Jake "the Snake" Roberts talked recently with Steve and the Scum on WGD Weekly. During this very candid 45 minute interview, Roberts discusses all points of his life and his legendary career, from his difficult childhood and struggles with addiction right up and through his current "rebirth" over the course of the past year working with Dallas Page. The interview can be heard in its entirety here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6ee4oFkAQ.
The highlights of the interview include Jake talking about the following:
The possibility of buying TNA Wrestling:
"…I want to run an Indigogo and raise the money to buy that son of a bitch and do it right. Not to be in competition with Vince, but to do wrestling the way I liked it. Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. But, now I hear the guy from Smashing Pumpkins is snatching it, so maybe I should just buy the band Smashing Pumpkins and go on with my life and start singing…"
How he would plan to bring TNA to prominence if he was able to buy the company:
"…I got all the thoughts, bro. There ain't nobody better at that. I would make it simple, there would be good guys and there would be bad guys. There wouldn't be no bullshit and there wouldn't be twenty minute interviews. We would actually, 'rassle…the world needs it, man…"
Why he wants to return for the 2014 Royal Rumble:
".. All I can hope for right now, you know, I'm trying to get myself in shape to do the Royal Rumble, one last time…You know, I'd like to go out on my own terms with my head held high, I think I deserve that. I've had thirty seven years in the ring and it was a wonderful life, it was crazy, insane, I did a lot of things wrong, but I did a lot of things right too, brother…"
Turning down Vince McMahon in 1984:
"…Vince McMahon had tried to hire me before when I was with Georgia Championship Wrestling, because he bought out Georgia Championship Wrestling from some individuals at the time. He tried to hire me and I did my stupid shit, cussed him out, called him a fag, and that's not a cigarette by the way, and told him to shove it up his ass and walked out…then…I was back asking the man for a job…"
A classic Andre the Giant story:
"…One instance that was pretty horrifying for me, it was his birthday and we were up in Montreal…he had quite a few bottles of wine, and a couple bottles of vodka too. We got in the ring and there is something you never want to see if you are an opponent, and that is a playful fucking giant. It's dangerous…if they are giggling and they are hopping around, so, I think, 'my god, are you fucking serious, what am I gonna do now?'…during the match, we would usually do a spot…he'd grab both ropes…and he'd squat down on me, it looked great, it normally didn't bother me at all, but this night hi hand slipped off the rope and he adjusted every frigging vertebrae in my body…I just couldn't believe it, it knocked the breath out of me, then I turned on my side and all of a sudden I felt my shoulder vibrating, I'm thinking, 'What the fuck is that?'…and he is laughing…Dave Hebner came over and said, 'Andre, what are you doing laughing'…'I'm farting,' he says, and my shoulder is vibrating, I don't know what the world record for a fart is, but it was well into the thirty second range, and the stench, it would have gagged the maggots. My first thought was to get up and paint brush the son of a bitch, but, I quickly got over that…"
His early memories of traveling and working with a young Undertaker in WWF:
"…he came to me and he says, 'I hear you know all the great strip joints,' I said, 'yes, I do, worldwide,' he says, 'I'll travel with you'…so, he tried to hang with me, and it's a chemical world, so I was cheating. After about three or four weeks, we went to TV and Vince looked at him and said, 'Mark, I don't think you need the makeup today, you look like hell. Jake is killing you and a few days later, he was in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Finally, I had to smarten him up and tell him how I was doing it, and we then became very, very good friends. I have all the respect in the world for Mark. He has earned everything that he has gotten. He is a unique character, I love the fact that he upholds kayfabe, just a great guy, and of course he was there for the stripper times with me, and we did it well…"
These highlights are just a small sampling of this great interview with the "Snake," as he also talks about his childhood and thoughts on his father Grizzly Smith, his battle with addiction and how DDP has saved his life, his early influences including Mr. Wrestling II, Buck Robley, Killer Karl Kox, and Bill Watts, working in Calgary in the late 70's with Junkyard Dog, meeting Bret and Owen Hart, working in Mid South, booking in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Ronnie Garvin, moving to the WWF, the introduction of Damien and issues with traveling on the road with a python, his feud with Ricky Steamboat and the infamous DDT on SNME, the Honky Tonk Man guitar shot on the Snake Pit and WrestleMania 3, Alice Cooper, Ravishing Rick Rude, Damien getting up close and personal with Ivana Trump at WrestleMania 4, his great feud with Randy Savage and the infamous snake bite incident, his new show, "Snake Radio," and so much more.
WGD Weekly with Steve and the Scum presents new material every Sunday, where they sit down with a different figure from the “glory days” of wrestling. All of the past shows, as well as their new ones when they debut are available at WGD Weekly’s Facebook page that can be viewed here https://www.facebook.com/WGDWeekly. All of their shows are also available on their YouTube channel and iTunes.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
