Collection: Jake " the Snake " Roberts

Very Scary villian of the ring.

Menacing, intimidating and totally hypnotic in the ring, Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a Superstar capable of taking you down physically as well as psychologically. 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. His DDT finishing move is still one of the most brutal finishers ever unleashed on a Superstar.

The son of noted grappler Grizzly Smith, Roberts was born into a sports-entertainment family. Eager to follow in his father’s footsteps, Roberts began competing in the early ’70s, making a name for himself in promotions throughout the South. In 1983, he tasted success for the first time, winning the NWA World Television Championship while wrestling with Georgia Championship Wrestling.

Roberts then took his talent, and his patented DDT finisher to the pinnacle of entertainment, WWE, arriving at the promotion in 1986. Right out of the gate, the Snake sought to make a name for himself, targeting fan favorite Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. He made his intentions known when he savagely DDT’d Steamboat onto a concrete floor, putting him in the hospital for weeks.