Was Jake the Snake Roberts the greatest heel in WWE history?

[CM Steel]

I had to post this thread in honor of WWE hall of famer and wrestling legend Jake the Snake Roberts with all this stuff that he's going through with his illness and another stop to the hospital.

Many wrestling fans say that the Million Dollar man Ted Dibiase was the greatest heel in WWE history. But I would beg the differ on that. Fans have to remember the timeline during the Hulk Hogan era. And remember in that era Jake the Snake Roberts was a big factor in that era. Jake the Snake played his heel role as a natural! He made you feel like he was legit evil and pretty crazy. Only guys like Jake Roberts and Terry Funk can do it so well!

But after Jake the Snake left the WWF after Wrestlemania 8 he had a stint in WCW. But returned to the WWF in '95/6 as a born-again christian playing the face role. But after that run that would be the last time that we would see Jake the Snake Roberts until RAW 2005 on Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel" featuring Randy Orton. But now in 2014 the Snakeman is back once again! And is now a WWE HALL OF FAMER! Which is longggggggggg overdue.

But back to the question though. Was Jake the Snake Roberts the greatest heel in WWE history? And let's all keep Jake the Snake Roberts in prayer people? We can't lose another legend in 2014 or ever.

 

[sanefan_har]

The greatest heel? No.

While he was definitely one of the better heels in the business, in my opinion, he couldn't draw the kind of heat drawn by Bobby Heenan, Mr.McMahon or Ted Dibiase. Reason being he always brought a snake to the ring. He was devious, but not in the way that you legitimately hated him, just being an innovative villain in a movie of sorts. And many people like innovative.

Dibiase used to do stuff like treating Virgil like an idiot, and he had the kind of money not many people used to have back then. Regardless of anything else, you were always going to hate him for kicking the ball away from that kid who was supposed to bounce it 20 times, you were always going to hate him for buying out Sapphire from Dusty Rhodes and so on. I don't even need to talk about Mr. Mcmahon, and well, people preferred Bobby Heenan in a weasel suit.

All this, while I recall the match between Jake Roberts and the Macho Man when both were heels. The crowd was massively in favour of Jake Roberts (barring the lucky few in the front rows who got a good glimpse of Ms Elizabeth's "features".)

Jake Roberts was a bad-ass, and it was only a matter of time before he turned face, because of his popularity. Hell, I'd even go as far as to say that The Honky Tonk Man drew more heat than him.

P.S Jake Roberts is one of my favourite superstars, and to me, he remains a legend because of his gimmick more than being a good heel or a good face.

 

[Mustang Sally]

All this, while I recall the match between Jake Roberts and the Macho Man when both were heels. The crowd was massively in favour of Jake Roberts....

It's true. Even when Jake was a heel, there was something that made you root for him, even though the concept of 'tweener hadn't yet been developed. That's not to say he didn't draw heel heat....he did. Still, the live snake he carried around was supposed to revolt people, yet it's something fans came to look forward to seeing. Jake was a terrific heel, but not the greatest......

.....with that honor going to Randy Savage, imo. It was a tribute to his personality traits as an entertainer that he was ever able to turn good, because as a bad guy, I really hated him, yet truly loved to see him so I could hate him again and again.

When he strangled Ricky Steamboat with the ring ropes, when he tangled backstage with Bruno Sammartino (talk about attacking a demigod), when he bossed Elizabeth around the ring and backstage, making you wonder how he really treated her (please remember I was 6 years old in 1985....and I believed).....it added up to Macho Man being the guy who generated more bad feelings as a heel than anyone I can remember. The fans in the arena went nuts booing this guy.

When he was bad, he was very very bad.

 

[Bagpipes]

To answer the question, no, but he was very good. Roberts mastered the dark, cryptic promo during a time when this type of gimmick was largely unchartered territory.

 

[HeyYo]

Jake Robers was a good heal but nowhere near the best heal in the WWE/F. I agree that Randy Savage was better. His bell attack on Stemboat was a classic.
However, the honor of greatest heal of all time goes to Larry Zybsko. In 1980, he attacked Bruno Sammartino, who was supposed to be Bruno's protege. When you have death threat against you and have your taxi flipped over after a match with Bruno, you know that you're a top heal.
He and Bruno headlined the Shea Stadium supershow.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Roberts' run as heel was too brief to qualify as greatest heel in WWE history, but it was an amazing effective run. I just wish the WWE had let him go over at least one time on Savage during the course of their feud. That back and forth, give and take would've helped make the feud epic.

 

[OldSchoolWrestlingFan]

Jake was a fantastic heel but he was far from the greatest heel of All Time - Classy Freddy Blassie was an unbelievable heel. What makes him the greatest of all time is that he carried the same overwhelming heat he received as a wrestler over to when he was a manager. He was able to get major heat with just a look, a smirk or a glance - to me he is the undisputed greatest heel of all time! (honorable mentions: Roddy Pipper, Gorgeous George, Flair (in his prime w/ the Horsemen) & Hollywood Hogan)

 

[thebarber]

Roberts was a fantastic heel, but greatest of all time...........no.
Roberts in WWE was only a heel for most of 1986 then for 9 months before he left in early 1992. He was a face in WWE the rest of the time. His WCW run was pathetic and his career pre-WWE certainly wasnt memorable for his great heel work.
When talking greatest heels of all time, you are talking about Fred Blassie, Nick Bockwinkel, Roddy Piper, Triple H, Ted DiBiase and Bobby Hennan.

 

[Creepy Old Man]

I believe the great heels have to be loved first, and Jake was never truly loved. I've never heard or seen heat like Bret Hart had in 1997, and even in 1998 in WCW once the fanfare of his arrival died away. The US fans hadn't forgotten what he said and did the year prior.

 

[Pedigree1]

Jake while not the best heel definitely IMO had the best heel qualities.. The way he spoke in riddles,and everything he did.. He threw a snake on Andre the Giant giving him a Kayfabe heart attack.. Made a King cobra bite the Macho Man.. It was his tactics that made him boo him,but at the same time thinking I hope he gets away with the stuff hes doing..

I love Jake the Snake one of my favorite wrestlers ever

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Not even close... sorry but his heel run never got to where it needed to be because he didn't allow it to... he was too out of his box and bitching at Vince for it to happen.

Had his feud with Savage gone right, had he not left WWE after being fed to Taker, had the Warrior feud happened we might be talking of the greatest heel... he had the most potential of any I feel, but he didn't live up to it and he even bombed in WCW against Sting, nearly impossible to do...but he managed it.

I know the guy is sick but let's not dress it up for that reason... As a mic worker, top 3 in history but that was as a face or heel... he never spent enough mainstream time as a heel to make the potential he had work to be in the top 20 heels of all time... sad but true.

 

[enviousdominous]

Many wrestling fans say that the Million Dollar man Ted Dibiase was the greatest heel in WWE history.

Two out of three people I polled said that Pez Whatley was the greatest heel in WWE history and he never even wrestled for them.

But I would beg the differ on that. Fans have to remember the timeline during the Hulk Hogan era. And remember in that era Jake the Snake Roberts was a big factor in that era. Jake the Snake played his heel role as a natural! He made you feel like he was legit evil and pretty crazy. Only guys like Jake Roberts and Terry Funk can do it so well!

The fine line between face and heel has gotten very blurry thanks to the redundancy of cookie cutter faces diluting the hell out of a strong certainty that anyone is borderline good or evil. Technically speaking, being the greatest heel of all time involves getting the majority of the crowd to hate you and thus love your opponent.

I recall Jake cutting a heel promo on Hogan involving Jake sucker punching Hogan and setting him up for the DDT. The crowd started chanting "DDT!! DDT!!" This situation is where one gets pretty damn philosophical when it comes to defining a great heel. To some, being a great heel involves being so damn good at making the crowd hate you that they can't help but love the other guy. To others, being a great heel involves being such an entertaining anti-hero that your merchandise is never in stock.

If you use the idea of being hated and booed to define the greatest heel, I'd have to suggest Sgt Slaughter as the leading candidate for that one.

If you use the idea of being the most over anti-hero in pro-wrestling history, that would be Stone Cold without a doubt.

But after Jake the Snake left the WWF after Wrestlemania 8 he had a stint in WCW. But returned to the WWF in '95/6 as a born-again christian playing the face role. But after that run that would be the last time that we would see Jake the Snake Roberts until RAW 2005 on Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel" featuring Randy Orton. But now in 2014 the Snakeman is back once again! And is now a WWE HALL OF FAMER! Which is longggggggggg overdue.

You seem to want to point out that Jake's heel potency has been overlooked due to the events of the history lesson you just gave us. I agree that he's a huge part of pro-wrestling history, I don't see how that paragraph makes a solid argument for declaring Jake the best heel of all time.

But back to the question though. Was Jake the Snake Roberts the greatest heel in WWE history? And let's all keep Jake the Snake Roberts in prayer people. We can't lose another legend in 2014 or ever.

I don't think he was the greatest heel, though he is without a doubt one of the greatest performers of all time. Ditto on the sentiments, get well soon Jake.

 

[Aberle4Life]

As someone else mentioned, Jake wasn't a heel long enough to be considered amongst the best heels. He was a face twice as long as he was a heel, and it was as a face that he reached the highest point of his career.

Quite simply, Jake is one of the best, period. He was probably the most underrated performer in the late 1980's/early '90's. Whereas every other top performer of that era won a title of some kind--even Piper won the IC title for the first time--Jake was not even rewarded with a belt. It's escaping me if he may have gotten his hands on the Million Dollar Belt during that time, but that wasn't a real title anyway. He was possibly the best mic worker of that time, and perhaps the best in-ring storyteller as well (well, second to Randy Savage). He was never the best technical wrestler, but with his other gifts he didn't have to be.

Bret Hart will always be my favorite wrestler of that period, but Jake Roberts falls somewhere in the Top 5 and perhaps Top 3 with Mr. Perfect. He's one of the best. Trust me.

 

[Ding_Dong_#2]

Jake the Snake had the misfortune of being active in an era where there were so many quality heels - Ted Dibiase, Bobby Heenan, Randy Savage, Ric Flair; even people who had short runs such as Earthquake were very, very good. He stood out as a heel, but he didn't stand out far enough.

If Jake debuted as a heel, in his prime, in this era, there is little or no doubt he would have made major waves, making second-rate heels like The Miz, Rusev, Seth Rollins and many more, pale in comparison. He would have also stood out a mile in the attitude era - when we were being force-fed overwrought facial expressions from DX Shawn Michaels, green Triple H, green Chris Jericho and the like - by then, his time had gone and his demons were well and truly in force.

He will always be one of the great wrestlers, heel or face - personally, I thought he was better suited as a face because his style stood out amongst the permed, ripped, stars of the time. I hope his legacy stands up because he deserves to be up there with the greats.

 

[bko]

In a time where the business was not exposed the way it is today and heels were actually meant to be hated and faces were meant to be loved, I for one as a little kid actually thought the snake made jake the snake "cool". Heels back then werent meant to be cool. As a preformer Jake was bloody awesome for any time era, but if you go by the definition of an old school heel, Jake could of been a better heel if he lost the snake. If you asked a young me who my favorite wrestlers were back when I was young enough to still think it was real, I would have told you Hulk Hogan, and Jake the Snake.