roberts was taken to the hospital after feeling breathless during a long period of persistent coughing.