The NeelDown: Jake Roberts Pick Your Poison DVD
– I’m just going to give an overview of the plot of the story part of the DVD before I cut into the matches, different from the way I did the Bret Hart DVD, if anyone remembers that. Here’s the entire chapter list: “Thieves of Dreams”, Growing Up, Getting into Wrestling, Early Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic, DDT, Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid-South Again, WWE, Ricky Steamboat, The Snake Pit, Honky Tonk Man, ’80s Star, Million-Dollar Man, Rick Rude, Drugs, Snakes, Andre, Earthquake, Damien & Lucifer, Ultimate Warrior, Wedding Reception – Darkness, Jake’s “Rules” Cobra-Alcohol & Drugs, Leaves WWE, Goes to WCW, Returns to WWE – Religion, Austin 3:16, Jerry “The King” Lawler, Leaves WWE for 2nd Time, Beyond The Mat, ECW, England & Back – More Trouble, Appears on Raw.
Growing Up – Jake had a very busy and rough life growing up. His mother was raped at the age of 12, and soon after his parents got divorced, and was taken in by his grandparents who both “dipped” and drank a lot of whiskey. His brother had been given away to his father’s sister. He says it was very hard to go to school not having a mother and father and having no siblings around. He wet the bed until he was about 12 years old, which was very embarrassing when people drove by and saw a big yellow spot in the middle of the sheets hanging on the line, which he also notes that they were not very wealthy. He rarely saw his father, and says that because of all of his early troubles he has always been a loner. At the age of eleven his mother died of cancer, which led to the best relationship he ever had with his father. Due to his mother abandoning him and his mother dying (in which he as a child saw as “leaving” as well), he claims he developed somewhat of a hatred towards women, and something similar to men. He goes on to talk about his often pregnant sister who would go on to get kidnapped and murdered.
Becoming a wrestler/Mid-Atlantic Wrestling – Grizzly Smith, Jake’s father, called him one day to referee. Jake was floored due to at the time still believing wrestling was real. Gene Okerland takes over in saying that Grizzly had a lot to do with the women in the business, and recalls that he might not have been the best father. His father, testing his ambition to be a wrestler, took him out back and gave him a chop, in which he says he “flew 6 or 7 feet from” and his dad told him he would never amount to anything, but his dad told him “up yours.”
– He recalls his early matches and being coached by Harley Race. Ted DiBiase talks about how to him, Jake “always had a flare.” Hugo Savinovich, who is one half of the Spanish announce team, talks (in English) about how Jake always had what it took to be a superstar. Jim Ross goes along with that, saying that he had a natural gift in understanding the product.
– In the Mid-Atlantic section, we see clips of Jake Roberts & Ricky Steamboat v. Jim Nelson & Mike Miller, which is featured as the first match on the second disc of extras. Ricky Steamboat, who worked as a tag team partner of Roberts in Mid-Atlantic in both of their young careers, says that Roberts had psychology in the business down to a science.
The Origin of the DDT – Out with the knee lift – Jake talks about switching his finisher from a knee lift to a DDT, which happened on an accident in a match with The Grappler, where he was holding him in a facelock and his opponent slipped, and thus it became his finisher, and there you had the very first DDT. Various people such as Bruce Prichard, Hulk Hogan, and Vince McMahon all talk about the genius glory of the move.
– Next we go through Jake’s time in Georgia Championship Wrestling (with commentary by Jake’s GCW roommate Road Warrior Animal about the drugs and booze) where he won the TV title, and then back to Mid-South again after Vince McMahon bought the GCW territory.
WWF – Gene Okerland says that Jake Roberts got over so well in the WWE, and we see old footage of an early Jake Roberts interview with Okerland with Damien. Vince comments on the debut of the snake, and see the clips of Lenny Poffo getting the early snake treatment. Roberts says that when he offered the idea of being paired with the snake to Bill Watts, he said that it wasn’t a circus and declined.
– Onto the Ricky Steamboat section, where we see a clip from Tuesday Night Titans from 1986 where Jake brought his snake into the studio and Ricky, playing on his “Dragon” nickname, brought in a komodo dragon. Steamboat saw it as they had an extra crowd pleaser as well as working the matches in the ring. Next Jake talks about the idea of giving Steamboat a DDT onto the concrete floor, and how he was knocked out after it.
– Next we talk about Jake’s segment, The Snake Pit, which goes on to the incident where the Honky Tonk Man hit him in the head with a real acoustic guitar. So now we know the truth, Mr. Jarrett. That leads on to his WrestleMania III match with Honky Tonk Man, and having Alice Cooper in his corner.
Star of the 80’s – Various commentaries on how Jake was one of the biggest superstars in wrestling. Steamboat notes that he did have a “nightlife” but knew when to get down to business in the ring. The consensus to a large portion of the commentaries is that while Jake didn’t do a whole lot, what he did was always get the crowd into it. That leads to the chapter about the Million Dollar Man, who says that Jake was one of his favorite opponents and was so “easy” to work with. That works into the chapter about Rick Rude. Rude’s gimmick was to bring women into the ring to kiss after his matches. One night a woman refused, and he asked her that if she didn’t come to see his Ravishing body, who did she come to see? She responded by saying her husband, Jake Roberts, and it was his real wife, Cheryl Roberts, leading to their feud, with Rude putting the picture of Cheryl on his tights, and was at ringside for their match.
The Magic Mushroom Demons – Jake talks about, in 1996, developing an addiction to drinking, and having so many people offer him drinks. He did steroids, cocaine, crack, and did it all. Work. Pills. Alcohol. Sleep. That was the routine everyday. The real abuse started when he was in high school, drinking beers after football games and it escalated. He continues to talk about his drinking troubles, saying that for 10 years he was in the “have to” stage for drugs and alcohol just to make it through the day. It was tough to let down and scare his wife. He said it got to the point where she would have to dig vomit out of his mouth because he would be choking on it and stay up all night to make sure he wouldn’t die. He says you know you’re in trouble when you wish you were dead. He says he remembers hearing about Road Warrior Hawk, Curt Hennig and Bossman and being angry at God, wanting him to take him instead. He says when you make excuses you’re not man enough to get on with your life and get it better.
– In the simply named chapter “Snakes,” other superstars comment on being afraid of the snake. DiBiase talks about how Jake would have to take it to his hotel room and have to put it in the bathtub and run water over it to keep it moist, and that he would sometimes wake up not knowing where it was.
– Jake talks about when he was in the ring with Andre the Giant, making the save for Randy Savage. People would then say to Jake, “you might be a TOP guy now.” We see the clip of Andre getting the snake tossed onto him. Many people remembered this as being one of if not the top feud for Jake.
– The next wrestler chapter is the late Earthquake, about their 1991 match at Superstars where ‘Quake tied Roberts in the ropes and killed Damien. Then up is the whole Darkness wedding reception, Damien & Lucifer, Ultimate Warrior stuff.
– “Jake Rules Cobra-Drugs & Alcohol” is about the incident when the cobra bit and attached to Randy Savage’s arm, where they finally got him off and left a mark of blood on the arm, and he had to be taken off. Next is the clip of the Roberts-Undertaker “whose side are you on?” confrontation. Mene Gene is back to continue on the drug commentary path and wonders how he never got suspended and competed so drunk. Vince’s rebuttal is that you could never tell when he was on pills or on drugs, and from what he saw he could be under the influence but could conceive it very well. That is why now we have (the art of) the drug test.
Leaving WWE – Jake had wanted Pat Patterson’s job, but Vince told him that they wouldn’t hire anyone else out of respect. So, Jake “held Vince up” and told him about the release to go to WCW, and without it would not wrestle the Undertaker. Anyway, he went from making $3 million a year to MAYBE $200, 000 a year. Oopsie.
– So he upkept his promise and went to WCW, where he attacked Sting on the Great American Bash tour. This would lead to his atrocious Cole Miner’s Glove match with Sting, at Halloween Havok 1992. Ross says that he thought his matches with Sting were “good” (overstatement of the century) and he was dissapointed that he couldn’t have made a bigger impact in WCW. Oh well. His wife ended up leaving him with a life-altering decision: Retire or she leaves him. He chose retirement …
– BUT everyone knows retirement in professional wrestling means a return a few years later, and that’s what happened at Royal Rumble 1996. We see Jake talk about finding God and becoming born again, and being open about it, even though it didn’t look good for his character. Vince found it ironic but approved whatever brings out the best of people, and this time it was religion.
– Next was the feud with Steve Austin (who he faced in the King of the Ring final at KOTR 1996) and the feud with Jerry Lawler which led to their match at Summerslam of the same year, where Lawler attacked Jake’s past alcohol abuse problems. They play it out with depressing music and current Vince and Hugo commentary which makes it seem cheesy since at the time it wasn’t so serious. Anyway, in their match Lawler frequently made fun of Jake for the abuse and had a large bottle of whiskey and two bottles of Jim Dean. Jake talks about this “real storyline” hurting because he was coming back into the lion’s den. He talks about the guys playing tricks on him like putting whiskey in his soda cup in his locker. He recalls once instance where Undertaker told him to stop being a puss and have a drink, but the other guys said to leave him alone or they would rip him apart. Lawler says that he never knew it would have such an effect on Jake.
Leaving WWE for the 2nd time – Ted DiBiase one day noticed Roberts, who was working as a backstage writer and going through a hard breakup with his wife, had not shown up to a show, and went to his hotel and prayed with him. This led Jake back to his old ways, the booze, the cocaine, the pills. He had lost his family, his career, and his dream.
Beyond The Mat – True Portrayal or – Jake talks about the TV documentary Beyond The Mat, where Jake was portrayed as a bum who tried to get children off drugs, the idea of Terry Funk. Vince, Bruce, and Hugo all agree it was an infair portrayal of Jake. Jake says that he knew it was over when he wasn’t even invited to the premier, and said he never even watched it, and doesn’t want to.
ECW – Jake didn’t agree with the product, but wanted the money, so he ran into the ring and delivered some DDTs. Simple enough.
Arrested in England – Jake talks about going to the UK to try to get clean, where he was arrested for animal cruelty with the snake, and was later arrested for drug possession for what supposedly wasn’t his. Mhm.
2005 Appearance on RAW – Jake returned to the WWE on Monday Night RAW early in 2005 as a guest on Chris Jericho’s Highlight Reel. He said it felt great to come back and get a standing ovation.
– In closure, Jake says that he shouldn’t even be here today, with all of his troubles and has tried to commit suicide more than once. We get commentary next by all of the regulars who has taken part in the DVD thus far – Jim Ross, Vince, Hulk Hogan, Road Warrior Animal, Gene Okerland, Ricky Steamboat, Ted DiBiase. They all basically agree that he “stumbled through half of his life,” how he has always been a free spirit but his weakness was always the bottle. Jake claims he wants to be remembered and not to judge him by his problems but by his success. Everyone hopes that he will be able to turn his life around.
– Jake is not fond of where he has been, but is looking forward to where he is going.
The Matches – Disc 1
– Jake Roberts v. Ricky Steamboat – 8.28.86
From The Big Event in ’86. Background here is that at Saturday Night’s Main Event Roberts sent Steamboat to the hospital after a DDT to the concrete. Roberts jumps him on the apron and hauls him in but Steamboat slugs back and forces him to bail after a back drop. Back in Steamboat works on the arm for a while with an arm wringer. Roberts finally gets out but gets shouldered down and it’s back to the arm. Roberts tries fighting back with a punch but Steamboat ducks it and KARATE CHOPS away then gets a side kick that sends Roberts to the floor, where he gut rams Steamboat and scoops and slams him onto the protective mat. Roberts gets a chair but Steamboat takes it from him and gets the flying chop for two. Now it’s back to the dreaded arm working. To the corner for top punches and chops, but Roberts manages to toss him where Steamboat takes a bump on the steps. Well, at least they were wooden back then. Out there Roberts slingshots him to the post and works on punching and abusing the forehead until he eventually bleeds. Roberts gives him the shuffling jabs inside and Steamboat does a Flair Flop from his knees. Roberts attempts the DDT but Steamboat blocks it by ramming him into the corner. Roberts retaliates with an atomic drop, then a gut buster. Now we have an odd finishing sequence, where Jake attempts sitting down onto Steamboat, but Steamboat rolls him over and gets the pin. Match was slow and dull through a fair amount of parts, but solid. **3/4
Winner: Ricky Steamboat
– Jake Roberts v. The Honky Tonk Man – 3.29.87
From WrestleMania III, after Honky Tonk Man nearly paralyzed and killed Jake after blasting him over the head with a real acoustic guitar on the Snake Pit, which was explained in detail nicely earlier. We go outside and in for some Roberts brawling and he works the arm, then RIDS HIM OF THE ELVIS COSTUME! Good Lord. Honky tries playing cat and mouse but ends up getting caught, scooped, snd slammed. Roberts stays in control back inside but Honky escapes a DDT and takes him to the floor where he sends him to the rail. Honky tries to not let him back in, but that fails, and he gets the fist drop. Roberts evades the Shake, Rattle N’ Roll via backdrop and attempts the DDT, but Jimmy Hart grabs his leg. He goes after Hart, and Honky rolls him up for the big upset. Match was nothing really, except the upset highlighted it being special. *
Winner: The Honky Tonk Man
– Jake Roberts v. Rick Rude – Rude Awakening v. DDT – 10.24.88
Yep, it’s the first one to get his finisher and the pin. In other words, no crappy roll up finishes. Jake is not only accompanied by Damien, but his wife Cheryl, as well, because this feud started when Rude was doing his “bring a woman into the ring with him to kiss” gimmick and accidentally tried to bring in his wife, who in return turn him who she was and slapped him. Roberts attacks after Rude says something to Cheryl, then grabs an arm wringer. Rude jumps to the apron to try to break it, but gets yanked back in. Rude does a leap frog and gets cocky, so Roberts tries an early DDT but Rude bails then rakes the eyes. Roberts returns the medicine, then adds the shuffling jabs. Rude gets a stiff clothesline out of nowhere then ties him in the ropes and goes after Cheryl, but of course Jake has magically escapes and gotten free to make the save. Rude rams the arm into the post and does the homosexual dance inside. Roberts finally makes it back in but gets pounded down and locked in a rear choke. Roberts fights out but gets punched back down, and now it’s back in. Jake turns it into a short bearhug then CLAWS THE BACK, but then hurts his knee to soften him up. Roberts tries the DDT again but Rude bites his hand to block it. Roberts feeds him to the pole on the outside and adds a slam, then takes him back in for more shuffling punches and the gut drop. Cheryl gives him the “Okay” to DDT away, so Rude tries running, but Rude pulls his tights down for a Flair moment. It’s amazing really how many Flair references can come in when reviewing matches that don’t involve or have anything to do with Flair. DDT attempt, but Jake makes the rookie mistake of attempting it close to a corner, and he gets shoved into it. Roberts tries a knee lift but misses and hits the corner, allowing Rude to get the fist drop. He stops to taunt Cheryl, then tries the Awakening but Roberts gets out and plants him with a quick DDT for the pin. The match was too concentrated on Cheryl on the outside to make anything of. **1/2
Winner: Jake Roberts
Snake Bites
– Jake’s relationship with children
– How he came “the Snake”
– Working with Dynamite Kid
– Legion of Doom (featuring an Easter Egg: once you scroll down to the LOD tab, click the Right” button twice and get a short piece of commentary by Road Warrior Animal about an incident with Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy).
– “Steamboat saved my life …”
– Meeting Dick Ebersol
– “Snake” on the loose …
– Grizzly Smith (another Easter Egg here, just press the “Left” button once you have the Grizzly Smith highlighted for a piece of short commentary by Hulk Hogan).
– Hogan/Jake Feud
Matches – Disc 2
Jake Roberts & Ricky Steamboat v. Jim Nelson & Mike Miller – 9.9.81
From Mid-Atlantic. Both guys looked VERY young here. I’m not even going to try to provide a background of Nelson & Miller. Steamboat outwrestles Miller to start to Nelson blind tags himself in, but he gets outwrestled too, and dropkicked. Roberts comes in and adds some knees. Miller comes in but gets swept, tag to Steamboat who works on the knees. Roberts comes back in and locks in a leg lock. Steamboat comes back in who gets rushed to a corner by Miller and worked into a headlock. Nelson comes in and snapmares Steamboat into a rear choke. They continue to isolate Steamboat until he chops his way back into it. Roberts comes back in for the 1981 SHUFFLING PUNCHES and a scoop and a slam, then more grounded punches. Roberts lifts Steamboat up for a dropkick, forcing Miller to tag out to Nelson, of whom Roberts gets a backdrop suplex, and that’ll be enough to get the pin. Now there’s a finish you don’t see anymore Fine formula-based tag match, but too short to really make anything of. **
Winners: Jake Roberts & Ricky Steamboat
Jake Roberts v. Ronnie Garvin – NWA TV Championship – 12.3.83
From Georgia Championship Wrestling, a rematch for the TV title. Lockup into a headlock by Roberts, who is wrestling in what looks like white karate pants, but there is no colored belt, so I’m left curious. Break and another tieup, this time won by Garvin who pounds him down for one. Roberts has to go out and regroup, with some comforting and instructions from Precious Paul Ellering. Back in Garvin locks in a front facelock. Which goes on for like four straight minutes, no joke. Jake FINALLY is able to ram him to the corner, but, well, then Garvin just falls back into it. After commercials (or, in DVD format, the quick two-second black screen break), Roberts is in control and gets a pair of powerslams for two. Garvin retaliates on the apron and goes up for a high crossbody for two, and that forces Roberts out to get some nourishment from Precious Paul. Garvin gets a slam and adds some knees, but on the pin Roberts has the rope. Back in they stall on who is going to throw the first boxing blow, which turns out being Jake, who then does some choking with his foot. Garvin explodes with punches then though, which gets two. Garvin takes him to the corner for more punishment, and an inside cradle, but Roberts has the ropes yet again. Garvin misses in dropping an elbow allowing Jake an atomic drop for two. Roberts is looking very tired at this point. He slowly and blatantly tries pinning with his feet on the ropes, and gets two. Garvin gets up and starts stomping away but the time limit expires and it’s called a draw. Well, no one likes that finish, but it was a solid effort. ***
Winner: (DRAW)
Jake Roberts v. “Leaping” Lanny Poffo – 3.16.86
Generous, always fan-giving Poffo throws frisbees to the fans at Madison Square Garden to start, then recites a poem directed at Roberts, which he doesn’t take liking to, so he grabs a headlock and shoulders Poffo down. Poffo however comes back with a pair of quick dropkicks forcing Jake to “slither” out. Give that slur a rest, announcers anonymous. Jake comes back in to work on the arm with a wringer, but Poffo jumps up top and backflips into a roll on the mat to get out of it and apply his own. Jake tries reaching for Damien early, but doesn’t make it, and gets knocked down with a Poffo crossbody. Roberts manages a backbreaker ands adds some knees to the midsection and goes to a grounded sleeper, but Poffo bridges out of it, only to fall back into it. Poffo is able to turn it into a hammerlock and catches Jake with a kick and back drop. Super funny botched sequence sees Poffo attempt to springboard to the outside but he takes a nasty slip and tumbles down and over. They play through it well enough though, and go back outside where Roberts hip tosses him on the floor, then back in gives him the DDT, and that will do it. Poffo actually displayed a lot of talent here, and the crowd was behind him, a shame nothing ever picked up. Decent match cut short. **3/4
Winner: Jake Roberts
Jake Roberts v. Earthquake – 4.27.91
From Superstars. Oh great, to the delight of me, as excited as I already was for this classic, we have Randy Savage on commentary. Roberts attacks to start and unleashes Damien within seconds, and I’ve never seen a fat man run as fast as Earthquake just did. So Hart and Earthquake try to walk, but a random referee at the top of the stage makes them come back, and forces Damien back in the sack. And as if that weren’t enough, Hart seems very concerned for his health, and they make him put Damien under the ring. Jake is pissed about that, allowing Earthquake to attack from behind. Then he pulls the bag out. So we just wasted five minutes getting rid of it, just so the person who wanted it gone can bring it back? Roberts gets tied in the ropes, and the bell hasn’t even sounded yet. Finally it does, and Hart is holding down the ref, and that will draw a DQ, although I don’t even know if it ever even started. While Roberts is tied up, Earthquake splashes Damien, although it is much too graphic to be shown, of course, and we instead see a representee of the WWF monitor room. This wasn’t even a match. -*
Winner: (DQ)
Jake Roberts v. Sting – Coal Miner’s Glove 19.28.92
This is from Halloween Havok ’92, where the “Coal Miner’s Glove” idea came from when Sting spun a wheel (Spin the wheel, make the deal) that had a variety of match choices. The other matches on the wheel were the usual suspects … Cage, I Quit, First Blood, Lumberjack. Obviously, we would have taken ANY of those other choices than the ever-so brilliant COAL MINER’S GLOVE. Anyway, the glove is attached to a pole. Sting gives him a pair of slams to start and goes for the glove but Roberts yanks him off. So they do some stare offs and slow tieups and breaks. I actually get sidetracked by the cherry Snow Cone vendor that just passed on the screen. Sting misses a dropkick and gets tossed, but out there he feeds Jake to the post and tries climbing the pole, and gets about half way until he gets pulled down. They do about three minutes of stomping and slow moving after that, and eventually Jake decides it’s his turn to climb, but gets knocked down and stepped on. Now Sting works the arm, and things somehow spill outside, where Sting gets wacked with the PADDED FOLDING CHAIR OF DOOM. The delays in this match are so dull that sometimes we will get like 30 second breaks where there is even no commentary. Sting misses the Stinger Splash, but things are still dead. Eventually Roberts gets the DDT, but, go figure, Sting is the one who then makes it to the top and retrieved the glove. Meanwhile Cactus Jack runs out and hands Jake a cobra, which bites Jake in the face, and there’s your pin. At first I thought he was just holding the snake there, but on a close up it looks like a real bite, and it doesn’t look pretty. I don’t even know where to begin to what all was wrong with this match. Well, actually I could start with the ridiculously stupid stipulation, which didn’t even end up having much of an effect for all the hype, followed by how utterly slow it was, topped off with an ending that made the whole thing look pointless, and in fact, you would probably be more entertained individually counting the number of times the word “Baby” was sang by Robert Plant on each Led Zeppelin album than watching it. 1/4*
Winner: Sting
Jake Roberts v. Dirty White Boy – Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Championship – 5.7.94
From Smoky Mountain Wrestling, obviously. For the record, both guys use the DDT as a finisher. Pirate DWB is wearing an eyepatch on the injured eye. Roberts takes him down to start and then teaches the referee how to execute an arm wringer, and making fun of the eye patch. Jake has a pretty full looking beer belly at this point in the 90’s, and is also wearing cowboy boots. DWB slams Roberts down, obviously motivated and pissed off at the mocking of his eye. Jake slaps him in the eye. This is taking way too long to pick up. DWB punches back forcing Jake to bail. They do yet another tieup sequence now DWB grabs an armlock and shoulders him down, then attacks the arm. DWB slaps him on the head and about ten quarts of grease fly off, visible. Roberts gets out of whatever hold DWB was trying with a jawbreaker. Samurai, who is the one who injured DWB’s eye, runs down and takes the patch so they DWB is hurt by the lights. Roberts rips off some wrist tape and sticks it in his eyes, but gets rolled up for two. Blah blah blah, punch to the eye, crawling around for give minutes, stomps, punches in the corner. Oh, something different, DWB gets tossed. Back in DWB slugs back, but Roberts goes out and kicks down a cameraman to use it to blind DWB, and FINALLY hits the DDT for the pin. That gives Roberts the SMW Championship, and was 13 minutes of stalling with a punch to the injured eye of DWB every now and then. **
Winner: Jake Roberts
Jake Roberts v. Steve Austin – 6.23.96
This is the King of the Ring final at KOTR ’96. Roberts is already severely injured after a Vader Bomb from his previous match with Vader. I’m not even going to bother with this, Austin does his usual stuff and beats Roberts down for something like five minutes and tries ripping off Robert’s shirt, to the point where Gorilla Monsoon comes out and asks if Roberts wants to quit, but he doesn’t, and throws some shuffling punches to set up the DDT, but Austin blocks it and beats him down some more, then gives him the Stunner for the pin. When a punch is literally the only move that is done from one competitor, the match wasn’t even a … match, which makes the whole KOTR tournament looks stupid, but whatever. -*
Winner: Steve Austin
Jake Roberts v. Jerry Lawler – 8.18.96
From Summerslam ’96, the result of a very emotional effective storyline in which Lawler made fun of the newly reborn Jake’s troubled alcoholic past. Lawler comes out with two bottles of Jim Bean, which are his “two tag team partners,” in an attempt to taunt Roberts with his troubled past now that he is supposedly a born again Christian and has turned things around. Lawler is also sporting a Baltimore Ravens Vinny Testeverde jersey, and we are in Cleveland. No Browns love? Then he taunts to Mark Henry who is on commentary. When Roberts finally makes his way to the ring Lawler pulls out a giant bottle, so Roberts throws the snake on him. Jim Ross can smell a DDT coming near. Well, now the bell rings. So Lawler goes out and offers Jake the bottles of JB but Roberts attacks and slams his face against the steps, then inside takes him down and gets the legal groin stomp. Outside we go again and Lawler gets slammed. Lawler manages to grab a soda from a fan and blind Roberts with it, then tie him into the ropes. Well, that’s not the first time. Very Earthquake-esque. He gets out quickly though, and tries the DDT, but Lawler anticlimactically turns it into a suplex. Another DDT attempt, but King grabs the ref to block it, then hits Jake in the throat with one of the bottles for the pin. Obviously more of a storyline than a match. Don’t know why this one went on the DVD, really, unless King had something to do with the creative department on it. 1/2* Afterwards King pours some of the whiskey in his mouth. Mark Henry makes the save. I honestly didn’t even remember this match at all though seeing the event, but probably because all I can remember was the long boiler room brawl.
Winner: Jerry Lawler
– At ECW Hardcore Heaven ’97, Jake came to plant both Jerry Lawler & Tommy Dreamer with DDTs.
Jake Roberts & Tommy Dreamer v. Justin Credible & Jack Victory – 11.1.98
From November 2 Remember ’98. Roberts was the unnamed “mystery partner” of Dreamer here, who’s ring attire is jogging pants an a collared striped shirt. At least Dreamer wears a t-shirt with his. Dreamer takes them both out to start, and has to go out and deal with the pesky outsiders, leaving Roberts to atomic drop Credible. Credible stops to shout some profanity while pounding on Dreamer. Dreamer gets dumped and booted down by Jason. Credible slams him on the ramp, then gives him a bulldog inside. The Entourage at ringside continue to say how they’re number one. Jason is back in to try to suplex Dreamer, but he gets DDT’ed instead, and even though this is ECW rules, the ref misses every bit of interference. Superplex on Credible, but he regroups and drop toe holds Dreamer onto a chair, stealing a page out of Raven’s book. Dreamer Driver on Credible. Roberts comes in for the first time as the crowd chants for a D-D-T. He sets up for one, but Rod Price and One Man Gang run in and kill him. The save is made by New Jack and Kronus who are armed with shopping carts and briefcases and street signs and all kinds of good stuff. So a bunch of people get hit with chairs and splashed and caned and piledriven, and Credible gets DDT’ed on a ladder for the pin. The point here was that Roberts was in ECW. Did the match totally suck? Yes. -*
Winners: Jake Roberts & Tommy Dreamer
– After the matches are completed on disc 2, there is a list of interviews and promos.
End of both DVD’s.
