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Future Foundation: Jake Roberts Is Building the Legacy He Always Wanted

How the WWE Hall of Famer picked up the pieces of his past and reclaimed his glory

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North Texas Central College self-identifies as “the oldest continuously operating two-year college in Texas.” The school has undergone multiple name changes . Similar to Texas State University, it has renamed itself to make it sound like a more appealing destination and to look better on a diploma or résumé. From 1961 to 1974, the school was named Cooke County Junior College, and embraced its goal of producing associate’s degrees meant to allow students to transfer to universities, and one-year instructional certificates tied to specific careers. One of the courses it currently offers is Architectural Drafting—Residential , part of its Engineering Technology Area of Study. In a perfect world, Aurelian Smith Jr. would’ve taken that class, or its past equivalent, in the fall of 1973, shortly after his high school graduation. Almost 50 years later, Smith aims to build on what his past, his persona, and the people around him have repeatedly broken down. Jake “The Snake” Roberts is truly putting himself together, for the very first time, brick by brick, piece by piece.

One of the core objectives required to complete the drafting course is communication. It’s a skill that Jake Roberts has only very recently honed when it’s needed away from crowds and backstage interview segments. His development was immediately and continually stunted, Roberts coming from, and emulating, a string of broken relationships. Presently, he’s days away from the premiere of his episode of Biography: WWE Legends . After years of living like a sailor, the only vice he seems to maintain from his time on the high seas of bars, back roads, and bingo halls is the cursing. He’s more than willing to color his conversation with all the words you’ll no longer hear on Monday or Friday nights. “Doing this thing and having it come out so well, I think that I’ve finally had the one happen that really tells the whole story. … It’s not pretty. It’s got some rough, nasty edges to taste, but it was life and it was the truth,” Roberts told The Ringer . “I didn’t candy coat anything. I’m sick and tired of seeing these docs where these guys go out and put on and never have a fucking problem and never did things. Are you fucking kidding me? I was there. I watched your dumb ass!” He made a point to be as transparent as possible in the documentary. Jake Roberts does not blame anyone other than Jake Roberts for his struggles. Not peers, not dealers, not women, not even family. The last party, specifically his parents, may have been spared Jake’s blame, but it’s difficult to ignore the correlation between childhood trauma and adult struggles. In the opening 15 minutes of the documentary, we’re given the details of his upbringing, which will likely inspire anger in decent folk, and outrage in the emotional. Jake Roberts, with his trademark handlebar mustache now an endless winter of white, is the product of an underage mother and a pedophilic father. Aurelian “Grizzly” Smith Sr. , a 6-foot-10, 350-pound professional wrestler, left Jake, his siblings, and mother to start a new family about five years later. Jake’s mother was too young to raise her children on her own, so that responsibility was left to the children’s maternal grandparents. After the grandparents passed away, the Smith children were sent to live with their father and new stepmother. This would begin a cycle of sexual abuse, with Grizzly Smith repeatedly assaulting his daughters, and his wife assaulting Roberts. Jake’s stepmother would physically abuse him after her sexual assaults, expressing the disappointment Senior would show if he found out.

Jake eventually changed his career path because he wanted his father’s approval. After a conversation between the two at his high school graduation, Jake gave up on his architectural dreams to pursue his father’s recommended path: professional wrestling. After his first match, his father intimated how disappointed he was in Jake’s performance, leading him to refocus and take the craft seriously. The mind that wants to build, the mind that can see structures before they are on paper, that’s the mind Jake Roberts would apply to professional wrestling. “I put a lot of time and a lot of thought into what I do out there, man. A lot of it comes naturally. But the things that come natural to me are because I’ve learned through my life what works and what doesn’t. How to go about achieving what I want to achieve in the ring. There are certain things that I picked up going through life that I use, and those are natural things. The way I walk, the way I talk, the way I look at people.” Learning what worked, and what didn’t work, would be mostly on-the-job training. Roberts’s history of substance misuse is well documented. But the details, the actual accounts of some of the lowest lows, border on the hyperbolic.

A key component of effective communication is finding the flaws in past conversations/interactions and then not repeating them. Similar to his high school graduation experience, an older Roberts, at this point well established in the World Wrestling Federation (and married to his second wife, Cheryl Hagood), traveled from Georgia to Texas for his oldest daughter’s commencement ceremony. They agreed that after the ceremony, she’d make the return trip with him to live with his new family. Jake Roberts smoked crack cocaine the entire 17-hour-plus trip, according to the documentary. Mirroring how Jake has had to maneuver in dangerous situations, his daughter explains in the documentary that she’d preferred to drive and allow him to smoke rather than let him do both at the same time. At the height of his success, doubt cast at an early age crept into all aspects of his life, even when his persona, his promos, and his matches were lauded. “I never watched television when I was wrestling. I never heard what the commentators were saying or what Vince was saying. And you go back now and hear some of that. I go, ‘Holy shit, man. They did hold me in a high regard,’ and because of my upbringing, and what I went through, I never thought I was good enough. I was very insecure, very insecure. So that’s why everything was so deliberate in the ring. I wanted it to be absolutely fucking perfect. And I think I pulled it off.”

Jake Roberts would become one of wrestling’s biggest stars and would do so in his own way. Lots of students, specifically at the community college level, think that the best way to appeal to their university of choice is to take as many classes as possible to put onto a transcript. They are often reminded that it’s not how many classes you take, it’s the grades you get in the ones you take that matters. In a world of vivid color, over-the-top antics, and arguments with the volume on 11, Jake Roberts was in full control, deliberate, almost plodding with his promos and in-ring style. With his python Damien in tow, Jake would strike a practical fear in opponent and attendant alike, afraid of possible poisoning, or suffocation, at one false move. Roberts understood that being the bad guy meant his opponents—and, at times, the audience—would live in fear of what he’d say next, of what he’d do next. “That was intimidation. Intimidation. You walk slow, you walk sure. You carry a big stick. I didn’t need to jump around and flutter around. Let the young boys do that.”

Perhaps the most stressed core component of the Introduction to Architectural Drafting course is critical thinking. This tends to be much easier when you’re surrounded by examples of the right way to approach a situation. For Jake Roberts, that was pupil turned peer turned life coach Diamond Dallas Page . Page, one of WCW’s most prolific participants in the Monday-Night Wars , had almost a full decade in the ring before reaching stardom. Known for his ability to make even the most mundane details of a wrestling tale feel like a childhood fable, he doesn’t mince words about where he got his style. “I would say I stole a lot from Jake,” Page says, looking back on the swagger and delivery that helped him earn multiple world titles and the adoration of millions at the hottest time in the industry. “I’d be the first to say it, but Jake loved how I made it my own. And I never even realized that until I’d watched one of the matches. … It was just instinctively I was around him so much. There was a guy on the road one time who had 40 VHS tapes of Jake that were full-hour tapes, 80 hours of just Jake, and he brought them in a box and gave them to Jake. And I go, ‘Man, I want to tear through that.’ He goes, ‘You can have it,’ and wish I still did. But I watched every minute of all of those tapes. There’s a little piece of [“Macho Man” Randy] Savage in me, there’s a little piece of ‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Hennig, there’s a little piece of Terry Funk in me, there’s a lot of Jake, and I just love those styles of work in the ring because all of them were believable as hell. And to me, that’s the most important thing, that people don’t see through your work. … I think Jake Roberts was one of the most realistic people ever in a place where everybody knows it’s predetermined. Jake made it real.”

After their wrestling days were over, he moved both Roberts and longtime friend/nWo frontman Scott Hall into his home to help them battle substance addiction with tough love, positive thinking, and a particularly effective fitness regimen. This upward climb to sobriety was covered in 2015’s The Resurrection of Jake the Snake . Roberts, a staple of the early WrestleMania years , had spent the late 1990s and early 2000s playing high school gyms and community centers, and was in poor shape externally and internally . Knowing that this wasn’t how he wanted his story to end, he reached out to Dallas Page for help. While it was Roberts who came to Page, that didn’t mean that path to peace wouldn’t cover tough terrain. Page still recalls some of Jake’s toughest moments, particularly of self-doubt. “He’d come down one night, and he was, like, so mad. He punched a marble table and a marble counter, and I was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ He goes, ‘I’m such a loser.’ I’m like, ‘Stop saying that.’ He goes, ‘I’m such a loser, Dallas. I’m so pissed at myself.’ And I pull him aside, and I go, ‘Come here. Let me show you something.’ We walk in the bathroom off the living room, and I said, ‘What do you see?’ He goes, ‘A loser.’ I go, ‘Stop saying that … look at the shirt you’re wearing.’ And the shirt was a skeleton, was waving a flag, and wasted youth on the flag. I said, ‘Every time you wear that shirt, you catch it in the mirror. You tell yourself what you wasted. You wear shirts with Manson on it. Would you want your kids to be around Manson? Hell, no.’ I go, ‘What are you doing? The story you tell yourself is everything, bro. You should have positive energy on there or ‘Unstoppable’ or ‘Never give up.’ I go, ‘That’s what you should be wearing.’ And he goes, ‘You know, you’re right.’ And he went upstairs for 20 minutes, and he came down, and Jake’s an artist, and he drew this banner and wrote through it, ‘My history is not my destiny.’ I was like, wow, that’s powerful. And that became the story he told himself.”

Selfishly, Page appreciates not only Roberts’s recovery and sobriety, but also that he’s regained his friend after all the years of struggle. Even in the early days after completing Page’s program to the best of his ability, Jake Roberts had to fight off relapsing. “After being in this house for two years and moving out in that first week, seeing where I was at and [questioning his progress]. ‘But what if? So the first time I [go] to a meal by myself, am I going to pick up a drink or what?’ And I didn’t. So those early victories just kept me rolling.” Where they once sat isolated, sharing space, time, and conversation within the confines of Page’s home, they can now experience the world, both with each other and the people they hold close. Jake Roberts has begun to build relationships with three of his eight children. He fishes with his sons, who have families of their own, as they talk through finding the right way to establish understanding. He’s even resumed his relationship with Hagood, his second wife, 26 years after their divorce. “Today he’s back with his wife, Cheryl. Are you kidding me? That’s the coolest thing ever. They were at my party this year, and Jake doesn’t normally do parties because he doesn’t want to be around the alcohol and liquor. But now he’s cool. He’s good with it, and they’re great together. My wife, Paige, and Cheryl and Jake, we all went up to Boston to go to see Aerosmith, and we saw them at Fenway. Jake right now is living his best life.”

With most college courses, the final tends to weigh heavier than any assignment, quiz, or previous test from that semester. It’s that culmination of the skills you’ve acquired, the knowledge you’ve retained, and how you can apply that to your future courses and tasks. North Texas Central College’s Architectural Drafting—Residential course has a term project that accounts for 20 percent of the student’s final grade. It’s the difference in most cases between passing and failing. When you ask Jake Roberts what he’s learned on his long journey toward peace, toward normalcy? It’s a lot like a degree. You take it for granted when it comes early in life, but you know its full value if you earn it later in life. Jake has found stability, in the same way that others like Sting and Arn Anderson have, being legends and mentors to talent on the All Elite Wrestling roster. Still every bit of 6-foot-5, Jake holds his own when backing acts like the towering Lance Archer to the ring. Jake Roberts takes pride in being someone whom younger acts can turn to about their own personal struggles. “I’m able to help some of the young guys. I’ve steered a couple of guys that were struggling with alcohol. I’ve been able to help those guys out, which makes me feel unbelievable. Well, I sponsor several guys that are struggling fans. They’re fans and I’m helping them. So anytime I can help somebody with addiction is a great day, and I enjoy doing it, and I take pride in doing it, and I just like who I am today, man. Standing tall forthwith. And it may be a little rough on the edges, but I’ll give it and I’ll take it.” He’s able to reflect not only on his life, but also on the business that he helped make special. Still one of the brightest minds around, this version of Jake Roberts is critical with a smile, reflecting on his signature move, the DDT, and its place in modern wrestling. “Every time they DDT somebody,” he starts, with eyes bright and shoulders broad and pushed forward, “and they don’t beat them with it, people say to themselves, Jake Roberts did it. You didn’t fucking get up!”

One course does not an architect make. There are more classes, studying, finding the right school to finish your program. There’s testing, getting hired. There’s finding people to trust that what you’re building will stand up against code, against storms, against time. Jake Roberts can’t get time back, but he’s taken steps to make the time that he does have left matter. “It’s real simple. I became a man,” Roberts explains. “Each day that I stay sober is another victory for me. Believe me when I say there ain’t no way in hell I’m picking up again. I enjoy who I am today. I like waking up and looking in the mirror and saying, ‘Hey, dude, you’re a bad son of a bitch, man, come on, let’s kick some more ass.’ And I like being able to pick up the phone and not worry about what’s going to be said on the other end. ‘Like, Jake, you fucked up last night. What the fuck are you doing?’ Man, I’m glad that shit is over. Are you kidding me? I’m glad that I could remember what I did yesterday. I may not remember what I had for breakfast, but I know that I ate. It was all good. So where I’m at today, man, I’m walking tall and kicking ass and taking names.”

Cameron Hawkins writes about pro wrestling, Blade II , and obscure ’90s sitcoms for Pro Wrestling Torch , Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and FanSided DDT . You can follow him on Twitter at @ CeeHawk .

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Jake The Snake Roberts

• Episode aired Feb 26, 2023

Showcasing the life and legacy of WWE icon Jake Roberts. Through a variety of interviews, photos and archival footage, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the unforgettable legendary sup... Read all Showcasing the life and legacy of WWE icon Jake Roberts. Through a variety of interviews, photos and archival footage, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the unforgettable legendary superstar both in and out of the ring. Showcasing the life and legacy of WWE icon Jake Roberts. Through a variety of interviews, photos and archival footage, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the unforgettable legendary superstar both in and out of the ring.

• Al Szymanski
• Jake Roberts
• Dustin Smith
• Robin Smith
• 1 User review

Top cast 23

• Self - WWE Hall of Famer
• (as Jake "The Snake" Roberts)
• Self - Jake's Son

• Self - Jake's Sister & Former WWE Women's Champion
• Self - Jake's Father & Professional Wrestler
• (archive footage)
• (as Aurelian 'Grizzly' Smith)
• Self - Jake's Brother
• Self - Jake's Daughter

• Self - Host, New York's Hot 97 & ESPN Radio

• (as Big Daddy Ritter)
• (as The Grappler)

• (as Andre the Giant)

• Self - The Undertaker

• (as Diamond Dallas Page)

• (as 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Connections Features WrestleMania 2 (1986)

User reviews 1

• Jul 31, 2023
• February 26, 2023 (United States)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 25 minutes

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Jake roberts: a&e’s wwe doc ‘went to great lengths’ showing my fall, redemption.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts once had a dream other than becoming one of the biggest professional wrestling stars ever.

Before Aurelian Smith Jr. ever stepped in a ring he hoped to be an architect, having a love of working with wood and buildings. But at 18, he decided to give wrestling a try to prove his toughness to his infamous father Grizzly Smith. Roberts was expecting a triumphant night before heading to college, but instead was embarrassed during his match and scolded by his dad. It led to him “praying to the devil” to help him one day become a bigger wrestling star than his father.

Being a traditional architect was out the window.

“I’ve built crossbows. I’ve built guns, I’ve built all sorts of things,” Roberts said on Zoom call sitting in front of a wooden china hutch he built at 18. “I built a house full of furniture for my first marriage, but I loved working with wood. I think I would have been very successful, but I’m very fortunate that I did fall into the wrestling because I think I’ve been an architect in many ways because I helped build a lot of people.”

After a childhood lived under a cloud of sexual abuse, that night set him on a path to creating one of the best personas in wrestling history while helping build some of the company’s top stars in the process. There were also the lows of being away from his family and drug and alcohol addiction that left him wanting to die before getting help in 2012. Roberts, who has been sober for 10 years, now wants to show others you can come back from anything.

“That there’s hope,” Roberts said when asked what he wants people to take away from the documentary. “That no matter how far down somebody is there’s hope. We went to great lengths to show how far down I went and the road to recovery.”

All of it is covered in the latest documentary in A&E’s “Biography: WWE Legends” series airing Sunday at 8 p.m. It provides an inside and very raw look at Roberts’ life. It is the first time we hear some of his kids’ feelings about the pain his absence caused and the healing that has brought him back into their lives. The documentary opens with Roberts, who has eight children, fishing on a boat with two of his sons, Derek and Dustin. It’s a moment he doesn’t take for granted.

“Me and the boys, we go fishing and all sorts of things,” Roberts said. “I try to get involved with the grandkids and I’ve just truly been blessed.”

Roberts, 67, said there are still moments “where I get really down on myself when I realize how much I missed” because he was on the road wrestling and later in his life battling addiction. At one point in the documentary, Derek says “I can’t imagine as a father not doing that [everything] for your own kids.” His daughter Brandy tells a story about how she drove her and her dad from Texas to Georgia in 1993 while he smoked crack the entire time. She says things were so bad in 1998 she “was grateful when he stayed away.” Roberts, who still has four of his kids who currently don’t want him back in their lives, said it was a gradual process getting accepted back by the other four – starting with asking for forgiveness.

“You start getting involved, go to church with the kids, do this with the kids, and become involved in what they’re doing and not what you’re doing,” he said. “Because it’s not about me anymore, it’s about them.”

Roberts always had a complicated family reality because his father was a pedophile with young women. His half-sister Robin speculates in the documentary that their dad likely pushed Roberts’ stepmother to molest and beat him as a child. He said “you were constantly on guard” and “try to read that person you were afraid” was gonna hurt you.

“It’s hard to hide in a small house,” he said. “So you go to find things to do. You got to have outlets and when the time comes and you know things are gonna happen then you just try to go through that and find a hole to hide in within yourself while it’s going on. Afterward, you just got to know that it’s not you, it’s them that’s sick.”

In wrestling, Roberts got to be someone else when he walked through the curtain and the documentary gives you a look at the journey, which did not include going to a wrestling school. After the ill-fated night at 18, he learned the business through trial and error and got his “ass handed to me” often by veterans over his first two years. He said that often instead of following his partner’s lead he would try something at the wrong place and time during a match.

Once he began coming into his own, he stumbled into his famous DDT when “The Grappler” stepped on his left foot and he fell “flat on his ass.” The accident became one of pro wrestling’s most devastating and protected finishers and changed Roberts’ career.  

“That first time I knew that son bitch was gold,” Roberts said.

While working in Mid-South in 1986 he caught the eye of Vince McMahon and WWE – then the WWF. McMahon wanted to add a live snake to his persona. The only problem was Roberts was deathly afraid of them – and still is today. Somehow he overcome that when he stepped out into an arena.

“I don’t think anybody can say they ever saw me scared of that damn snake,” Roberts said. “Because something would just happen because when I would walk out of that damn locker room, it was like a switch being clicked and, I was no long Aurelian Smith, I became Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts then and Jake ‘The Snake’ didn’t give a f—k about anything.”

It led to a persona that Roberts agreed was ahead of its time in the 1980s with the shock value of a live snake moving around in a bag and on opponents – including the famous scene of one biting a tied-up “Macho Man” Randy Savage in the ropes. Roberts’ slow, methodical and intense promo style was the opposite of the loud and boisterous ones of that era.

“People were looking for somebody who they couldn’t see through,” Roberts said. “Being as good and great as Hulk [Hogan] was there was some corn in that, a little too much in believability. I always kept it very, very real. You couldn’t see through my s—t.”

One of the big avenues the documentary gets into is Roberts as wrestling’s first anti-hero. It likely happened before the industry was ready for one. The WWE Hall of Famer never won a singles title in WWE, partly Roberts said he believes because McMahon was “afraid” of relying on him because of his issues outside the ring. The reactions he was getting in the ring didn’t help either. Roberts does believe he may have played better during WWE’s “Attitude Era.” That famous period of wrestling popularity was led by the anti-hero “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, who Roberts helped create at King of the Ring 1996.  

“I probably would have been able to go further with it [during the Attitude Era],” Roberts said. “But at the time, whenever the fans started chanting ‘DDT’ and I was with Hogan that was not a good thing and it cost me a lot of money. It’s pretty impossible to invest in somebody that might not be there in the end, that he’s a loose cannon, who can’t guide him, you can’t control it.”

After Roberts’ second run in WWE ended in 1997, he would pop up around the industry from time to time in ECW, WWE and TNA. Roberts attempted to go to rehab, but it wasn’t until 2012 that he hit rock bottom. He described it as “living in a s—thole” and you’re not sure if you have enough money to eat for the week or pay the rent. You don’t have a car because you’ve already sold it and you “don’t give a f—k.” 

“All you think about is where you’re gonna get your next hit and you didn’t care what you did to do it,” Roberts said. “Does that mean I got to sell some furniture? OK, f–k it. But when you get to the bottom, brother, it’s a lonely cold place. I stayed there for some period of time. … I was trying to die at the time.”

That led to him reaching out to his friend Diamond Dallas Page and living with him for the next two years. Roberts finally got sober, all of which is chronicled in the “ Resurrection of Jake the Snake ” documentary. He said the most important thing was creating new habits to replace his destructive ones, something he didn’t feel traditional rehab provided.

It’s allowed him to truly feel good about himself for the first time in a long time. There is a point in the A&E documentary where he happily says, “I’m that guy that’s doing the right thing.” Being able to do so without “lying” has been freeing.

“It’s so good,” Roberts said. “That’s the thing about me now, I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to walk around the corner and hide something. I can wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and go, ‘You know what dude, you’re a bad son of bitch. You got your s—t right.’”

It’s why Roberts, who is currently working backstage with AEW after a run as Lance Archer’s on-screen manager, wants his story to be an inspiration for others trying to break their own cycle of addiction and help them rebuild their lives.

“Hopefully I’m building a lot of people as we speak, showing them a way out of their alcohol addiction or your drug addiction,” Roberts said. “It’s showing them that things are possible.”

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Under the award-winning “Biography” banner, each episode tells the intimate, personal stories behind the success of some of WWE’s most memorable Legends and events. Through rare archival footage and in-depth interviews, each episode explores a different Legend and their immense impact in the WWE universe and on pop culture. Legends featured this season include Randy Orton, Sgt. Slaughter, Scott Hall aka Razor Ramon, Diamond Dallas Page, British Bulldog, and the longest-reigning WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns.

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Jake Roberts Is Proud Of His Honest Biography: WWE Legends Special

Backstage update on bryan danielson’s aew status & future.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts is the topic of a Biography: WWE Legends special this week, and the WWE Hall of Famer is proud of how honest the documentary is.

In an interview with The Ringer , Roberts expressed his happiness about the level of honesty the biography special has maintained considering his famously troubled history.

You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:

On being proud of how honest the documentary was:  “Doing this thing and having it come out so well, I think that I’ve finally had the one happen that really tells the whole story. It’s not pretty. It’s got some rough, nasty edges to taste, but it was life and it was the truth. I didn’t candy coat anything. I’m sick and tired of seeing these docs where these guys go out and put on and never have a f**king problem and never did things. Are you f**king kidding me? I was there. I watched your dumb ass!”

On maintaining his sobriety: “It’s real simple. I became a man. Each day that I stay sober is another victory for me. Believe me when I say there ain’t no way in hell I’m picking up again. I enjoy who I am today. I like waking up and looking in the mirror and saying, ‘Hey, dude, you’re a bad son of a b*tch, man, come on, let’s kick some more ass.’ And I like being able to pick up the phone and not worry about what’s going to be said on the other end. ‘Like, Jake, you f**ked up last night. What the f**k are you doing?’

“Man, I’m glad that s**t is over. Are you kidding me? I’m glad that I could remember what I did yesterday. I may not remember what I had for breakfast, but I know that I ate. It was all good. So where I’m at today, man, I’m walking tall and kicking ass and taking names.”

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The Inside Story of 'Macho Man' Randy Savage Taking a Snake Bite Is Wild

• Author: Jimmy Traina

1. " People to this day say, 'How the hell did they do that with the snake?'"

"I'm like, 'Well, Jake put the snake up close enough to bite Randy's arm and the snake bit Randy's arm.' "

"'Yeah, I know, but how did they do it?'"

"I'm just telling you, the snake BIT Randy's arm."

That was The Undertaker, on A&E's excellent series, WWE Rivals , talking about how wrestling fans to this day wanting to know how the WWE "faked" the memorable bite from 1991 when Jake "The Snake" Roberts had his cobra bite the arm of "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

I was one of those fans. I've always believed the WWE did something to rig the snake so that there would be no harm done to Savage. For 30-plus years I was wrong.

Before I get into the details, one of the reasons I'm leading with this topic today is to plug WWE Rivals and A&E's Biography: WWE Legends . New episodes of each are airing on Sunday nights and both shows are a must-watch for any old-school WWE fan.

This past Sunday's episode of Rivals covered the Jake The Snake-Macho Man feud. Obviously, the highlight of this feud was when Roberts' snake, Damian, bit Savage. One of the things that made this moment so memorable was that the WWE blurred out the actual bite, which added to the drama and intrigue.

On Rivals, several WWE superstars share the inside details of what took place during that wild scene.

"Blood started to come out and Randy's yelling, he's selling it pretty good, you know," said Roberts.

"So I grab hold of the snake and I pull, he doesn't let it go. I pull again, he doesn't let go."

The snake, which drew a significant amount of blood from Savage's arm, was devenomized, but that didn't mean much to Cody Rhodes.

"The weird thing is they're talking about, 'There's no venom, there's no 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." 

Hulk Hogan and Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo, shared details about the aftermath.

"Randy was very sick afterward," said Hogan. "Fever, chills, just really sick."

"A few days later, Randy got a 104 degree fever and the snake died," revealed Poffo. "And Randy would always say, the snake was devenomized, but I wasn't."

Here is the promo for the Roberts-Savage episode from Rivals .

And here's a clip from A&E's Biography episode on Savage from two years ago that covers the famous snake-bite storyline.

2. Caitlin Clark 's final regular-season game this past Sunday was a big ratings draw for Fox. 

3. We need more food content from athletes. Here we have MLB players giving us their takes on how they like their steak cooked and what foods they hate. Freddie Freeman came in hot by revealing that he hates chocolate.

4. Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards missed the beginning of last night's game against the Trail Blazers because he "lost track of time." Come on, Anthony. You gotta have a better excuse than that.

5.  The NFL is a rough business. At around 11:30 a.m. Monday, the Jaguars wished defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi a happy birthday.

Two hours later, the Jaguars released Fatukasi.

6.  The latest episode of the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast features an interview with WFAN/CBS Sports Network morning radio host, Gregg Giannotti.

Giannotti, who co-hosts the highly successful Boomer & Gio show, talks about how he balances doing a radio show for a New York audience and a TV show for a national audience, explains how he formats the show and reveals why Boomer Esiason never knows the opening topic before the show begins.

Giannotti also discusses the importance of covering non-sports stories, the recent mishap when his show booked the wrong Randy Moss at the Super Bowl , how he assesses ratings and much more.

Following the interview with Giannotti, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins us for the weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week's topics include whether you should tell your significant other if you have a huge gambling win, the We Are The World documentary on Netflix, the court-storming controversy in college basketball and more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple , Spotify and Google .

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’ s YouTube channel .

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Today marks the 24th anniversary of The Sopranos  "Full Metal Jacket" episode. The beauty of The Sopranos was something as meaningless as an ugly leather jacket could cause a full blown war.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple , Spotify or Google . You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter , Instagram and TikTok .

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