Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts Talks Austin 3:16, Vince McMahon, Today’s Wrestling, & More

WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts was recently interviewed by the Milwaukee Record, ahead of his Dirty Details show appearance in Milwaukee this Saturday evening. Roberts talked about a number of topic including “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, King of the Ring 1996, & whether he would still be an effective heel today.

On King Of The Ring 1996 & The Birth Of Austin 3:16:

It was important for me because Steve [Austin] had came to the WWF and, you know, he was kind of treated poorly a couple of other places and not been given the shot. You know, to make himself known, really. You know, he was Stunning Steve for awhile and he was with [Ted] DiBiase as the Ringmaster.

And I was writing television at the time for Vince [McMahon] and I told Vince, “That’s your guy right there” and he’s like “Are you kidding? No way, Jake. That guy is middle of the card.” And I’m like, “Really?”

From that point on, I started getting with Steve every night. If I wasn’t in the same town with him, he would call me. I’d go over his match. I’d go over and talk to him about doing different things, and saying different things, and creating, and we put it together. He just had to be himself, basically. That was the problem. They let him be himself and he became Steve Austin.

The Austin 3:16 thing, everyone was like, “Oh, that must have really upset you.” Are you kidding me? You know how many people opened the Bible just to check that out who had never even opened a bible before, you know? Yeah, I’ve got my relationship with God. He knows where I’m going, I don’t, but he does. So that didn’t offend me at all.

The only thing that kind of upset me is they didn’t put the money maker out there which would’ve been Austin’s 10 commandments. You know: Thou shall not kill unless thou are pissed. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife unless she’s really hot. Thou shall honor thy mother and father unless they’re jerks.

You know, right on down the line. You could’ve had a lot of fun with that. That would’ve been a great seller, no doubt. Steve Austin, that was a…you know, a lot of guys can help themselves in this business. But to me, the people that mean the most are guys that can help everybody, and that’s what I prided myself on. And that was my job in the WWF.

It would’ve been a huge deal, but it would’ve messed up the marketing and the marketing is billions of dollars, not millions. So that’s the problem.

On Whether He Could Still Be An Effective Heel In Today’s Environment:

I could still do it. Yeah, I could still do it. That’s the problem today. Nobody can do much of anything because guys aren’t allowed to be their own characters.

You know, when you have people writing television that also write the interviews, it doesn’t work because that person cannot put out there what this guy would say. They don’t know him from inside and out.

That’s one thing that we had with this group here is that we did our own interviews, man, and we were able to get our characters out there. You can’t get a character out if you’re having five or six different people write interviews for you. It just doesn’t work. They should see that and move on, but they can’t take the time to teach all these guys how to do interviews. You know, or write interviews. I never wrote an interview in my life, but when that camera came on, I was able to do one.

On Being The Best:

No, I was the best. By far. Now I’m doing this show and seeing the fans, talking to them and hearing their memories. They’ll have a memory of them and their dad or them and their grandpa going to wrestling or doing wrestling at home or wherever.

On What Fans Can Expect From His Live Shows:

They can expect…I’m gonna hit you with stories that you thought you would never hear. One thing they’ll do is they’re gonna laugh their butts off and walk down the stairs. We’re gonna hit all the points, man. We’re gonna wake ’em up, we’re gonna set ’em down, we’re gonna toss them around.

I encourage anybody that is struggling with [addiction] to come on out because I’ve got time for you. If you want to talk to me after the show, get together, sit down, and we’ll talk and see if I can’t get you on the right road with alcohol and drug addiction because it’s a horrible place to be, and nobody deserves to have to live that way. There are ways out. It’s not easy and recovering from it is hell, but it’s not near the hell that you’re living in. Let’s have a good time…take some photos. I’ll be there before the show to do it. Let’s have a good time.

On Whether The Live Show Is Therapeutic For Him:

No, I’m at a point now, man, that I feel very comfortable if I don’t do stupid things. I don’t go anywhere alone. I shore up my defenses, man. Alcohol and drug addiction is not something to play with. You don’t test it because it can kick your butt. So, do the right thing and doing these shows doesn’t affect me at all in anyway. I enjoy the shows and that’s the best thing about them.

Roberts will take his Dirty Details tour to both Milwaukee (Saturday – 11/24) and Chicago (Sunday – 11/25). Readers interested in ticketing information may visit HERE.

RELATED: Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts On The Darkness Of Addiction, How Long It Took Him To Get Clean, Feeling No Pain While Wrestling