In an exclusive interview with Games Hub, WWE Hall of Famer Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts slammed John Cena, saying he has overstayed his welcome in the company. He urged Triple H to utilise Randy Orton better, whilst also trashing young stars for not caring about kayfabe.
Games Hub: Vince McMahon tried to instigate a feud between you and Hulk with you as a heel but had to abandon the plan because you were such a fan favourite, what was that like?
Jake Roberts: I was too popular. Doesn’t that suck? It cost me a lot of money! Because the long program with Hulk would’ve set me up pretty nice.
GH: Obviously we’ve lost a legend in Hulk recently. What does his legacy leave behind in terms of wrestling as a whole, as a sport?
Jake Roberts: It’s gonna take a little time for it to soak in. I’m still in shock over it. It doesn’t make sense.
Games Hub: I was looking at some of the icons over the years, the Legion of Doom, people like that and you seem to have outlived most of them. How does that feel?
Jake Roberts: Well the odds were that I wouldn’t, I was on that death pool for many years. But I’m still here.
GH: I’m sure you’ve got many legendary stories from your time on the road, wrestling 7 days a week and twice on weekends?
Jake Roberts: Twice on Saturday, twice on Sunday. I don’t know how the hell we did it. I really don’t. I mean, we were traveling so much. I wrestled 89 days straight. 89 days. Ricky Steamboat was nearly every one of them. Got to know him real well. Too well!
GH: Andre The Giant as well, he was a huge figure back in those days wasn’t he?
Jake Roberts: Boy, was he? Yeah. He wore my ass out. He always tried to treat me pretty rough. And I called him out on it. Which I look back at and think, what the hell was I thinking to barge into his locker room and call him out? Jesus. No wonder they call it dope. But it got his respect and after that we got along fine and became good friends.
GH: Who, or what, do you think was the biggest obstacle that kept you from winning a major championship in WWE?
Jake Roberts: I just didn’t need it. It wasn’t important for Jake the Snake to have a title. I was the main event every night. So how much better can it be? I didn’t need a push. But that cost me a lot of money, but I can’t complain about my career. Just go back and watch.
GH: You had so many memorable and epic feuds back in the day, which one was your favourite out of all of them?
Jake Roberts: Ricky Steamboat. For him and I, we meshed perfectly. We didn’t have to think, didn’t have to talk. We just went out there and did it. We were just on the same page. I knew that wherever I needed him to be, he would be there. It’s dangerous out there in that damn ring.
GH: Hacksaw Jim Duggan was someone you spent a lot of time on the road with, are there any stories that stand out?
Jake Roberts: I’m gonna stay away from roads.
GH: Being a Hall of Famers yourself, and then inducting DDP into it as well, who is somebody you feel should have been a Hall of Famer by now, but isn’t?
Jake Roberts: There are so many guys that deserve to be in the Hall of Fame that are overlooked for whatever reason? I think they need to open up a section for those guys that have long been gone, because those were the guys that paved the way. They talk about us paving the way.
Well, maybe it did go to the next level with us, but I’m talking about the guys that grunted it out for years and years and years. Who never were on big TV stations.Never had the notoriety that they deserve. They’re the ones that taught me.
GH: Is there one wrestler you’d love to see return for a final run in the WWE?
Jake Roberts: It’d be good to see Austin have a last match, you’d be surprised. You’d be surprised what you can do if you put your mind to it.
GH: We saw Bill Goldberg’s retirement match recently and his speech was cut short as well afterwards, a lot of fans said maybe Bret Hart had something to do with cutting it short?
Jake Roberts: I don’t know, I think they’re joking somewhere, Bret’s not laughing.
GH: You think Goldberg went on a bit too long then? Should have maybe packed in?
Jake Roberts: Yeah, yeah.
GH: Which of the current WWE stars do you think have been underused by the management?
Jake Roberts: There’s several, you know, I don’t stay on top of the product like I should or like I used to anyway. So it’s really unfair for me to even go there, but Randy Orton, he needs more, he could deal with more.
GH: Do you think there’s any being overused as well on the other end of the spectrum?
Jake Roberts: Of course, I think John Cena’s playing them up.
GH: He’s been there a while, hasn’t he?
Jake Roberts: Way too long.
GH: I was gonna ask you about the current, you know, modern wrestling with all the pyro and LEDs and, and do you think some of that detracts from the actual spectacle in the room?
Jake Roberts: I do, I think sometimes we use pyro and stuff to cover up the lack of knowledge. Back in the day man, you’re out there alone and you had to do it. But today with all the distractions and the bells and whistles and the pyro and running six, seven guys to the ring, for what? If two guys can’t get it done, get somebody there that can, it’s because guys aren’t learning the way we did. You know, it’s hard to learn your trade when you’re only doing it once or twice a month and a lot of these guys only wrestle two or three times a month. You don’t get polished wrestling two or three times a month, you get polished by putting it out there and doing it 10 times a month, 15 times a month, 20 times a month, now you’re gonna start picking up stuff.
GH: You said there about some of the modern guys who have transitioned into wrestling from different careers, like Logan Paul who has done it very impressively?
Jake Roberts: Yeah, he’s done a good job of it, I’ll give him that.
GH: Everyone talks about the wild locker rooms of the eighties. Yeah. I can’t imagine it’s much like that today?
Jake Roberts: They don’t put up with that crap anymore, there was no HR.
GH: Did you go and pitch storylines? Was there ever one that you thought would be a great idea and it got shot down?
Jake Roberts: Of course, of course, they’re still shooting them down. I was allowed the privilege of tweaking things, which sometimes it’s not a big thing that you’re tweaking, it’s a small thing, but it’s the small things that really matter. It makes a ton of difference night and day.
GH: Going back to an incident that caused you an injury long term with honky tonk man with the guitar on the head. Did you know that was gonna happen?
Jake Roberts: I knew the guitar was gonna hit me, but I didn’t expect him to hit me in the head, I thought it was gonna be across the back. I don’t even want to go there, man, I’ve forgiven the son of a b***h and that’s all there is.
GH: Bret Hart’s having a hard time forgiving Goldberg?
Jake Roberts: You gotta put it away, if you don’t, it’ll eat you like cancer.
GH: What about the most legendary referee from your time?
Jake Roberts: Hebner. Chioda’s good but Hebner was the one!
GH: Well, let’s talk about Damien and the other snakes for just a minute there, because you mentioned you’ve been bitten between 15 and 20 times, what was the most, most painful one of them?
Jake Roberts: I had one get me here for 34 stitches and he got that vein and that’s not a good vein to get. The blood was squirting across the room, every time my heart beat it would spray the room.
GH: I was watching it on the way here, macho man incident where you had him tied up in the ropes?
Jake Roberts: It’s my favourite thing of all time. I still get a rush watching it. Piper, he runs down.
GH: To be fair to Macho Man, he sold it really well didn’t he?
Jake Roberts: He didn’t have much of a choice, he was delusional all the time.
GH: Knowing that you are actually terrified of snakes. Where did that fear come from and how did you reconcile it with the decisions to be a wrestler named Jake The Snake?
Jake Roberts: Well, the fear came from reality and living in North Texas where I lived, because that’s nothing but rattlesnake country and you had to be beware all the time. Not only did we have rattlesnakes, but we had copperheads, we had water moccasins, and they’re all very poisonous. So you had to know where the hell you were going as a kid. So, of course you’re gonna develop a fear for them and for me to come up with that damn character just goes to show you what alcohol and dope will do for you, because that’s what was happening whenever I come up with that idea of smoking a joint, drinking a beer. I thought it’d be a great idea if there’s a wrestler called ‘the snake’, that’d be a hell of an idea, that’s where it came from. Never thinking that it was going to actually ever happen before you knew it, Vince took the idea and said we like that. Holy crap. They stayed in a hotel with me, made for some long nights.
GH: Were there any times with the snake you regretted?
Jake Roberts: Oh hell yeah. You go to use your restroom at three o’clock in the morning and there’s a 15 foot python in there with you! You forget he’s there and you realize your penis must look like a mouse because the snakes just bit you!
GH: What’s the biggest difference between Vince McMahon and Tony Khan in their management styles and who’s got it right?
Jake Roberts: Well, I think Khan has it in the way he treats talent. Vince was a great delegator. He would come up with the idea or use somebody else’s idea and spread it around to where everybody could work on it. Tony Khan doesn’t do that. He wants us to be all hands on him doing it.
And a lot of times things get missed, no way one man came up with this stuff 24/7, seven days a week. You know, how many shows are they doing now? You know, that’s a lot of TV time.
GH: Maybe he’ll take that on board if he hears this?
Jake Roberts: Either that or he’ll fine me.
GH: Is there anybody you see yourself in now in AEW/WWE?
Jake Roberts: Oh, Randy Orton is a lot like Jake the Snake. Without a doubt. Just the mannerisms and the way he carries himself. AEW. Not so much. They’ve got a different class of breed down there. They’re smaller guys and they’re all high flyers. Snakes don’t fly!
GH: Thoughts on Will Ospreay, highflying British wrestler?
Jake Roberts: We’ll find out. AEW’s got a couple boys from over here that are leaving their mark. I can’t come, I can’t think of the guy’s name right now. They’ve got a ton of talent
GH: Speaking of British wrestlers, what about William Regal?
Jake Roberts: I wrestled him a couple of times. Yeah, that’s about it. A lot of respect. He knew how to wrestle. No doubt.
GH: Any thoughts on Owen Hart?
Jake Roberts: I spent my time at the Hart Foundation. In the dungeon. I was there for about 10 months learning. I got an opportunity there to wrestle main events and I took it and went with it. Jim Nyhart as well, he was just getting started.
GH: Do you remember Nailz? There was a rumor that he actually had a proper punch up with Vince at one point.
Jake Roberts: Yeah, he knocked Vince out, over storylines. It’s a man’s livelihood, you know?
GH: Today’s match is often faster and flashier, but back then the focus was on the storytelling. In your mind, what makes the difference between a good wrestler and a great one?
Jake Roberts: Learning how to tell a story. Doing much more with less. The guys today, they’re depending upon their bodies to carry them. And there’ll be a day that your body can’t carry you, so what are you gonna do then? Nothing. All this high flying comes at a high price.
GH: Do you think Kayfabe nowadays is so much harder to maintain?
Jake Roberts: Guys don’t even care anymore. That’s another thing that pisses me off. They don’t think about it. They couldn’t care less.
