20 More Surprising WWE Facts You Probably Didn't Know
17. Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts Had Siblings In The WWF
We’re so used to wrestlers these days claiming second or third generation status that it seems strange to think that back in the eighties, one of the WWF’s biggest stars was a second generation wrestler and kept it quiet.
Aurelian Smith Jr, better known as Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts is the son of ‘Grizzly’ Smith, a veteran of the territories. That much isn’t exactly a secret: what wasn’t known then, and still isn’t known to many, is that back in Jake’s WWF heyday in the late eighties, both his brother and his sister also wrestled for the company.
Sam Houston, an NWA and later WWF midcard stalwart, was Jake’s half brother Michael Smith in real life - and former WWF Women’s Champion Rockin’ Robin, known to her family as Robin Smith, was his half sister. Not heard of her? She held the women's title for two years, and it was retired after she left the company - she still owns the belt in question.
From all reports, it was at Robin’s request that the family relationship was never made public - there was awkwardness and bad blood in the Smith family running back decades. Still, between 1987 and 1989 all three Smith kids wrestled for the same company, and very few people knew anything about it.