[1992-11-07-WCW-Saturday Night] Up Close w/Jake Roberts

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Jake can be a scary motherfucker. This is great.

[Tim Evans]

The makeup job on the snake bite is quality. It's a shame Jake's demons caught up with him cause he would have been a hell of a manager. Such a great promo.

[shoe]

Jake was tremendous here. Hell he was even awesome as on color.

[BackToBionic]

Little-remembered Bill Watts rule: "No serpents at ringside"

[El-P]

Creepy guy Jake is. I like that he adresses the fact other people used the DDT before and stopped as soon as he showed up because they got scared.

[PeteF3]

This is awesome, which makes it all the more frustrating that this is it for Jake in WCW. Jake makes threats towards every top babyface and the unfulfilled potential is just SMH-worthy.

[flyonthewall2983]

Creepy guy Jake is. I like that he adresses the fact other people used the DDT before and stopped as soon as he showed up because they got scared.

One reason it's too bad Jake never stuck around in WCW is that he could have had a hell of a feud with Arn Anderson over the move.

[WingedEagle]

Jake promo putting over the DDT as the best hold in wrestling today. Terrific.

[garretta]

Jake can't help but be good, but this all rings hollow after Havoc. You can't even beat Sting and you're talking about the World title? Sure, Jake. How about making sure your snakes bite who they're supposed to, then we'll talk about wrestling.

 

Watts, by the way, had already turned down Jake's idea about having a snake at ringside during his Mid-South days. I disagree with both him and Jake; Roberts the wrestler was a bad dude, but without the snake in the bag something was missing. The snake was the living embodiment of how far he'd go to hurt someone, and that's something the DDT, which was rapidly becoming just another transition move by now, didn't get across by itself. Any wrestler can prove their physical superiority in any bout, but to then put their opponent in danger of either being poisoned by a cobra or crushed to death by a python? That's the true test of whether a guy wants to step in the ring with a man like Jake: Is it worth your very life?

 

Pete said up above that this interview was it for Jake in WCW, and apparently it was, as Barby subbed for him the following week against Dustin. Did they give an on-camera reason why he left, or was he just forgotten?