“Probably 10 Million Dollars Down The Drain”: Legendary WWE Villain Feared Huge Financial Losses After Being Cheered While Wrestling Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan was WWE’s scared golden goose in the 1980s. Hogan’s popularity as a mainstream star meant WWE strapped a rocket to his back and made him their poster boy. WWE projected him as the Real American hero who overcame the mightiest of odds. It’s remarkable how, with The Hulkster, WWE found a tried and trusted formula for success and stuck to it. His success and fame among the casual audience also meant that a lot of WWE stars wanted to have a program with the 2-time Hall of Famer to help their career.

Names like King Kong, Ted Dibiase, Roddy Piper, and many more gained mainstream attention during their feuds with Hogan. However, there’s another story. WWE legend Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts had the chance to join this list and have a memorable feud with Hulk Hogan, but WWE scrapped the plans.

Recently, on his ‘Snake Pit’ podcast, Roberts revealed that despite being a heel, the fans cheered him against Hogan, which led to WWE dropping their planned feud. He said that this probably cost him millions of dollars he could’ve made.

Jake Roberts shared details of the scrapped feud with Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan’s illustrious career in WWE led to both his and the company’s rise in mainstream pop culture. WWE had a simple but successful formula with The Immortal One that worked to perfection nearly all the time. They usually built a big bad villain as unstoppable who destroyed everything in his path before he ran into Hogan.

But, Hogan, despite the odds and difficulties, would prevail. He was cheered, Hulkamania ran wild and fans would go home happy- end of story. This made Hogan a popular star and whoever feuded with him made good money due to WWE’s promotion of the whole rivalry.

But when WWE placed a heel, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts against Hogan in 1986, he wanted to try a different formula. As Roberts went through with his own schtick, fans began cheering him over Hogan. Clearly, this didn’t sit well with Vince McMahon. His biggest star and babyface was getting upstaged by a despicable heel. It turned things upside down from a WWE perspective.

Speaking on his Snake Pit podcast, Roberts said that fans cheering him over Hogan proved to be a death knell for this big rivalry and it probably cost him a lot of money.

Roberts used to have his own talk show, also called ‘The Snake Pit’ during his time in WWE. It was here that the confrontation between him and Hogan would go down leading to a program between the two. As the segment went on the two legends got into a heated exchange and Roberts threw powder into Hogan’s eyes and then hit him with his patented DDT. Jake went backstage, and it was expected as soon as Hogan got to his feet and ripped his T-shirt, the fans would start cheering for him.

But in stark contrast, the fans began chanting DDT, DDT. Roberts said that he knew at this point he made a mistake and Vince McMahon even told him that he screwed up.

On his podcast, Roberts said, “We went out and did and three Snake Pits. And on the third one, I threw powder in his face and DDT him on the set and busted him open. And got to the back. Fans rewarded me with ‘DDT, DDT.’ 

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Moreover, he added, “Fans, I love the sh** out of you. But you don’t know how many millions of dollars you cost me. Oh my god! Probably 10 million dollars down the drain.”  This rivalry began at live events, as WWE tries to gauge the fan reaction before putting it in front of a wider audience. During their two matches, fans cheered Roberts over Hogan for bringing a different style of wrestling, which went against the ‘Hogan formula’. This unexpected reaction led to WWE ending the feud prematurely and it never made it to TV.

Roberts is right to be aggrieved. Back in the day, a feud with Hogan meant money. It was also an indicator of how good a heel was if he got to work with Hulk Hogan. The better the heel, the better the chance for Hogan to look great. It also meant that the company saw you as their top bad guy to go against its number one face.

Jake The Snake Roberts had a memorable career, despite this setback. Though one cannot help but wonder what might have been had The Snake carried on his feud with the Hulkster. Maybe a title reign could’ve come to pass, maybe more, we would never know.

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