Jake Roberts Never Enjoyed Wrestling For Japanese Crowds

Jake “The Snake” Roberts was one of the greatest natural heels in wrestling history. Jake’s natural charisma and compelling promos made him a phenomenal villain that could fire up a crowd. Roberts’ ability to get heat didn’t translate well with Japanese audiences.

Anyone who has ever watched a Japanese wrestling show understands that the crowds are much more reserved. Polite applause often occurs when an American audience would be out of their seats going crazy. Jake Roberts did not enjoy wrestling for the fans in Japan.

On the latest DDP Snake Pit, Diamond Dallas Page and Jake Roberts talked about the differences between American and Japanese audiences. Roberts said he hated working hard only to get a smattering of applause from the fans. He was always hoping for a better reaction.

“Yeah, they are different. I don’t enjoy the Japanese audiences at all, man. They’re very reserved. You go out and bust your ass, you want some type of reaction out of these people. But they’re very reserved and very inside. And you might get (clap noise) and that’s it. ‘Now wait a f*cking minute, come on! Is that it?’ I believe I was wrestling Boss Man [when that happened], I think.”

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There are plenty of cultural differences that make Japanese fans different from Americans. It can be difficult for wrestlers who are used to boisterous crowds to get used to a more timid audience. Jake The Snake was one of the greatest heel wrestlers of all time, but could only garner mild reactions.

DDP went on to say that there wasn’t much of a language barrier in Japan. It’s just the way fans act. Jake Roberts was much happier on American soil, where he could make the crowd hate his guts.

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H/T Wrestling Inc.