I could argue that Jake the Snake's DDT is the greatest finishing move of all time. Jake the Snake Roberts. Snake Roberts, man.
Brilliant. Brilliant mind. Unbelievable.
Unbelievable the insight that he gave me and and how to put that gimmick together. Mr Jake, now you you you keep that name even away from me cuz you know I'm afraid of him. I know your daddy really well.
You bring that snake around me and I'm going to tell tell your daddy on you. When you talk about the most terrifying figures in WWE history, people will throw out names like Brock Lesnar, the Undertaker, and Kane. But there is one man who made entire locker rooms genuinely uncomfortable.
Not because of his size, not because of his power, but because of his mind, his words, and whatever was slithering around in that bag. Jake the Snake Roberts didn't need to yell. He didn't need to flex.
He just needed to talk. And that was enough to make grown men's skin crawl. Let's start with the most obvious person to kick things off, the Undertaker.
The Undertaker made careers out of being terrifying. A man who has faced literal monsters inside that ring for over 30 years. And even he had to bow down when it came to Jake Roberts.
And I've always said this and not just because you're sitting here now, but I said I've always felt like you had one of the greatest wrestling minds that I've ever been around. Uh, and that's no, you know, that's no I just like the way he thinks about and the mannerism and of course just the darkness around how it all happens was just man. Hear that again.
The Undertaker, the man who ends careers at WrestleMania, [music] the man who literally played the role of death in a wrestling ring for three decades, is calling Jake Roberts brilliant and crediting him for shaping who he became. So, I mean, there was nobody else on [music] the roster. There was nobody else on the roster that I could turn to.
What do you think about this character? How you going to How you going to helpbody? There was nobody.
Everybody else was I wouldn't say cookie cutter, but there was nobody dark. There was nobody that had that kind of edge to him. And Taker didn't stop there.
[music] He revealed that it was Jake who encouraged him to carry a tape recorder everywhere so he never lose a good idea. The Phenom modeling himself after Jake the Snake that tells you absolutely everything. But if the Undertaker gives you the legend, the next man gives you something nobody saw coming.
Camala, one of the most fearsome looking characters in WWF history, was absolutely terrified of Jake Snake. And Jake himself told the story with pure joy. Camala would pull Jake aside backstage and say, "Mr Jake, now you you you keep that name even away from me cuz you know I'm afraid of him.
I know your daddy really well. You bring that snake around me and I I'm going to tell tell your daddy on you. Let that sink in.
Camala, a man who was booked as a terrifying jungle warrior, was so scared of Jake's python that he was threatening to call Jake's [music] dad. That is the funniest and most terrifying endorsement of Jake's gimmick you will ever hear. Because it wasn't even kayf that was real.
Camala was genuinely scared out of his mind. But if Camala shows you how scary Jake was, Randy Savage shows you what Jake did to a five-time world champion. Everyone knows Randy Savage.
Five-time world champion. One of the most celebrated performers of all time. A man who was larger than life in every single way.
And yet, when it came to Jake the Snake's King Cobra, the Macho Man was completely falling apart. Jake told the full story on the podcast. Vince came to Jake and told him the snake was going to bite Randy [music] on live TV.
Jake was thrilled, but Randy not so much. How about the snake? Has he been fixed or not?
Maybe he has and maybe he hasn't. He has to bite you. Now don't play no games, Jake.
[laughter] So Randy made Jake let the cobra bite him first. Wouldn't let him move for 20 full minutes. sitting there waiting to see if Jake would start dying.
And after Jake survived, Randy finally agreed to take the bite. What happened on screen was one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. The cobra latched on and wouldn't let go.
Blood everywhere of the crowd going absolutely silent in horror. And as Jake himself said when asked if Randy was scared before they did it, oh yeah, he was losing his man. The Macho Man, one of the toughest guys to ever lace up boots, was completely losing it over Jake the Snake.
That's the power this man had over people. And then there's someone from a completely different generation who still can't wrap his head around what Jake actually did. Cody Rhodess is the current WWE champion.
He's faced Roman Reigns. He's headlined WrestleMania. He's been in some of the biggest moments in modern wrestling history.
And when he watched the footage of Jake's Cobra biting Randy Savage on A&E's WWE rivals, he had one reaction. He said, "The weird thing is they're talking about there's no venom. There's no [music] venom.
They're not scientists. They're not veterinarians. It's a venomous snake, y'all.
There's some element of venom, and that's the sacrifice you're willing to take for the fans, for the world over, for the WWE universe to sell this story. Lunacy. Lunacy.
That's the word Cody Rhodess used. And that's exactly what it was. This wasn't a stunt double.
There was no trick photography. There was a real King Cobra biting a real person's arm on live TV. And the man holding the snake was Jake Roberts, grinning like everything was going exactly to plan.
Now, let's get to one of the funniest and most terrifying backstage stories you'll ever hear. Tevin Nash is 7 feet tall. He was one of the most dominant forces in WWE and WCW history, a former world champion, a founding member of the NWO, and by all accounts, one of the toughest guys who ever walked into a locker room.
You would not expect this man to be scared of anything. But then he crossed paths with one of Jake's snakes backstage at the Baltimore Arena. albino like 11 foot cobra in the shower with you know he's just hanging out that thing like peered up and blew it neck out and I was like cut the so I told Rude to go look and Rude went looked and Rude was like what the like man this so Kevin Nash and Rick RDE two of the most feared men in the business both lost their composure because Jake the snake decided to shower with an 11t [music] cobra, completely unbothered, completely at home.
That's Jake. Jake the Snake Roberts didn't need 300 lb of muscle. He didn't need a championship belt.
He didn't need to scream. He needed a bag, a snake, and a microphone. And once he had those three things, there wasn't a single [music] person in that building, wrestler or fan, who wasn't a little bit scared.
So, what do you think? Where does Jake the Snake Roberts sit in the GOAT conversation when it comes to the most psychologically [music] terrifying characters in wrestling history? Let us know in the comments below.
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