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He's making life a real circus for Jake 'The Snake' Roberts

Posted: Jul 10th 2009 By: mikeiles

Jake "The Snake" Roberts has more lives than any cat.

Roberts has resurfaced as a headliner, albeit not in the traditional setting that led to pro-wrestling stardom. In fact, the grappling genre seems tame by comparison.

The Jim Rose Circus vs. Jake "The Snake" Roberts tour is touted as combining "pretty girls, wrestling, amazing circus stunts and a fistfight." Rose -- known for performing and promoting over-the-top acts that Barnum and Bailey would never sanction -- has created what he describes as a "hybrid type of theater that incorporates iconic wrestling into a circus story line."

That plot centers around Roberts, a brilliant performer whose wrestling career was ruined by substance abuse. Roberts was some of the inspiration behind the critically acclaimed movie "The Wrestler," whose main character, Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke), struggled with a fall from grace and alienation from his family. Roberts, 54, had his own addiction problems chronicled in the 1999 documentary "Beyond the Mat."

"'The Wrestler' came out and Jake's phone started ring off the hook with offers," Rose said Monday in a telephone interview. "Jake and I have a mutual best friend named Sinn Bodhi (former World Wrestling Entertainment grappler Nick "Kizarny" Cvjetkovich). Jake isn't really connected in the Hollywood circuit, so he started talking to me about it. We started goofing around and the next thing I realize, we've got a show here."

Rose has cast Roberts as an aging grappler who wants to quit battling only to get drawn back into violence by younger fighters looking to use him as a stepping-stone. Along the way, Roberts, Kizarny and the rest of the troupe perform the types of twisted, self-mutilating stunts that helped put Rose on the alternative-entertainment map in the early 1990s.

Rose bristled when asked whether he was taking a risk by running a two-month tour headlined by a performer with Roberts' history.

"I can verify that this man has made amends to all his loved ones and friends," said Rose, who became a Roberts fan during the mid-1980s when watching him work in WWE. "He has really worked himself back into shape. He's on top of his game. I see it in his eyes. He will come to every show and shine. I'm proud to call him a friend."

This isn't Rose's first foray into grappling-flavored entertainment. Rose has run previous tours featuring women's sumo and Mexican transvestite wrestling.

While not an avid fan of today's mainstream product, Rose is well aware that pro wrestling's roots were planted in carnivals during the early 1900s when performers would stage a brawl in front of an unknowing public.

"A fistfight would take place in the midway," Rose said. "It would create a big crowd. As soon as the fight was broken up by the carnies, they would ask people to come into their tent and see the oddities. Wrestling started as a circus draw, so the two are interlocked."

Rose's tour with Roberts wraps in September. Rose, though, believes Roberts is headed toward bigger and better things once again.

"I didn't get burned in life by things like Jake did," Rose said. "My goal is to help Jake take advantage of everything being offered to him in Hollywood. He deserves that."

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/jimrosecircus.

Tags: Jake Roberts, WWE