Posted in: Ripped to Shreds Ripped To Shreds #64: Is He A Hall Of Famer? Part 3 (Jake The Snake, Jim Neidhart, Rikishi
By Ripper
Feb 2, 2012 - 7:59:28 PM
Ripped To Shreds #64: Is He A Hall Of Fame? Part 3- Jake The Snake, Jim Neidhart, Rikishi
Welcome to Ripped To Shreds. I just posted a column the other day, and I feel like posting one now. So I will.
This is the same as last time. I chose 3 former WWE Superstars and decided whether or not they should make it into the WWE Hall Of Fame someday.
If you have any feedback for this column, you may send it to
When professional wrestling was running wild in the eighties, brother, there were some main stays that definitely made significant contributions. Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, and Andre The Giant were obviously household names. It was tough to crack into WWE’s main event scene in the eighties, even for guys as talented as Mr. Perfect, Rick Rude, Ted Dibiase, and so forth. They were in some main events, but for the most part they were used as mid-carders in WWE. Another name to that list is Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Jake didn’t exactly have a chiseled physique. He’d probably come in last in a body building contest. But by no means was he short on talent. He was a master of in ring psychology and almost always gave the audience something special. As Bad News Brown said in a shoot interview “Wrestling Jake Roberts was like a night off for me.” But Jake is best remembered for skills on the microphone. He usually didn’t come across as intense. He came across as a cold, calculating person who was slightly creepy, as both a face and a heel. He wasn’t that intense because, as Jake said, “A person who already has power can speak softly. “
How would Jake have been as a main eventer? He discussed this before. Once during the eighties when he was a heel, he had an on screen altercation with Hulk Hogan. It wasn’t a match, but Hogan ended up getting the DDT from Jake. The crowd started chanting “DDT! DDT! DDT!”. WWE did not want to detract from Hogan’s exploding popularity, so they understandably kept those two away from each other. According to Jake, he was then used as a wrestler who got other superstars ready to wrestle Hulk Hogan. It’s a shame, because it would have been interesting to see how Roberts would have done. He was simply on fire as a heel in late 1991 through Wrestlemania 8, where he ended his first run with WWE.
Jake also is well known for his constant drug use over the years. He said he wrestled in an inebriated state for about two years straight. But to be fair, he wasn’t the only guy in the locker room who used drugs. A lot of his coworkers were familiar with using drugs like cocaine.
Will Jake Roberts be inducted into WWE’s Hall Of Fame? With Jake’s well known track record with narcotics, it might be bad publicity to honor someone like that. He’s certainly not Chris Benoit, but it would be bad none the less.
Should he get in? Absolutely. He’s one of the best talkers in the modern wrestling era (1984- present, since Vince McMahon Jr. took over). No one could match Jake’s in ring psychology. His run in 1996 where he was a born again Christian was nothing spectacular, but he will always be remembered for his run during the Rockin’ Wrestling Era. Making Andre scared of the snake, locking the Ultimate Warrior in a casket, crashing Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth’s wedding reception, coming to the ring with Alice Cooper at Wrestlemania 3… I could go on and on. He won’t get in any time soon due to WWE wanting to portray a more wholesome image now a days, but as the years go on… there’s no question. He is very, very deserving.
Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart
In addition to the great singles competitors in the eighties, there was also a flourishing tag-team division. Older fans may remember the Killer Bees and Strike Force. Fans who were slightly to young for those teams might remember Demolition, the Legion Of Doom, The Rockers, Buschwackers, and of course The Hart Foundation.
Before Bret Hart was a wrestling legend, he teamed up with his big, strong, hairy brother in law, Jim Neidhart. WWE always claimed he got his nickname “The Anvil” from winning an anvil throwing contest. In Bret’s book, he claims that is one hundred percent true.
The Hart Foundation was a great tag-team. The combination of a smaller, thinner guy who was faster with a bigger “straight ahead, bulldozer guy” (as Christian described him) was a good combination. A little bit like Big Show and Chris Jericho a few years ago. They could out wrestle you in a technical wrestling match, and could beat you with strength and power if need be. While Bret Hart’s interview skills weren’t all that impressive, Jim could more than make up for it. He has a little bit of a wild personality, and was pretty much an all around entertaining character.
He and Bret went on to win the tag titles twice, but after Bret became a singles wrestler (during his second singles run) Jim went into obscurity. He came back as a heel to back up his brother in law Owen Hart for a while. He then came back to align himself with the Hart Foundation (which was then a decent sized stable), but left not too long after the infamous Montreal Screw Job.
Will Jim Neidhart be inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame? If a wrestler has both a tag team run and a singles run, they usually are more remembered for the singles run. Marty Jannetty and Matt Hardy come to mind (although I’m a big fan of Matt). There is no chance in hell for Jim to get in as a singles performer. His singles runs were sporadic and unmemorable.
Should he get in? The Hart Foundation as a tag team is definitely one of the all time great teams. Even though Bret Hart’s fantastic singles career overshadows what The Hart Foundation accomplished, they were a big enough staple of their era to earn a spot in the Hall Of Fame. Maybe not soon, but they should get in and someday probably will.
Rikishi
Solofa Fatu Jr., better known for his time in WWE as Rikishi, first gained recognition as a member the The Samoan Swat Team, a tag- team that competed for various promotions in the eighties, including AWA and WCCA, under the name Fatu.
In 1992 The Samoan Swat Team arrived in WWE, but were newly labeled as The Headshrinkers. During that time they wrestled against The Steiner Brothers, but they were pretty much their only memorable tag team opponents. Men On A Mission, The Quebeckers, The Smoking Gunns… the tag team era back in the mid nineties just wasn’t the best. The Headshrinkers did manage to capture the tag team titles, but the truth is they never made all that much of an impact. Their tag team peers were not big stars, and yet they still couldn’t manage to be big stars themselves.
Solofa eventually was given a singles run and portrayed himself as a man from the streets who wanted to make a positive difference. He said kids didn’t have to use drugs or resort to violence in their lives. Despite his efforts, Solofa did not make it big.
However, he did eventually gain upper mid-card status in WWE. In late 1999 Solofa re-debuted under a new name, Rikishi Phatu. He gained so much weight that he was over 400 lbs., but he had excellent mobility for a wrestler his size. He performed in a thong and one of his signature moves, The Stink Face, had him rubbing his ass into his opponent’s face while laying upright in a corner.
This time around Rikishi was given more opportunities by having matches with bigger stars. He even became involved in the main event scene briefly as he was revealed to be the person who ran over Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series 1999. A memorable moment on par with this occurred at Wrestlemania 2000, when he delivered the Stink Face to baseball legend Pete Rose.
Rikishi eventually fell from his upper mid card status, and to be honest, he really was only a big deal during the Attitude Era. He was entertaining, but didn’t contribute anything note worthy for a long enough period of time. Should he get in? He should, and probably will, at least be considered. Will he get in? Unless The Rock, his real life cousin, pulls some strings with WWE management, I see him as missing the cut.
***
I hope you enjoyed that.
Again, if you have any feedback for this column, you may send it to
