411’s WWE Greatest Moments Report: Jake “The Snake” Roberts

-Written: 5.18.26
-Source: A&E

-Plugs: Last time: RAW in the 2000s

-This should be interesting as we don’t get too much celebrating Jake.

-Michael Cole is our host!

10. The First Bite
-April 21, 1986

-Jake’s WWF debut. He says he was terrified of snakes, but wanted the job. The talking heads bring up how the snake got your attention but it was Jake’s promos that captivated you. Jake says the snake character let him get his dark side out.

9. Serpents Unite
–WrestleMania III

-Jake vs. Honky Tonk Man on the biggest show in history. Jake lost the match, but the point here is how perfect the pairing of Jake and Alice Cooper were. Honky cheats to win and bails which means Jimmy gets the snake treatment with Alice Cooper helping.

8. Venomous Vocals
–WrestleMania VI

-This is more about the promo instead of the match with Ted Dibiase. It’s a memorable promo as Jake says Ted will be the one groveling for his money and a victim of his own greed. Good stuff as it was a classic case of Jake getting his point across without having to yell. Ted ended up winning the match by count-out though.

-Commercials!

7. A Stinging Bite
-July 12, 1992

-Jake’s shocking debut in WCW as he comes through the crowd and attacks Sting. It was a fantastic debut and they popped a big buy for Halloween Havoc and their match, but that was as high as his WCW run would get. Jake says it was a blast to have that much heat as the fans were angry. No story about Watts getting fired and Jake losing his bid money contract.

6. Never Trust A Snake
-August 3, 1991

-Jake says it was time to turn heel and going after Warrior was the best way. I remember watching this week after week sitting in my grandma’s living room. Jake was training Warrior to deal with the darkness to get ready for Undertaker. Warrior in a snake pit getting bit by snakes and having to break a door down. Jake then tells Warrior to never trust a snake and the heel turn is complete. Warrior then disappeared and they had to find someone else, but that’s a different (and 1000 times better) story.

-Commercials

5. Reptilian Retribution
-Sept. 10, 1988

-Another memory burned in my brain as a child. Rick Rude puts Jake’s wife, Cheryl, on his tights and hits on her when she is in the front row. Jake is less than pleased and rips the tights off Rude and at home we get a black spot covering what I assumed was Rude’s bare ass. Turns out he was wearing a thong. The whole deal was the talk of the wrestling fans at school over the next few days.

4. Python Panic
-Oct. 29, 1988

-Right from the feud with Rude, Jake gets attacked by Andre The Giant (who was part of Heenan’s Family). Jake says he loved working with Andre. Taker notes Andre was terrified of snakes, Jake throws the snake on him and we get the angle where Andre is having a heart attack. Jake says the angle was gold and we get Heenan pounding on Andre’s chest.

3. The Blind Leading The Blind
–WrestleMania VII

-Rick Martel blinds Jake with his arrogance cologne and it leads to the famous blindfold match. Some people hate the match but they worked that crowd into a frenzy. Jake says he loved the match as they accomplished so much with doing so little. I am shocked Randy Orton hasn’t wanted to do a blindfold match because that would be right up his alley. The crowd loved it and I found it entertaining. Jake gets the win.

-Commercials!

2. Snake-Bitten
-Nov. 23, 1991

-YES! This should be number one! Jake says he still gets excited when he sees the moment pop up. Jake and Randy Savage have one of the greatest feuds ever and Jake has his cobra bite Savage on the bicep as our friendly Saturday morning show got DARK quick. Kids are crying in the front row. Jake can’t get the snake off and then Randy is rushed away on a stretcher with Liz screaming. Oh, I love this moment so much.

1. The Concrete Finisher
-May 2, 1986

-Yeah, I can see why this would be the top moment. I would still go with the Randy moment, but this was great in a different way. Jake and Ricky Steamboat are in a heated feud and have a match on SNME and they want Jake to hit Ricky with a DDT on the floor. Jake doesn’t want as he knows it can’t be safe. Ricky says he can do it and Jake relents. Jake hits the DDT and Steamboat cracks his head off the concrete floor (no padding). Ricky say she wasn’t ready and he immediately started getting swelling. Jake had to lift Ricky’s body back in the ring and officials were already rushing down to check on Ricky. Dragon admits it could have ended his career. The DDT is no joke and yes, that gives me the chance to tell the story again of how I gave my then girlfriend a DDT on a bed and it ended up bruising my sternum. One trip to the ER and I was out of school and work for a few days with bed rest.

-As always the main point of this show for me is nostalgia and we got some good stuff from the 80s and early 90s. Jake was always more about the character and angles/promos. He was great at that stuff and psychology of a match. They hit the high points here and probably could have a done a list of Top 10 moments just from the Savage feud. Fun stuff this time. Thanks for reading!