gold star for USAHOF

Jake Roberts to the WWE HOF



Tonight on Monday Night RAW Jake “The Snake” Roberts has been named the second inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2014. Roberts; career began in 1974, and he would find success by the early 80’s in the Georgia Territory, as well as a successful run for Bill Watts in Mid South.


In early 1986, he made the jump to the World Wrestling Federation, though this time he was not just billed as “The Snake”, he carried one with him to the ring. On the May edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, Jake entered into his first feud in the WWF when he DDT’s Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Roberts may have been the “bad guy” in the rivalry but slowly the fans wanted to cheer him.

It was not just the reptile that made him different. Jake was a master psychologist in the ring and was able to toy with emotions of the fans with ease. He eschewed the standard yelling that wrestlers did in interviews in favor of an ominous and soft spoken word. It was chilling and it forced viewers to turn up the volume rather than turn it down; basically he made you pay attention!

Roberts would turn “face” by the will of the fans and would have high level feuds with the Honky Tonk Man, “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Andre The Giant, Ted DiBiase and Rick Martel and return to as a methodical heel when he turned on Randy “Macho Man” Savage.

His first run in the WWF ended in 1992, after which he had a short stint in WCW, main eventing the Halloween Havoc Pay Per View and setting a buy rate record for the company at the time. Due to cutbacks, he left WCW shortly after and worked in regionals and in Mexico before returning to the WWF in 1996, where this time he lasted a year and a half, but was released after his issues with substance abuse returned.

The last ten years, fans awaited the news of his death as he was often doing appearances in no condition to work, and his segment in the wrestling documentary; “Beyond the Mat” was horrifying. Thankfully, with the help of Diamond Dallas Page, “The Snake” has kicked the demons that plagued for decades and on “Old School RAW” he made a surprise and triumphant return to the WWE, fueling speculation that the WWE would be ready to induct him feeling that he finally had gotten his life in order.

Jake will be inducted along with the Ultimate Warrior in New Orleans, the night before Wrestlemania XXX.

Last modified on Thursday, 19 March 2015 18:47
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