Alexis Genevieve
Jake “The Snake” Roberts
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This guy is not dead!! One of the few pro wrestlers who has made it to 2019, Jake Smith aka Jake “The Snake” Roberts started his career in 1974 and retired in 2015. His father, Aurelian “Grizzly” Smith, was also a wrestler alongside his half-brother, Michael Smith, and half-sister, Robin Smith, both of whom also became wrestlers. During the late 1980s, all three siblings wrestled at the same time for the WWF (now WWE).
It is no secret that many professional wrestlers have addiction issues. In 2007, the WWE started a policy of paying all expenses for its former performers who wanted to start drug rehabilitation programs. Roberts was placed in a 14-week voluntary rehab program by WWE and appeared to stay sober. Roberts is a true fighter though and after a battle of health issues in 2014, he continued to tour and promote pro wrestling so much that he was diagnosed with double pneumonia. They also found abnormalities in his brain which seem to be a result of all the bumps he took during his career.
Garnering the name “The Snake” as his professional wrestling persona, he was known to be untrustworthy! He had so many feuds during his long running career, they never really stopped! In 2018, Davey Boy Smith Jr. threw a cup of coffee in Roberts’ face during an argument at a WrestleCon event before fleeing the scene.