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The Surprising Reason Hulk Hogan Refused To Wrestle Jake Roberts On TV

By Conor Renshaw • Published 19th November 2023
The Surprising Reason Hulk Hogan Refused To Wrestle Jake Roberts On TV

A proposed plan for a feud between Hulk Hogan and Jake The Snake Roberts was reportedly scrapped and Roberts has revealed the reason was due to him having a stronger fan reaction than Hogan.

In an interview with WrestlingNewsCo, Roberts revealed that a Snake Pit segment was filmed in Tucson, Arizona, where he performed his finishing move, the DDT, on Hulk Hogan. The expectation was for the audience to get behind Hogan for revenge. However, to everyone in the back’s surprise, when Hogan got to his feet, the crowd began to chant “DDT! DDT!” instead of showing support for Hogan.

This turn of events forced Vince McMahon to scrap the proposed program between Hogan and Roberts, as the WWE didn’t want the heel Roberts to receive a stronger babyface reaction than Hogan.

Roberts explained the situation in the interview, stating:

It was filmed in Tucson, Arizona. And we did it on the snake pit. But the crowd wouldn’t cooperate. Because after I’d DDT’d him, we went back to the back to hear him come up to his feet rip his shirt off, beat his chest, and come looking for Jake The Snake. But the people started chanting DDT, DDT, and Vince said, we can’t have that. So, therefore, it was nixed.

Roberts went on to explain that they aired the segment in two different markets, and those shows sold out as a result. However, due to the 50/50 split between Hogan and Roberts on crowd reactions, McMahon refused to continue with the program.

We actually showed that in two markets, one market being Providence, Rhode Island, and the other one being in Montreal, and we sold out both places. But the fans were split 50/50. And Vince couldn’t have that.

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On his podcast recently Ted DiBiase said that Hulk Hogan doesn’t get enough credit, despite Hogan being one of the most famous wrestlers of all time DiBiase believes that Hogan was one of the best in-ring storytellers of all time.

H/t to itrwrestling.com