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Jake "The Snake" is Bringing His Snakes to Chester

Posted: May 11th 2007 By: CMBurnham

Jake ?The Snake? Roberts said the only time he doesn't feel pain is when he's in the wrestling ring.

?I just go to a different place in the ring,? Roberts said. ?There's no pain, no anger, no bad things happen. It's an amazing feeling to bring a crowd to whatever emotional level you want to.?

Roberts hopes to bring the crowd at the APW Arena in Chester to an emotional high when he appears at Saturday night's show.

Roberts has been wrestling for 33 years, starting when he was 19 years old. Interestingly, he had no plans to enter the business, instead having his eyes set on a career as an architect.

That changed when he graduated from high school. Roberts said he was upset that his father didn't congratulate him on his academic achievements (he was a straight ?A? student and the first member of his family to earn a diploma). Tired of the lack of support, Roberts decided to enter his father's business, professional wrestling, and dominate it.

The early returns were not quite what he expected.

?I figured he'd be proud of me if I could beat up some wrestlers,? Roberts said. ?In my first match, I spent 15 minutes getting my body bent into positions it had never been in before. The gentleman I was wrestling was kind enough to wait on me to come to before continuing the beating.?


Roberts said he was literally laughed out of the ring. He steadily improved, though.

?I learned through trial and error,? Roberts said.

Roberts quickly rose to prominence, competing in every major organization and abroad. In the late 1970s he adopted the nickname ?The Snake?.

?Ken ?The Snake' Stabler was one of my favorite football players then,? Roberts said.

The name took on a new meaning when Roberts actually began bringing a snake to the ring in a bag.

?I'd wanted to do it for a while, but no one would let me,? Roberts said. ?I pitched the idea to a promoter in New York and he said to go with it.?

The promoter wanted Roberts to wear spandex and lace-up boots. Roberts balked, at first.

?I told him there was no way I was doing that,? Roberts said. ?He told me I could probably make a million dollars a year. Suddenly I thought to myself ?I wouldn't look that bad in spandex and lace-up boots.'?

After winning his matches, Roberts would get ?Damien?, his Burmese python, out and drape the reptile over his fallen opponents. He said he would occasionally stick the snake in the loser's pants.

Roberts said many people refused to wrestle him because of their fear of snakes. Roberts himself said he grew up petrified of snakes.

While fans might have thought ?Damien? was Roberts' pet, there were actually many snakes that played the part of his ringside mascot.

?A guy in Connecticut, who looked like Charles Manson by the way, would send me a new snake ever five or six days,? Roberts said. ?When snakes travel, they get pneumonia very easily and it takes them a while to get well.?

Roberts said handling the animals was difficult, A just-fed snake can be easily hurt, while a hungry one is liable to hurt the person handling it.

Roberts found that out the hard way when one of his snakes bit his elbow, causing a wound that required 24 stitches to close.

In addition to the snake, Roberts was also known for his finishing move, the ?DDT?, which involved putting an opponent in a headlock, then simultaneously using his knee to lift their body up and falling backwards to drive their head into the mat.

While wrestling in the WWF, Roberts feuded briefly with then-champ Hulk Hogan. The feud was broken off quickly when the crowds embraced Roberts, chanting ?DDT.?

?That would have messed up their marketing plans,? Roberts said. ?They had millions of dollars invested in Hogan. They weren't going to have me mess that up.?

Roberts said he thinks crowds came to his side, despite his ?bad guy? status, because they respected him.

?In baseball, how do you decide which team to pull for?? Roberts asked. ?You go with the best team, right? Wrestling is no different. You take the side of the guy you think is tougher.?

Roberts is not really impressed with the state of wrestling now, saying that ?WWE? stands for ?worst wrestling ever.? He said young wrestlers don't get the training they need, which is one reason he's opening a wrestling school.

Roberts now wrestles ?when I want, and were I want? on the independent circuits. He said he was looking forward to the Chester show Saturday, in the same way he does every show.

?I've had a lot of injuries over the years,? Roberts said. ?I've had a hip replaced, my wrist had to be reconstructed, but I forget about all that when I'm in the ring.?

He doesn't feel pain in the ring, but his opponents usually do.

Saturday night's show will also feature former NWA star Baby Doll.

The APW Arena is located on the J.A. Cochran Bypass behind Scooters.