Film

The Resurrection of Jake The Snake

Name: The Resurrection of Jake The Snake
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2015
Cast: Aurelian Smith Jr., Dallas Page, Scott Hall, Steve Austin, Jim Ross

Biopic

This documentary follows pro wrestling legend Jake Roberts as he tries, yet again, to climb out of decades of addiction — this time with fellow wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and his eccentric yoga-and-tough-love program acting as lifeline. It's raw, unglamorous, occasionally very funny, and built around the uncomfortable, unresolved work of rebuilding trust with people you've spent years disappointing.

TMDb rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like intimate, unvarnished looks at a damaged man's private struggle, and you can take wrestling's glitz as mere backdrop to a personal reckoning.

Skip it if the talking-head format, with former colleagues reminiscing on camera, may feel repetitive if you want a fully dramatised story rather than interviews.

What it asks of you: Expect ninety-three minutes of people talking, mostly close on faces, so the attention you bring matters more than any stunt in the ring.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Beyond the Mat1999

Barry Blaustein's fly-on-the-wall look at pro wrestling's off-camera toll includes a devastating Jake Roberts thread that makes his later redemption land even harder.

But It's grainy, VHS-era filmmaking, and its bleakness offers no tidy uplift by the end.

Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows1998

The gold-standard wrestling documentary, catching Bret Hart's career and marriage collapsing in real time with an intimacy that basically invented the genre.

But It's more about business politics and betrayal than personal addiction, so the emotional register is different.

Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows poster

Dark Side of the Ring2019

An anthology series digging into wrestling's darkest chapters — drugs, death, exploitation — one performer's story at a time, always treating them as people first.

But The talking-heads format repeats across episodes, and some installments are noticeably thinner than others.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Resurrection of Jake The Snake

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Intervention2005

Same blueprint as Jake's story — family exhausted, an outsider stepping in to force a reckoning — just stretched across a decade of ordinary people instead of one wrestling legend.

The original addiction-intervention reality series, unflinching and format-perfect, plays out the same confrontation-then-rehab arc again and again, sometimes with lasting results.

But The repetitive structure and network-TV gloss can feel exploitative, and outcomes are far more mixed than DDP's success story.

The Iron Claw2023

Zac Efron leads this fictionalized gut-punch about the doomed Von Erich wrestling dynasty — family, pressure, and the sport's hidden cost, dramatized but true.

But It's drama, not documentary, and leans hard into tragedy without much of Jake's hard-won hope.

Nature Boy2017

ESPN's sprawling 30 for 30 on Ric Flair's excess and eventual reckoning mirrors Jake's story of a larger-than-life character finally facing the bill.

But Nearly three hours long, and occasionally more in love with Flair's myth than with his damage.

Andre the Giant2018

HBO's tender portrait of wrestling's gentlest giant is a reminder that the business chews up bodies and spirits differently depending on who you are.

But Gentler and sadder rather than redemptive — Andre's story doesn't end in recovery.

The Wrestler2008

Mickey Rourke's comeback performance as a broken-down grappler chasing one more night in the ring is the fictional cousin to everything Jake lived through.

But A downbeat character study with little of the hope Resurrection eventually earns for its subject.

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster2004

Metallica falling apart and stitching back together in group therapy on camera — a rock-band version of the same unglamorous, humiliating work of getting well.

But No wrestling at all, and the subjects' wealth and privilege can make their crisis feel lower-stakes.

Fighting with My Family2019

A lighter, funnier corner of the wrestling world via Paige's rise, showing the same industry's family stakes and camaraderie without the wreckage.

But Broad, crowd-pleasing biopic tone — it's the sunny opposite of Jake's story, which some may find jarring.

Amy2015

Same story of addiction, industry exploitation and a support system arriving too late — except here nobody manages to build the DDP-style intervention in time, and the cameras just watch the tragedy complete itself.

Asif Kapadia's devastating documentary, built entirely from archival footage, traces Amy Winehouse's collapse and fame's machinery chewing up someone nobody could save in time.

But There's no recovery here, no yoga mat, no manager turned mentor — just a slow, well-documented tragedy.