On a recent edition of his “The Snake Pit” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts discussed the WWE angle where Earthquake (John Tenta) squashed his snake.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether he remembers his first interactions with John Tenta: ‘“No, I don’t remember and I wish I did, you know? He appeared to be a well-honed professional when reality was, he had very few matches. But he carried it off, man. I’m sure it has to do with his days as a sumo, but he knew how to carry himself in the locker room. And nothing but respect here.”
On Earthquake squashing the snake: “Well, I will tell you this. Vince and them had come up with the idea of me being laid out on the floor. And I disagreed with him. I said, ‘No man, don’t leave me on the floor. Throw me in the ring, and tie up in the ropes and make me watch it happen.’ You know, there’s nothing worse than having to watch your love be trashed or trampled or squashed, and you can’t do a damn thing about it. So that was the point that I wanted. And I knew that I can carry out the facials and the stuff like when I looked in the bag and I recoiled from the horrible sights that I saw. You know, just a bit of acting on my part.”
On getting in the right headspace to sell it: “For me, all you have to do is believe. You know, put yourself in that spot and believe it. And then you get the natural emotions. And with the emotions comes the facials, and the body recoiling and all that. But the big thing was the snake didn’t get hurt, because the snake wasn’t in the bag. What there was in the bag was a pair of pantyhose filled with hamburger meat. So when you squashed it, there’d be blood coming out.”
On the actual snake being checked on: “You know, we had to have somebody from the ASPCA there to check the snake. Because we can’t be abusing animals and s**t on air. And I remember, it was a woman. And after we showed her what we’d done, she looked at me and said, ‘You’re a ba**ard.’ I go, ‘Why?’ She goes, ‘Look at those kids crying. I was crying!’ I said, ‘Then I did my job right.’”
