Jake “The Snake” Roberts has wrestled across the globe throughout his lengthy career but he never quite managed to break through in Japan. The reason behind Jake’s failure to make a name for himself in Japan can be attributed to the fact that the WWE Hall of Famer had upset a very influential figure, namely, Antonio Inoki.
On the latest episode of his Snake Pit podcast, Roberts recalled throwing a snake at the late Mr. Inoki which caused NJPW to ban the wrestler from any further appearances. Roberts said,
“I ran [Antonio Inoki] out of the locker room with a snake in Tokyo. I chased him in the locker room. When I came in, he told me to get out, and I’m like ‘F**k you, I’m not getting out.’”
“It landed on Inoki, and he sprinted out of the locker room. Come to think about it, I haven’t been invited back since. … I’m bad about burning bridges, man. I don’t burn them, I nuke them.”
Mr. Inoki, a former member of the House of Councillors of Japan and founder of NJPW, passed away from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis on October 1, 2022, at age 79.
