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 create a sense of fear upon opponents and the audience watching him.
Roberts’ in-ring prowess became the driving influence for Diamond Dallas Page to step in between the ropes and make a name for himself in World Championship Wrestling and later in WWE.
Page was a three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but he almost never went back to wrestling after his first stint in the industry did not work out. He told Fox News Digital in a recent interview he had stopped watching pro wrestling altogether until he saw Roberts on his television screen.
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"I was flipping through the channels in 1986 and I saw this guy walk through the curtain and who’s this guy? He’s got a bag over his shoulder, a Fu Manchu, long hair and he had a different kind of swag that I had never seen watching him walk to the ring," Page said of Roberts. "And then went he got in the ring and you watched his matches, he was so believable … I couldn’t see through it.
"And then when I heard him cut a promo, I was like, ‘OK, I’m a huge fan again. Jake literally sucked me back into the TV and the next thing you know, I’m a wrestling fan again."
Maybe it was a sign of things to come.
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Page said he was running a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida, when he saw Roberts walk in. He said he ran around the building trying to get near him and strike up a conversation. The two hit it off and became very close after that.
Roberts’ story from a troubling childhood to the height of his wrestling fame to the addiction he battled with drugs and alcohol and to getting back to the WWE and being inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame will be featured in "Biography: WWE Legends" on Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on A&E.
Roberts was all over the wrestling map during his career, starting in Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling before making his debut in 1986 for the World Wrestling Federation (now known as WWE). He had various feuds with Randy Savage, the Honky Tonk Man, Andre the Giant, The Undertaker and others.
He would bring the snake down to the ring to intimidate his opponent and the crowd as well. Roberts admitted and Page corroborated that the wrestler was actually afraid of snakes.
"When he turns into Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, it doesn’t matter how big that snake is or if it’s a cobra or rattlesnake or whatever. … When I saw the python, I was like wow, this is a different level of something for the people to see," Page said. "He was a heel (bad guy) in the beginning. He was afraid of them as a kid growing up. He was scary. He was believable."
For Page, he really made his mark in WCW. Not only was he a WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but he was a four-time tag-team champion, a two-time U.S. champion and a TV champion. He didn’t have the same appeal when he moved to WWE even as he won the European Championship one time and a tag-team championship another time.
He told Fox News Digital he was in the WCW Power Plant training when he reconnected with Roberts after the legendary wrestler jumped to WCW himself.
"It was like brothers from there on. It was like being at the foot of Yoda because me and Kevin Nash were tag-team partners at that point and Jake is in the company so we grab his bags, we drive the car, like we just wanted to be at the foot of Yoda," Page said. "Jake has always been known as the greatest ring psychologist on the planet because his matches were so believable and he never had the big explosion in the middle, everything led to the finish."
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Page and Roberts became even closer of the course of their careers. He said Roberts was living with him for a bit but had to kick him out after "he lost a 12-foot King Cobra" in his house. He added that Roberts moved to Georgia and let Page bring him tapes of his matches to go over.
"Him and Dusty (Rhodes), they taught me so much," Page said. "I would never have been able to have a career, never mind a Hall of Fame career, without Dusty and Jake."
Roberts’ road to sobriety with Page’s help is chronicled in the documentary "The Resurrection of Jake the Snake." After 18 months, Page helped Roberts lose enough weight for the former wrestler to regain mobility.
Page said it was an honor for him to induct Roberts into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
"When you start (the documentary), you see Jake at his lowest of lows, 300 pounds, I mean he’s walking death," he told Fox News Digital. "From the moment we started, my goal was to get Jake to be able to walk away from the business with his head held high. The way it should’ve been.
"His goal was to be in the (Royal) Rumble. My goal was always the Hall of Fame."
Roberts, whose real name is Aurelian Smith Jr., currently works in All Elite Wrestling as a special adviser in the company’s community outreach program.
