Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts has experienced a lot of pain in his life, but nothing can compare to working with Andre the Giant.
In 1989, Roberts feuded with the Eighth Wonder of the World, who was terrified of Jake’s snake Damian.
While Andre would win at untelevised events, Roberts would get a DQ win over the former WWF Champion at WrestleMania 5.
Working with Andre
Speaking during the latest DDP Snake Pit podcast, Roberts was asked about the most painful moment of his career.
“Probably when I clothes-lined Andre [The Giant.] He went through me and it ripped my pec. I remember going down and I thought I’d broke my shoulder. I’m just holding my shoulder. I’m wiggling my fingers, trying to get some feeling back in them and Andre reached down and grabbed me by the hand and jerked me to my feet, which stretched that back out again.
“At this point, I decide ‘I’m going to sleep.’ I passed out from the pain, and when I woke up Andre has got me in a bear hug and he’s single to me. ‘Nice little baby. Nice little baby.’ And I woke up like ‘oh my God’ I need to get us out of here. [Andre says] ‘No. We finish match.’ So we finished the match and then that night we wrestled again. Me with the blown pec, but I never took a day off.”
Working with Vader
Roberts may still be reeling from working with Andre, but he’s not the only legend who left Jake worse for wear.
Roberts also spoke about working with Vader, notoriously a wrestler who was hard-hitting in the ring, and recalled being injured by the super-heavyweight.
“A broken sternum, Leon [White, aka WWE Hall of Famer Big Van Vader] gave me that. Broke my sternum twice in two matches. He crushed me in the corner and broke my sternum. A broken sternum is real painful because it takes a long time to heal and if you sneeze or cough you’re going to rip your eyeballs out.”
Vader sadly passed in 2018 and the 13-time World Champion was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.