Take up thy Wrestling Boots and Walk - Jake "The Snake" Roberts "Pick your Poison" DVD review
Submitted by Pt2 on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 5:40 PM EST





I don’t often do DVD reviews – or PPV reviews, show reviews, reviews of any kind for that matter. I don’t do the PPV or show reviews because there are already lots of columns that do them, and do them well for that matter – but primarily I don’t do the DVD reviews because I used to think that by the time I got them, that a) lots of people would already have reviewed them and b) no one would actually care anymore.

I would feel somewhat remiss, however, if I didn’t give a review of the Jake “the Snake” Roberts release. Jake Roberts (born


The DVD begins with a piece of writing from Jake himself, scrolling up the screen – the themes are predictably dark, and the music in the background reflects it. Does it add anything to the DVD? Well, I suppose that would be up to you to decide. You like that sort of thing.

The DVD program starts proper, as many of these WWE packages do, with a montage that recaps Jake’s talent, and predictably his demons (and quite accurately pulls out the fact that without those demon’s, he could have been whatever he wanted in the business). These images finish with Jake poignantly adding his thought “Please don’t try and be like Jake Roberts. Hell, I have a hard time doing it”.

From there, we move straight to a picture of Jake as a baby – and we get a recap of the harsh realities of Jake’s childhood in Gainsborough, Texas, and in depth look at how Jake moves from house to house as a child and the emotional and familial problems that he faced.

These opening chapters, documenting the relationships between Jake and his mother/stepfather, Jake and his Grandmother, Jake and his father/stepmother, and Jake and his sister, are all hard to approach critically. I think ultimately, you have to break it up into the two groups of people that will be watching – the casual, or wrestling general fans may find that this goes on for some time, and become slightly bored, pleading for him to decide to put on the tights and get into wrestling. For the Jake Roberts fan, however, who see him as one of the most intense and interesting characters in the sports entertainment world of wrestling – for them, this could be a quite important look at how someone with the talent of Jake Roberts could end up the way that he did, after the highs of Wrestlemania – and the lows, that are equally well documented.

The chapter on wrestling begins – and Jake talks about refereeing at his father, Grizzly Smith’s, request, and also finally becoming clued into the real world of pro wrestling (his father allegedly encouraging his children to see wrestling as legitimate as opposed to pre-determined), and we are also told the well documented story of Jake being told by his father that he would never make it, and deciding to become bigger than his father in the sport. We also get an insight into Jake’s mindset, when he mentions being uncomfortable with the fans and other wrestlers in the locker room looking up to and respecting his father, when he is aware of what happened behind closed doors in their unstable family lifestyle.

Jake revisits his early career – he takes us through his stints in Louisiana and at Championship in Florida, before moving back to wrestle in his birth state of Texas. He then mentions working short stints in lots of territories (something that certainly helped his game and that people can’t do anymore) before returning to Louisiana.

At this point in the DVD, Ted DiBiase, Hugo Savinovich, and Jim Ross begin talking about the Jake Roberts that was developing in this stint at Mid-South. Roberts then discusses being forced to work while injured, and acquiring a more serious eight month injury – it is obvious from the DVD that this event in his life still rankles somewhat with Roberts to this day.

From there, we get a brief clip of Jake in Crockett Promotions (Mid Atlantic), intercut with Ricky Steamboat giving an appraisal of Jake’s skills: “Here is a guy that has psychology in our business down to a science”. This scene is however, very short, and we move very quickly from it into a discussion about Jake’s transition from the knee lift as a finishing manoeuvre, through the accidental birth of the DDT to it’s position as respected wrestling move and popular fixture in Jake Roberts matches. Jake also talks about the correct way to apply the DDT (something we’ve not seen in a while), and Bruce Pritchard discusses the naming of the hold. Ted DiBiase, Hogan and Steamboat all discuss the DDT intercut with classic NWA footage of Jake finishing matches with the DDT. Unlike the Jake introduction to Crockett promotions in Charlotte, this DDT package is informative, full of classic clips, and a real positive addition to the DVD as a whole.

Jake then talks about being frustrated in Charlotte, NC. He mentions the conflict of styles in his tag team with Dory Funk jr. and talks about how he, on the advice of the Brisco brothers, moved to Atlanta and Georgia Championship Wrestling, the forerunner of WCW.

Animal makes the first reference (in chronological terms) of Jake’s rowdy lifestyle after meeting him in Georgia, and DiBiase discusses how good Jake had become in the ring by this time. The profile on Roberts in Georgia is by far the most entertaining so far, giving a much deeper look at his career at the time, even though we only really get to look at the feud with Ronnie Garvin. Vince McMahon then acquired GCW, but Jake talks about being an NWA supporter and refusing to play ball – at which point he returns to Louisiana.

There, we get an interesting segment, about how Jake leaves Louisiana and joins the WWE. Jake, frustrated with being described as the number 5 babyface by booker Terry Taylor when no one can follow his match, hands in his notice and calls Vince McMahon – only to be told that he is out of town for 3 weeks. Thinking that he has screwed himself by quitting, about 15 minutes after that Phone call, Vince called back, and he was asked up to Greenwich to meet with McMahon himself.

From then on, we get some great archive footage of Jake “The Snake” in the WWE, and we see the first footage of Jake carrying a snake. One of the great things about the early WWF sections is that Jake was given plenty of microphone time to exploit that great strength of his – and they are not afraid to put some of those great interviews on the DVD.

Vince McMahon discusses teaming Jake the Snake with his unofficial tag partner, Damien, and we get some classic clips of Jake placing Damien on some of his fallen opponents, including “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, who would later go on to notoriety as the Genius – both in a shortlived feud with Hulk Hogan in 1990 to occupy him while the feud with the Ultimate Warrior matured, and also as the manager of the tag team the Beverly Brothers for a short while. Jake also mentions discussing using a snake earlier in his career with “Cowboy” Bill Watts, but being told that “if people want live animals they’ll go and see a circus, this is wrestling”, showing both Watts old school mentality, but also, if we’re being frank, his lack of marketing savvy and mass appeal that was on offer from the mind of Vince McMahon.

At this point we get video clips of both Jake and Ricky Steamboat on Tuesday Night Titans, and the development of the unique feud between the two, with the snake in Jake Roberts corner, while Steamboat had the Komodo dragon in his corner. The Steamboat section does then go on to discuss Jake hitting the DDT on Ricky on the
Concrete floor, and the misgivings Jake had about applying the move before hand (before Steamboat himself convinced him to do it), and then we see the footage of the resulting knockout and concussion. This is a pretty decent segment, but ends abruptly.

Since before we know it, we’re into the origins of the Snake Pit.

Jake talks initially of being unaware about doing the Snake Pit until it becomes time to do it, and then Vince and Bruce Pritchard talk about the undoubted logic in giving Jake a regular interview slot. Once again, mixed in with all this is some priceless Jake Roberts interview footage, which as Jake’s strongest point, has to be a good thing. As Jim Ross says; “If you didn’t remember anything else about that show, you’d remember his haunting words”, and to be honest, many of these segments from the Snake pit (and other classic segments) really do make the DVD worth buying alone.

Rolling along from the Snake Pit, we see the classic segment in the Snake pit featuring Jake Roberts and the Honky Tonk Man. The Guitar, in harmony with the story that has floated around for years, indeed doesn’t break, and Jake’s injury is undoubted when you see the shot. Jake mentions this as the moment in his life when his drug addiction gets so out of control, since he wrestled with ruptured discs – he made the statement that he was taking so many painkillers that he needed something – and predictably, he is referring to his well documented problems with Cocaine – to wake up for the match. After this personal revelation from Jake, we see the climax of the feud with the Honky Tonk Man, at Wrestlemania III, featuring Alice Cooper in the corner of Jake Roberts.

Following that, there is a montage discussing Jake’s professionalism, and we get comments from the DVD’S usual suspect contributors – we then get a short look at a feud between Jake and Ted DiBiase, and an acknowledgement from Jake that as a top babyface, but not the Top babyface, his job was to “get people ready for Hogan”, and that by beating him people might consider his opponent ready for the big man in yellow. For all those that remember the years of Jake in the WWE, this will come as no surprise, but for newer fans, I think you should probably take a minute to think about what that means, and how that reflects on wrestling itself. One of the high points of this package is the highlights of Jake taking the Million dollar belt from DiBiase – one of the more important moments in the history of that belt.

Eric Bischoff then mentions that the most memorable feud of Jake’s, in his mind, is the feud with Ravishing Rick Rude – and we get plenty of clips from this, including the introduction, where Rude attempts to seduce Cheryl Roberts, to give her his “Rude Awakening” (and that’s the kiss, not the neckbreaker). Jake discusses the reasons for her being in the storyline (including wanting her on the road with him to help him kick the drugs). Whoever compiled this DVD seems to share the opinion of Bischoff, since this DVD has many, MANY classic clips from this feud, including lots of interview clips from both Rude and Roberts.

From this point, we see another montage discussing Jake’s well documented drug and alcohol problems – featuring Hogan, Hugo Savinovich, Vince McMahon and Bruce Pritchard (along with Jake himself) discussing Jake’s drug use, as well as Road Warrior Animal describing both his partner Hawk and Jake Roberts as having partying as “their claim to fame”. In this sequence, the WWE also pulls up many of the interview segments from Jake’s return to the WWE in 1996, in which Jake discussed his addiction. Much like the earlier segments about Jake’s childhood, this could run on perhaps too long for the casual fan, who has interest in Jake Roberts only as a wrestler; if you are only interested in what Jake achieved in the ring, and not how he got to where he is today, then this segment may be something you skip.

After the heavy piece regarding addiction, we get a light hearted piece about the fear of snakes that other superstars and ironically even Jake himself suffered from. Jake described the snake as “a toy to have some fun with”, even though in the DVD extra’s, he describes being bitten by the various snakes several times.

Bruce Pritchard then brings up the classic feud between Jake and Andre the Giant – based on the entire premise that Andre was scared of snakes. Jake discusses Andre testing him in the opening match, as we are aware that he has done with several wrestlers (including Hogan and Savage) in the past. This segment is fairly short and doesn’t feature the same depth of clips that the Rude chapter does, but it does feature some classic clips and Jake’s reflections that wrestling Andre made him think that maybe he was being acknowledged as a top guy now. This chapter could probably have used more interview footage, but instead this is condensed, and more time is dedicated to Andre being covered in the snake on an episode of what looks like the old superstars show, and running from Damien at Wrestlemania V. Jake describes this feud as “one of my crowning moments”.

The next feud is almost a carbon copy of the previous one – a big guy is unstoppable, but happens to be scared of the snake. This time however, it is Earthquake, and the footage is somewhat more iconic, since we are treated to the classic footage of Earthquake “killing” Damien, and the aftermath. In the WWE career of Jake Roberts, this has to be one of the more important moments, and it’s very important that the WWE captured this classic moment on the DVD. Sensibly, we are also treated to the interview on the Barber Shop where we are introduced to “Damien’s big brother, Lucifer”, and then we very quickly transition into the action between Jake and the Undertaker – as we see the seeds, the beginning of the heel turn.

Roberts also mentions the indignity of actually having to ask the Ultimate Warrior’s permission if they could work an angle together. This segment is all the more poignant if you’ve seen the WWE release [i]The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior[/i], since Jake pretty much adds his thoughts to the pan job that the company did on Jim Hellwig (or whatever he wants to be called now), and we also get the story of Vince telling Jake (after Warrior was fired) “You have the worst luck”. These Promo’s with Warrior haven’t aged particularly well, and are something of a product of their time.

From that we transition into the heel turn, and his turning the snake onto Elizabeth and Randy Savage at their Summerslam 1991 wedding reception. This heel turn is perhaps one of the more memorable branches of his WWF career, and this DVD captures it pretty well – his work with Savage (including the classic footage of the Cobra biting Savage on the arm live on TV, which is presented as fairly comic, focusing more on the wrestlers being unable to get the snake off Savage’s arm, rather than the contemporary reading, where Vince McMahon screams that the snake had better be devenomised), and also his work with the Undertaker (who would turn face and face Roberts at Wrestlemania VIII).

Jake talks about his reasons for leaving the WWF in 1992, and then he talks about his shame (after the event) of holding Vince up for his release at Wrestlemania. At which point, he moves to WCW – which unfortunately for Jake, had been taken over by Bill Watts, AFTER he had burned his bridge at the WWF. His impressive contract was ripped up, and he worked for WCW for considerably less money than he was earning in the WWE. This portion of the DVD is interesting – it seems truthful, and the presentation is definitely interesting.

Once Jake has arrived in the WCW, we see his arrival and the beginnings of his feud with Sting. Eric Bischoff talks about Jake’s arrival, and describes it with one of the biggest understatements in wrestling history, as “a big deal”. Classic WCW footage is always a great addition to any of these DVD’s – hearing Jim Ross call matches when he was at his best, and also adding the flavour of some southern style wrestling, and we thankfully get the full match with Sting in the DVD extra’s. Jake then talks about retiring, at the request of his wife.

The next thing we see, is Jake making his return at the 1996 Royal Rumble – and predictably, all the wrestlers in the ring make a big deal of the return of the snake itself, bailing out of the ring as “revelations” was pulled from the sack. Jake laments the fact that he let himself get out of shape in the three years he was retired, and discusses how he wanted to give the fans so much more. The 1996 highlights tend to focus on the feud with Jerry Lawler which is well documented, and predictably the 1996 King of the Ring with Steve Austin, both of which are well covered here. The overwhelming mood though, of this section, seems to be that Jake’s including his born again Christianity in his work was probably a mistake for the character, since marketable Jake was considerably darker. This section is probably the most in depth – and I’m sure there will be some people debating the logic of making the 1996 run such a huge fixture, instead of perhaps putting more into the work with Andre, or Savage.

DiBiase discusses checking on Jake after he no-shows a taping, and Jake then lets us into his private hell again, discusses falling off the wagon again when his wife leaves him – which of course, would lead to the end of the WWE run in 1996. The negativity keeps up, as we move into the stuff on Beyond the Mat – a WWE DVD, predictably takes as dim a view of the film as Jake himself – acknowledging the DVD as completely one sided, and describing it as a complete hatchet job on Jake himself – designed more to make a juicy film than to be a true “documentary”. I don’t know what your take on the movie is, but my thoughts tend to agree with the WWE line – even if I’m not quite as vehement in my declarations as they are. But I’ll leave you to make your own mind up there. It’s a matter that people will see differently I think.

Next up, is Jake’s very brief stint in ECW – we get the brief clip of him hitting Jake Roberts and Tommy Dreamer, and from there, we skip right to 2002, and Jake’s moving to England to move off the drugs. Jake’s arrest for animal cruelty is also brought up, before his return to Animal Cruelty and his arrest for drug possession. Jake explains both of these situations briefly, before footage is shown of his recent return on the Highlight reel (with Chris Jericho and Randy Orton). Jake discusses his feelings on being invited back.

To finish, we have another visit to Jake’s dark side, his demon’s – this is probably the most touching, because we avoid the jump cuts, and the multiple talking for much of it – and no editor can ever capture the intensity of Jake Roberts. After his intensity, we do move through the typical list of talking heads to finish – thankfully, unlike the other WWE moralising segments, this one is kept somewhat more brief – this will not be such a turn off for the casual fan, and won’t sour the ending.

Extras:

vs. Ricky Steamboat 28/08/86: A fine match between these two, as you’d expect. I don’t really know how to sum it up any better than, very enjoyable, even twenty years later. For me, that speaks more volumes than my words ever could about its quality.

vs. Honky Tonk Man 29/03/87: This match comes complete with alternate commentary, from Jake Roberts and Jim Ross. Neither man actually seems to say very much, over the opening promo’s to recap (which we get thankfully); once they’ve listened to the promo however, they seem to pick up, and share stories in much the same way a director’s commentary would on a movie/sitcom DVD. As for the match itself, it’s actually very good – the Honky Tonk man is on his game here, and Jake has the psychology to work with him very well. Honky Tonk steals one and runs off, leaving one Jimmy Hart in the ring to endure the Snake in one of the Wrestlemania III moments that gets forgotten in the wake of the bodyslam heard around the world.

vs. Ravishing Rick Rude 24/10/88: This match was billed as a “Rude Awakening vs. DDT” match, and the first man to hit their finishing manoeuvre would be declared the winner. This is probably my favourite match on the DVD. Both men know how to work, and they can incite the crowd by really doing very little – perhaps it’s my old school mentality and a love of the art of crowd control, but this match just strikes a chord with me, and I really enjoyed it. Some great teasing on the Rude Awakening and a great run in to the climax of the match – well, I think you get the idea by now. I think it’s very good.



w/Ricky Steamboat vs. Jim Nelson and Mike Miller 09/09/81: Something of a squash match, but some nice looking wrestling from both Steamboat and Roberts. Hard to rate since it is effectively a squash – but the wrestling is crisp, and worth watching.

vs. Ronnie Garvin 03/12/83: Probably the best match I can remember featuring Ronnie Garvin. I’ve not been Garvin’s biggest fan through time, but this is more than a nice little match. Not the best match on the DVD, but certainly not a bad addition.

vs. Leaping Lanny Poffo 16/03/86: Jake’s WWE debut. Poffo gets in some decent offence, but in truth it is something of a squash. Not a great match, but as Jake’s WWE debut, where he made his name worldwide, this is a predictable (and pleasing for the historians) extra.

vs. Earthquake 27/04/91: Not much of a match, in truth, but it’s not there for the match – it is there for the iconic aftermatch, where John Tenta hits the “Earth Quake” on the bag holding Damien, and kills him in front of Jake Roberts tied up in the ropes. A massive angle in 1991, and the WWE would have been remiss if they’d left it off.

vs. Randy Savage 23/11/91: From Jake’s WWE heel run, this is included more for the memorable aftermath, with the snake biting Macho Man. Included in full, this is a good piece of vintage footage to include, as in much the same way as the killing of Damien, this has become one of the iconic moments of the early 1990’s in the WWF.

vs. Sting 25/10/92: Their match from the 1992 Halloween Havoc. This match is actually pretty good, I can’t help but feel that the end is more than a little overbooked. A shame, because up until that point it is very solid and stands up well, but the somewhat hokey finish doesn’t help it stand the test of time particularly well.

vs. Dirty White Boy 07/05/94: Again, a decent enough match, but this one really isn’t helped by Jake being out of shape – and I mean visibly. Jake has the psychology to cover this up pretty well, but this match against the future TL Hopper could maybe have been a little more if Jake had been in the comparatively great WWF run shape.

vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin 23/06/96: A squash for Austin, Jake is beaten from beginning to end. Thankfully however, the WWE doesn’t just put the squash match on here, instead keeping the footage running and including Austin’s aftermatch interview, which of course is far more important to wrestling history. A good extra, and they’d have to have been pretty stupid to cut it short and make it pointless.

vs. Jerry Lawler 18/08/96: Neither man is really at their best in 1996 – I’ll be honest, I find the match somewhat dull. One thing I will give them credit for, they make the DDT mean as much as in any other match in Jake’s career. Beyond that, it’s something of a let down, and I’d rather see something from his first WWE run on here instead.

w/ Tommy Dreamer vs. Justin Credible & Jack Victory: This one is probably for ECW fans, and ECW fans only, and I question about it’s place on here since Jake himself claims to not like the ECW product – and I doubt many of the “classic” era wrestling fans who might purchase a Jake Roberts DVD would be overly interested in an ECW spotfest. But, it’s on here – and marks to Justin Credible, he can take a bit of a beating. But the rest isn’t anything special.

I’m not going to appraise the promo’s individually for one reason, and one reason only – we all know that Jake Roberts is one of the greatest interviews in the history of the business, and his interviews on this disc are absolutely enthralling – you don’t need me to go through them all telling you they are 9 or 10 out of 10 if you have seen Jake Roberts speak, and if you haven’t, you should probably buy the DVD just to see what wrestling interviews [i]should[/i] be like.

Final Verdict: This is a more than solid set from the WWE, as you’d expect them to put out with someone who has had the career of Jake Roberts. I would advise any fans of Roberts to buy the DVD without hesitation – for the more casual fan, there may be moments where the DVD drags or the tone becomes too preachy, but in truth, the promo extra’s more than make up for it – I’m sure also that there are people out there who rate Jake’s interview skills that highly, they would be willing to pay for a DVD made entirely from his promo’s. This does feature some of the more iconic moments of Jake’s career, we get some great promo’s too, and a couple of very nice matches round off the set – I’d say, as a fairly safe package. If you buy it, I’d be pretty confident that you wouldn’t be disappointed.


OK, thanks for sticking with this one. I’m going to have another normal column coming up for you soon, then we’ve got YBTB coming at you, and I also want to take a look at the Dusty Rhodes DVD some time soon as well – so all in all, there should be plenty of TUTWBAW for you to feast on over the coming month or so. Feedback can be sent, as always, to takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com and I’ll make every effort to reply to any mail sent. Until next time, this is good bye.

Take care,

Pt2









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