– The Watts family’s Universal Wrestling website confirms that they have sold their tape library to WWE but will continue to sell Universal merchandise and remaining DVD titles that are still in stock.
– Sources close to the WWE Network report that officials are looking to hold Network-exclusive Supershow events in places like the UK and other countries overseas.
– Jake Roberts posted the following video on Thanksgiving talking about what he’s thankful for:
http://youtu.be/8TwmZgeDXZo
This past Tuesday night, WWE Legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts appeared was interviewed by Simon Cassidy and David Thomson on the Big WrestleShark Show on 98.4 Pulse FM. In an exclusive half hour interview, Jake spoke openly and frankly about his past, his personal problems, how he became involved with Diamond Dallas Page and his plans for the future. For more the full interview and more information, head over and like www.Facebook.com/BigWrestleSharkShow. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
On his personal problems and past injuries: “You’re gets broken down..I had two discs removed from my neck, hip replacement, part of my left foot removed, compound fracture in my right arm, wrist reconstruction, broken sternum splice. Other than that, I was in horrible shape…I had a well-publicised, by my own admissions, a career with alcohol and drugs did not help my situation. I had become so depressed that, not that I would have ever done it…I may have tried a couple of times…but suicide was something I thought about a lot. So depressed that I had blown my career…I could have been so much more than I was. Gone through three marriages, fathered eight children but wasn’t a dad to any of them, I was too busy wrestling or being high. You start looking at yourself at that point and you hate yourself…I had a lot of shame, a lot of anger, a lot of freakin’ anger, basically I had given up. I didn’t want to live. I had no hope. I had no dreams. I hope nobody out there gets to that point, but when you quit dreaming, when you quit having hope, it’s a pretty god dam horrible place to be. You don’t care if you breath. You don’t care about anything.
On his recent “Resurrection” through DDPYoga: “Dallas called me, asked how I was doing, I bullsh*ted and I lied, said I was getting through it, and he said ‘man…you don’t sound right?’ Well man, it is what it is, I just don’t give a sh*t anymore. I buried my father, my mother was in poor health, a whole bunch of reasons to use and I sure took advantage of them. I’d drink…because that was the only time I could forget where I was at. He said he wanted come see me and to send me some yoga stuff and I was like ‘are you f*cking kidding me? Right, Jake ‘The Snake’ is doing yoga! I may have been screwed up enough to play a snake, but I ain’t doing yoga dude.’
“He said, if you’ll try…and you start losing weight…there might be something I can do for you, and it would be long term and would be an opportunity…to try something different since the bullsh*t I was doing obviously wasn’t working…so I did the food thing for like ten 11 days, didn’t really think a whole lot about it, then one day I got on the scale and was like ‘holy sh*t I’ve lost 14lbs, what the hell’s wrong with me? I must be dying!’ That was the first time I thought this might actually work…a couple weeks later he came down…and was like, ok ‘keep doing the good work, when you get down to 30lbs, we’ll move you down to Atlanta, and we’ll get serious on this sh*t’…at that point I was still drinking too much, but we’ll get to that in a minute.”
On his recent inebriated appearance at an Indie Event: “When I got down to Atlanta, DDP was like ‘OK, the first thing we need to talk about is your drinking…why do you drink?’ and I was just like ‘Well, I like it’…so I’m like OK,OK,OK I’ll play your silly f*cking game and I said well how about a couple of beers? So he agreed, we’ll try sticking to two beers. Well that lasted about a week…
“I went out on an autograph thing on Rhode Island. Did really well, didn’t drink for a two or three days during the signing, and I spoke to a lot of people and they were just patting me on the back, saying how much better I looked with all the weight I had lost, saying ‘damn Jake you haven’t looked this good in years, keep up the good work’…well, you shouldn’t tell a drunk or an addict these things. Like everything else in life, I use whatever situation I am in to get drunk or get high. In this instance it was ‘man you deserve a reward’. Man, I’m not a god damn dog that did a trick, but that’s the way I treated myself. The next thing I know, I’m getting off a plane in Atlanta…and Dallas is there, I don’t know why Dallas is there. We get back to the house and I find out I had been pretty stupid and ridiculous, and basically had gone through a four hour blackout. Blacked out. Didn’t know what I had done, what I had said, who I had offended…thank god I wasn’t in jail. I think if Dallas hadn’t been at the airport I would have ended up in there.
“Next morning, we get up and Dallas is saying ‘last week you did really well, then you go out this week and totally screw up…so here’s the new deal. Absolutely no alcohol. And at that point I’m like, you are absolutely right…because the sh*t isn’t doing you any good. Then he was like ‘you should go back to A.A…so two days later I went back…but then I went to Dallas and was like ‘I agree with the no drinking thing, but you’re gonna have to help me’…so we went to a doctor and got set up with something called anti-buse. Brother, if you drink alcohol with that stuff it will drop you like a gunshot. It will make you so violently ill, that you will not think about drinking. But it’s a crutch for me. It’s a safety line, and being here with Dallas, he’s making me change my way of thinking about things.”
On his ambitions for the future: “I’ve got a life man…I’m dreaming again…it might take more than 24 hours to fix this sh*t, so I just need to shut up, get in the car and go for the ride with [Dallas]…I have unlimited dreams. I’m thinking about building furniture again, because I loved to build furniture. For the first time I got on a computer…here I am 57 years old and I don’t even know how to turn a computer on. But now I want to do it, I want to accomplish these goals. Before I never wanted to do it…my mind is clicking again man.
“I’m happy, I feel good about myself. Yeah I’ve got a long way, but brother, I’ve already been a long way…I’ve already been a long way man. I never thought I would be in the shape I’m in now, much less where I’m going. I’m calling my children, I’m developing relationships, I’m calling my mother again…
“I’m gonna do this. I want to do this, I need to do this, because I know I’m a good human being, I’ve always been a good human being, I’ve just been a disturbed human being. I’m not letting the demons beat my ass anymore. Those demons have not got a chance.
“There is nobody that could hang with me in the ring in my heyday, can you imagine if I hadn’t been screwed up? I would have left them so far behind, but that’s OK man. You know, I retired from the ring two years ago. But you know what, I’m going to go back in…for a short run. Just a few matches. That way, I can say goodbye the way I wanted to. Not 310lbs, couldn’t hardly get in the ring and look like Sh*t. I deserve more than that! I wanna get in there and stand with my head held high and say ‘I am the f*cking man’ and I’m a good man. That’s how I want to say goodbye to my fans.”
This past Tuesday, former WCW World Champion Diamond Dallas Page was interviewed on the Big WrestleShark Show on Pulse FM in the UK. Among other topics, he discussed Jake “The Snake” Roberts moving in with him and getting his life back on track through DDPYoga.
It was also announced that Jake Roberts will be on next week’s show. Full details can be found on www.Facebook.com/BigWrestleSharkShow.
“I bought a house in Atlanta Georgia. Basically we’re filming a REAL reality show, we don’t set up anything, we just film during the day, Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts has moved in here. Jake started with us close to four months ago, we went down to Texas and filmed Jake, we wanted to have day one, we’re filming a documentary: ‘The Resurrection of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts’. The tagline is, it’s never too late to heal yourself, to bring your body back, to bring your mind back, when you guys talk to him next week you’ll see what I’m talking about.
“Jake’s down 40lbs, when we filmed him to begin with, just standing up and going to the floor to do a push up. He couldn’t do it. He had to have a chair or a table to push himself up. Now he can.
“The whole point of the Resurrection of Jake is to go out on his terms. We say it all the time, his history is not his destiny and he knows that he messed up. He knows he dropped the ball numerous times. He knows he’s a junkie and an alcoholic, so we provide here at my house that we call the ‘accountability crib’, you’re accountable for everything! He has really come light years in a very short time, he still has a long way to go. The goal is to not have it end the way it ended, you know, on TMZ. Where he was all sh*tfaced in the ring and couldn’t do anything. The guy was one of the greatest performers of all time, he wants to go out with some dignity. So we want to get him ready for either one last tour or one last match, we’ll see how that works out. And hopefully he can retire with his head held high.”
Troubled wrestling legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts is currently living DDP and attempting to turn his life around through yoga and other wellness techniques. Unfortunately, Jake had a slip-up earlier this month and had a few drinks while at the airport. DDP published the following video of Jake’s mishap and provided a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s taking to keep Jake on the right track:
http://youtu.be/flbXCCrdpos
– Mick Foley appears at Cherryvale Mall 7200 Harrison Ste 5 Rockford, Illinois tonight beginning at 6:00 p.m. as he signs copies of his new holiday children’s book, “A Most Mizerable Christmas.”
– Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags, The Nasty Boys, are the latest profile addition to WWE.com’s Alumni section. WWE says of the duo:
“No tag team in sports-entertainment history was as hard-hitting, unpredictable and just plain nasty as the two sweaty, toothless thugs from Allentown, Pa. Over the course of a 15-year ring career, The Nasty Boys crushed skulls in AWA, WWE and WCW. No duo was safe from the gnarly antics of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags.”
– Jake “The Snake” Roberts is now on Twitter at JakeSnakeDDT. Jake tweeted on Thursday:
day 2 on this computer havent mastered yet u can teach a old dog new tricks even shit thats outside the box like this yoga sobriety
— JakeSnakeDDT (@JakeSnakeDDT) November 14, 2012
The official YouTube account of Diamond Dallas Page has released two videos of one of DDP’s yoga clients giving the legendary wrestler a tutorial on the social networking website.
– Friday’s WWE Smackdown show show drew a 1.43 rating with 2.16 million viewers. This was down from the show’s original airing (last Tuesday), which did a 1.52 rating and 2.20 million viewers.
– WWE will be returning to Russia in April 2013 as part of the WrestleMania Revenge Tour. SAV Entertainment sent out a press release announcing shows in St. Petersburg and Moscow on April 25th and 26th.
– The official trailer has been released for DDP’s Jake Roberts documentary, “The Resurrection of Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts.”
Can the Snake rise again? Can he overcome addiction and poor physical condition and have one more run in the squared circle? This is the Resurrection of Jake the Snake Roberts.
– An account on Twitter spoofing Vince McMahon that also leaks confidential WWE information on occasion (located @CrankyVince) cryptically suggested in a message last Thursday that a wrestler had asked for his release from the sports-entertainment organization. In a follow-up, the account stated Sunday that Jack Swagger asked for his release: “WELL FUCK JACK SWAGGER AND HIS REQUEST. WHO THE FUCK IS JACK SWAGGER?”
The account has drawn concern from WWE officials since last year, who believe it is being administered by an employee within proximity of McMahon or a former employee with close ties to organization due to the amount of sensitive information being released.
– Former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page has posted a video of himself and Jake “The Snake” Roberts distributing Halloween candy to trick or treaters. Roberts recently moved in with Page to lose weight and train for one last pro wrestling run. (Watch)
– Former WWE Superstar Batista is featured in today’s “Superstar Spotlight” on WWE.com.
Wrestling legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts has moved in to Diamond Dallas Page’s home in Atlanta, Georgia to train for one final run.
DDP spoke to Newsday.com about working with Jake Roberts (now 57) and putting him through a 6-8 week program where Jake can use his yoga program to drop weight, live a healthy lifestyle and get back into ring shape.
Page tells Newsday.com that he called Roberts 3 months ago in his home town of Gainesville, Texs and convinced him that he could get back to fighting shape within a matter of months.
“I told him, ‘If you can really do this — and you have to prove it to me [by doing the program] for six or eight weeks,” Page said. “‘I’ll freakin’ get a place in Atlanta. I’ll bring you up, and we’ll continue this journey.’”
Roberts’ weight had ballooned up to 305 pounds when he began doing DDP’s yoga program several weeks ago. Page said that Roberts lost 20 pounds in the first 3 1/2 weeks of training and is now down approximately 35 pounds. The first few weeks of his training were
“Jake does not want to be seen the way he was seen at the end,” Page said.
Along with putting Jake through physical training, DDP and filmmaker Steve Yu will document Jake’s transformation and get him up to date using Facebook and Twitter. The idea is to keep Jake busy with positive, constructive activities and hopefully keep him out of trouble.
“That house, I reached out to a couple of my friends, and asked, ‘What are we going to call my new crib?’ And we came up with ‘Accountability Crib,’ you’re accountable for everything.”
Roberts will be drug-tested while living at DDP’s home and is starting off on very thin ice.
“If he does that [stuff] one time while he’s with me, he’s gone,” Page said.
Despite Jake’s personal demons, everybody is rooting for him to turn his life around and get himself one final chance at success.
“Bottom line is, everybody wants the comeback story,” Page said. “Everybody wants to see Jake look good, and feel good, and not be a mess anymore. That would be great. I think there are a lot of really positive things that can come out of this if Jake really does it.”
* Rumored SURVIVOR SERIES Matches, Original Finish For PUNK vs. RYBACK & More
Our good friend Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com recently interviewed legendary Superstar Jake “The Snake” Roberts, where he discussed his first WWF run. During the interview, Roberts discussed signing with WWE, the “Snake” gimmick, hating snakes, working his first WrestleMania, his favorite opponents during that era, working with Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior being fired before their feud and much more.
First signing with the WWF Well, it was quite the experience. I had been working in Mid-South and not really being given a fair shake there. I was told I was number five on the babyface list, yet I was going on last every night. So, that kind of tells you something. Bill Watts hired a guy to be his administrator. It was Terry Taylor of all people, you know, the Red Rooster.
I remember going to talk to Terry and I said, ‘Look, I’m number five on the babyface list, yet I’m going on last every night. This is just not going to work.’ He said, ‘Well, what can I tell you?’ And I said, ‘Well, I can tell you something. Here’s two weeks notice and I’ll see you.’ So, that’s what I did. I was young, dumb and stupid, not thinking. I didn’t have a job set up. So, I went home that night saying, ‘I really screwed up. I just quit my job and I don’t have a place to go to get some work done.’
The next morning, I called Vince [McMahon] and I was told that he was going to be out of town for two weeks and that he would get back with me then. I thought, Oh, my god. Now, I’ve really screwed up. About 30 minutes later, the phone rang and it was Vince. He wanted me to fly up and meet with him, so I flew up and met with him. Basically, we sat down and he said, ‘We have an idea of you wearing lime green pants or purple pants — tights — and having knee high lace up boots and carrying a snake.’ I said, ‘Dude, that’s just not me. I wear karate pants and I wear slip on boots. Because the last thing I want to do when I do is know that I wasted 5 years of my life lacing up boots.’
I actually did do the math of that and if you spent 20 minutes a day lacing up your boots, it adds up over 15-20 years, man. So, it was going to be about four months of my life lacing up boots if I did that. So, that’s the reason I went to pull ones. You know, it’s funny how you think of stupid shit, but I’m good at that. So, he just kind of looked at me and said, ‘Well, that’s a shame because there’s somebody who’s going to be wearing purple and lime green with knee high snake skin boots and they’re going to make about a million a year.’
So, I looked at him and I said, ‘You know what? I would look very good in spandex. With purple and green and knee high boots. I think I’d look just wonderful.’ And that was how I went to work.
If he owned snakes before signing with the WWF: No. I hated the sons of bitches. I’m terrified of them… I came up with the idea. In Mid-South, I wanted to use a snake and Bill Watts was quick to tell me that this isn’t a damn circus. ‘We’re not going to have any circus clowns or circus geeks carrying snakes.’ Gee, he was so right. What a stupid idea…
They [WWF] had come back with it. They said, ‘Have you thought about this before?’ I said, ‘Well, Jake ‘The Snake’? Kind of fits.’ [Laughs.] They said, ‘Well, good. You’re going to carry a snake.’ I said, ‘No problem.’ Not thinking that I was terrified of them and hated the sons of bitches. Next thing you know, I’ve got a damn snake… They supplied them. There was a guy in Stamford, Connecticut named Albert that supplied all the snakes…
What a miserable damn job that was, carrying a 100 pound snake in a box and carrying my wrestling gear and clothes. Back then, we’d go on the road for a month to six weeks at a time. Carrying all that shit was just really, really brutal, man. It really tore my ass up. You wake up in a hotel room at 5 AM — there’s no bellmen at the Red Roof. You’ve got to do it yourself. Then you get your rental car and you’ve got to turn that back in. So, you’ve got to take all that shit back out and put it on the bus to the airport. Then, when you get there, you’ve got to carry it all the way over to the skycaps. If they are available because a lot of airports didn’t have skycaps. So, what does that mean? That means I’m carrying that stupid shit.
So, here I am carrying 150 pounds of gear, walking around with that stuff. That’s not healthy to do, really. It wore my ass out.
Being a big star despite not having a bodybuilder physique: I wasn’t all jacked up and juiced up. The one time I did go up, it was after my neck surgery. I went up to about 275 pounds. I had gotten up juiced and jacked because I was trying to get myself over the neck surgery. I went in after the neck surgery to see Vince and he goes, ‘That’s not what we want.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? This is not what you want?’ Because I had really put on a lot of beef on my upper body.’ He said, ‘You know, if we wanted Hogan to carry a snake, we’d have Hogan carry a snake. We don’t want you looking like that. You want you to be very sensuous, very sexual, smooth. Be different.
Well, ain’t that a bitch. So, he told me that he didn’t want to hear about me being in the gym. [Laughs.] So, I went home and sat by the pool for a month, snorted cocaine and drank. So, there you go. … Well, I shouldn’t have done what I did. That’s for damn sure.
His feud with Hulk Hogan being cut short: The angle was stopped because the people were chanting DDT and Vince did not want that. That’s when they really took me from being a heel to being a babyface and my job then became getting all the other heels ready to wrestle Hogan. So, I guess they thought, ‘If we can’t use him as a heel, we’ll just beat him as a babyface.’ But, it didn’t matter. If you’re good enough and you go out there and you do your job, people don’t remember if you won or lost. They really don’t. They just want to be entertained.
Ultimate Warrior being suspended right as their program started I was looking forward to making the son of a bitch miserable. You’ve got to learn how to do it. You know? You take a juice monkey, you lean on him. You make him toss you around the ring but every time he picks you up, you get a little bit heavier. Pretty soon, they’re blowing and going and they don’t have any air left and you can pretty much do anything you want to them. They’re like a little baby. You can roll them around the ring, pick your nose and put boogers on the back of their head. They don’t give a shit because they’re so blown up. You’ve just got to know how to do that and I know how to do that. I am a snake.
Roberts also discussed working with Randy Savage and how Elizabeth’s family cut the feud short, a gross story from a match he had with Andre the Giant, helping The Undertaker out early in his career and much more. You can check out the full interview at WrestlingINC.com by clicking here.
In an all-new 10 Count currently airing on WWE Classics On Demand, Matt Striker counts down the ten greatest Superstars to never win a recognized World Championship. The rankings are as follows:
10. Arn Anderson
9. Chief Jay Strongbow
8. Paul Orndorff
7. Nikita Koloff
6. Junkyard Dog
5. Scott Hall
4. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
3. British Bulldog
2. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
1. “Rowdy” Roddy Roddy Piper
WWE Hall of Famer Killer Kowalski and Lance Storm were also listed as honorable mentions.
Matches featured in the piece include Arn Anderson vs. NWA World Champion Barry Windham (WCW Slamboree, May 23, 1993), Chief Jay Strongbow vs. Superstar Billy Graham (WWF at the Philadelphia Spectrum, November 25, 1982), Paul Orndorff vs. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan (Saturday Night’s Main Event, January 3, 1987), Nikita Koloff vs. Sting (WCW Great American Bash, July 14, 1991), Junkyard Dog vs. NWA World Champion Ric Flair (Clash of the Champions XI: Coastal Crush; June 13, 1990), Scott Hall vs. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting (WCW Uncensored, March 15, 1998), Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude (WrestleMania IV, March 27, 1988), British Bulldog vs. WWF Champion Shawn Michaels (In Your House: Beware of Dog; May 28, 1996), “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase vs. WWF Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage (WWF at Madison Square Garden, April 25, 1988), “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan (WWF The Wrestling Classic; November 7, 1985).
– The Rock tweeted on Friday that he’s completed an “intense” 15-week training camp and is headed to London, England to begin filming Fast 6, the latest installment in the Fast & Furious movie franchise:
FAST 6 update: Been an intense 15 week #PushThePace training camp. Diet, strength & conditioning. London here I come.. #RollCameras
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) August 3, 2012
Pictures Of The Rock’s Smokin’ Hot New Girlfriend
– WWE’s new “The Mask Is Back” Rey Mysterio t-shirt is now on sale at WWEShop.com.
– The latest “Highway 2 Helms” video podcast with Shane Helms and his guest Rosita is now available on iTunes for free.
– Former WWE Superstar Jake “The Snake” Roberts spoke with Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas of The Score this week about the origin of his DDT finishing move, how badly he wants to return to WWE and more:
– WWE developmental star Bray Wyatt (formerly Husky Harris) will undergo surgery to repair the torn pectoral muscle he suffered at last week’s FCW live event, according to f4wonline.com. The surgery will keep him out of action for 6 months.
– Brodus Clay’s dancer Cameron tweeted that she hopes to wrestle in the future.
– Former WWE Diva Cherry wrote on Twitter that she is not interested in returning to wrestling.
– WWE Legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts is taking bookings through Shannon at farmgirl@atlantic.net.
Former WWE Superstar Jake “The Snake” Roberts appeared on Busted Open with Doug Mortman and Dave LaGreca, which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sirius 92 and XM 207. Highlights from his interview are as follows:
Alice Cooper: It was a real hoot, man! I remember going to do a photo shoot at some hotel in New York City with Alice Cooper getting ready for Wrestlemania. I remember going up to his room with all the camera guys and stuff. We knocked on the door and this guy lets us in. And of course it’s not just a room; it’s a damn big suite.
Alice comes in and what he does is like—I don’t know if you ever seen the commercial where the two people are running up the hill towards each other in slow motion?—coming closer. All of a sudden he’s being the fan, and here I am It’s my turn to be the fan, asshole! He’s saying, “Come here, man! Come in!” I’m like, “No wait, man! I listened to you when I was in high school! ‘School’s Out for Summer’, that was hot when I was 17.” To be there with him was just unbelievable, and of course doing a match out there with him was unbelievable too.
They took us up on our scissor-lifts way up in the air where it came to the curtain. From ninety-four thousand people… it took your breath away. You felt like your hair was growing, man! And as we’re getting closer to the ring, I feel his fingernails sliding down my damn side and arm and I’m What the hell is that?! And I look, and Cooper is sliding down. I’m like, “What’s wrong?” And he’s like, “Too much rush.” And I’m like, “What the eff are you talkin’ about?!” And he’s like, “I’m alone!” And if you think about it, I understand where he’s coming from. In his world, he’d come out on the stage, he’d have his band around him, had all his stuff ready to go, and he knew where he was going. But in my world, he was having to stand there on his own two feet with no guitar, no microphone, and he was running the show.
We get to the ring and the match starts, and of course The Honky Tonk Man—being the prick that he is—he’s really screwin’ with Alice. He’s like: “You little faggot bitch! I’m gonna make you my horny woman!” And Cooper is starting to fire up, and Honky Tonk (once he sees him getting mad) he just keeps going: “C’mon you little queer! Why they call you Alice, you little bitch?!” And he just keeps riding Alice, y’know: “Take that jacket off, boy, I’ll whoop your ass too, soon as I get through with Jake!” And Cooper pulls that jacket off, man, and it’s like, Oh my god! Biafra! His arms are about the size of my toe!
WWE: It was different. I certainly see where this is going, which is bringing us into the mainstream, and that’s a positive thing. Y’know, Vince McMahon and the WWF did a hell of a deal turning this into such a monster. His machine is unbeatable. I mean, don’t kid yourself TNA, you’ll always be third stream; there is no second stream. You’ll be third at least because there is no way in hell you’re gonna catch these people, and you might as well forget about it and quit telling the people you are.
Gimmicks: As far as characters…you have a good one and you take care of it, it should last forever. The big thing is you just shouldn’t go out there and destroy your own credibility. If you got two guys out in the ring and you’re clothes-lining each other five times, who’s the tough guy? Maybe one or both of you are lying pricks. Less is more and do the right thing. Don’t do things that are stupid; that’s how you get longevity out of a character. And today there are no characters, I don’t think. They’ve all been just stirred up in a bucket and everybody’s just the same.
The Undertaker: I love the guy, number one. Number two, I was there when he first got in there in the WWE. Here’s really quite a story: He comes to me, he says, “Hey I hear you know where all the good strip joints are at.” And I’m like, “In the world, yes. I know them all.” And he’s like, “Well, I’ll travel with you!” And I said, “Oh boy, why don’t you go back to playin’ basketball because you’re not gonna be able to hang with me,” and I said, “I’ll kill ya.” And a few weeks later, I believe he was in pretty bad shape—something about alcohol poisoning. Yeah, it was a chemical world, and I was cheating, man. He didn’t know it. I wasn’t gonna tell him! He rolled with me for quite a while. We’re great friends and I’d like to think that I helped him more. I think if you asked him he’d tell you the same, that he learned a lot from me.
That’s what I was all about anyway, man, not only helping my own character, but helping others with theirs. My idea of being a professional wrestler is to make the show better. In other words, everybody must be better. And if I can help this guy lift his thing up a little bit, I’m gonna go help the guy. That’s something I’m proud of. Whether it be Undertaker or Steve Austin, right on down the line. I think if you asked Austin who helped him the most, he’d tell you it was me. Wherever I met Austin, he wasn’t gonna be more than third or fourth match, and I told McMahon, “Try him for third for next superstar, man.” And he said, “I don’t think so.” Well, gee, even Mr. McMahon can be wrong every now and then!
If people are scared to take a chance on him: I don’t think it’s the past. I think it’s just me, period, because of what I believe in. Vince McMahon once told, “Jake, perception of you with our TV people and stuff is that you’re angry.” I’m like, “I’m not angry!” “You told this guy it was a ‘stupid effin’ idea’!” I’m like, “Well, it was a stupid effin’ idea!” So I stand my ground on what I believe. And—uh—sometimes that gets you in trouble. I wouldn’t be good in a boardroom, man. I speak my piece; I won’t follow any stupid thing that I think is stupid. I’ll just say Screw that; that’s bullshit. That’s gets me in trouble, man. I’m a team player because I want the product better, but… my nose doesn’t fit well up anybody’s butt.
If inmates are running TNA: Oh yeah! I think I told Vince McMahon that one time. Back whenever it was [Scott] Hall, [Kevin] Nash/Diesel (The Kliq) stay in this, you’re letting the Inmates run the asylum. They were calling the shots as they wanted to! And that’s wrong. That is just totally wrong. I would have never thought about doing that out of respect for what this business it and what it is supposed to be. That is just freakin’ wrong!
You got people in the wrong positions, you got people that shouldn’t be in those positions. And Dixie Carter—for whatever she is—I think she’s a mark! And for whatever Hogan is, Hogan’s not a booker! Christ. I mean, thank god they got rid of the jerk, the one that destroyed the WCW. What was his name? DL: [Vince] Russo. JtS: RUSSO! He’ll probably go in the goddamn Hall of Fame before I do.
Training wrestlers: I would love that! I would love to kill them! I would love to touch them all over. Enter their orifices with my thumb when they do something wrong. It’s stupid! I would love to be teaching these kids. My god, I would love that. Because I could either sit back on my ass and try to watch wrestling (which I get so frustrated with today that I turn it off), or I could say, Okay, look, man, get up there and try to do something about it. And the only thing I could do about it now is by teaching. My physical problems: my feet, my hands, my neck, no wonder! If you have that happen, well, thirty-seven years of getting your ass kicked will do that to you, Jake! I can’t compete anymore, but I can teach these kids so much. That would be a real joy for me. It certainly would.
— The Rock is advertised for the Raw SuperShow following WrestleMania taking place April 2, 2012 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The advertised main event is an Eight-Man Tag Team Match pitting John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton and Big Show against Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Kane and Mark Henry.
— Raw Superstars are advertised to appear at the April 3, 2012 SmackDown taping at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The advertised main event is a Ten-Man Tag Team Match pitting John Cena, CM Punk, Randy Orton, Big Show and Sheamus against Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Mark Henry and The Miz.
— Steve Austin says Jake “The Snake” Roberts is worthy of the WWE Hall of Fame. He wrote the following after reading Roberts’ thoughts on entering the Hall:
“JAKE THE SNAKE ROBERTS DEFINITELY DESERVES TO BE IN THE H.O.F. AND THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE. One of my fave all time workers.”
— This week’s WWE Classics On Demand updates are as follows: Extreme Championship Wrestling (January 20, 1998), WWF Mania (January 9, 1993), World Class Championship Wrestling (February 18, 1984).
Wrestling legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts was a guest on Wrestling Voice Radio this week and spoke about a number of topics, including the WWE Hall of Fame, today’s wrestlers having their promos scripted out for them and more. Here are some highlights of what Jake said about:
What a WWE Hall Of Fame Induction Would Mean To Him:
“A lot. A lot, because I did make a lot of mistakes in my career but if they would acknowledge what I did and what I accomplished by putting me in there, it would be something I could give to my Grandchildren, for everything I did right, I know I belong in there, a lot more than others that are in there but I don’t care about that, the WWE was very good to me. I didn’t understand a lot of things, I was not a good business man. Vince would call me say we need an idea for this and I’d give him an idea and we’d just rock and roll with it, I didn’t know I’d to go in there and fight for my money and my place and the bottom line is the squeaky wheel gets the grease and I should of recognized that. I should have done the right thing and been squeaky.”
Whether he Thought Steve Austin’s “Austin 3:16” Promo Would Take Off Like It Did:
“Oh absolutely, I told Vince from the get-go that Steve was going to be his next super-superstar and Vince said he’d ‘never be better than third or fourth match’ and I said ‘Vince, it will take him longer to get over, but once he gets over he will get so far above everybody else, you will not believe it!’, and what happened?”
Whether Scripted Promos are Good or Bad:
“Nobody knows my character like me, but the problem today is these guys don’t have any characters, they don’t know what they are, hell, they all do the same damn thing and nobodies selling anything. Never say anything and not do it, because you’ll destroy your own credibility, most important thing about that is if you ever destroy your credibility to a fan he will never believe you again, today they’re going out there and doing all this crap nobody sells anything in the ring, and the reason is these guys have not learned they’re trait. In my day you had to progress, you had evolve, to change to keep your job, there’s a little initiative to get you going and that’s the difference.”
– WWE creative is discussing the possibility of holding a Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania that would feature only former world champions as the particiapts.
The idea could include the likes of Jack Swagger, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Christian and Kane battling it out to see who gets the coveted Money int he Bank briefcase.
Comment below and tell us what you think about a “Former Champions” Money in the Bank match.
– Despite the fact that former WWE & TNA star Bobby Lashley is interested in resuming his professional wrestling career, WWE reportedly “wants no part of him right now.”
WWE officials were reportedly very unhappy with the way he left the company several years ago after receiving a large push, not to mention that there are lingering issues with creative head Michael Hayes.
– Wrestling legend Jake Roberts was asked on Facebook if any wrestler ever refused to work with him due to fear of snakes. He replied:
“Some refused to have the snake put on them, but otherwise, not really. Roddy Piper wouldn’t come out around them at all…”
(source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
— Sting is now on Twitter at twitter.com/sting. The account has been confirmed by TNA Wrestling president Dixie Carter. “The Icon” says she encouraged him to get on the website.
Sting writes, “Hello Fans – I’m finally on Twitter! Plenty of news coming soon about IMPACT, my website and more. I’ll try to post as my schedule permits! I appreciate the quick and positive feed back from all! Finally coming out of the dark ages! I think it is only fitting to give a public “Thank You” to Dixie Carter. She has been a huge help getting me up and running / tweeting.
— The official Facebook page of TNA Wrestling UK has confirmed that Hulk Hogan will appear at their shows in Manchester and London on January 27 and 28.
“The Immortal” Hulk Hogan will make his return to the UK after 18 years to appear on the TNA IMPACT WRESTLING television taping at London’s Wembley Arena on Saturday January 28,” the statement reads.
“Hulk will also be a part of the huge MAXIMUM IMPACT Tour live event in Manchester, which takes place on Friday January 27.”
— Angelina Love is scheduled to appear with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Missy Hyatt at Frank & Son Collectible Show 19649 San Jose Ave. City of Industry, California on February 11.
— The latest issue of WWE Magazine says they have obtained a short list of candidates for induction into next year’s Hall of Fame class and it features past Superstars estranged from WWE.
The Informer wrote in his monthly column: “A trusted source managed to sneak me the short list for the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame, and I can tell you that a lot of old wounds are about to be reopened!”
— WWE has released seven-inch refillable lighters featuring six legendary Superstars: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter, British Bulldog and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. The lighters, which also include a bottle opener, are available at select convenience stores.
— WWE.com has added Buff Bagwell to its list of WCW Competitors. His picture, however, links a New World Order photo gallery.
– Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW takes place from the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The only advertised item for the Memorial Day edition of Raw is Kharma’s first promo, where she will address her “nervous breakdown” on last week’s show. It is expected to be part of her TV write-off.
While Triple H is being advertised locally for tonight’s RAW, it should be noted that the advertisements were booked months ago and it is unlikely he will be there.
– Tonight’s Tough Enough will feature a guest appearance from former WWE champion The Miz. Here’s the USA Network’s official preview for the episode:
“WWE superstar The Miz gives the contestants a taste of what life as a WWE Superstar means outside the ring. And, back in the gym, the competition heats up when the final three battle it out for the opportunity to compete in the Tough Enough finale. In the end, Stone Cold sends one more person home.”
– WWE diva Layla commented on her surgery last week on Twitter:
“My surgery went well Dr.Dugas is amazing But here comes the pain and the battle We can Do it tho I can’t wait to get back in the gym The journey begins.”
– Jake “The Snake” Roberts celebrates his 56th birthday today. He was born on May 30, 1955.
— The obituary for the late Randy Savage has been posted online. It features a guestbook for people to share memories and express condolences.
In addition to his wrestling exploits, the obituary notes that for several years every holiday season, he visited All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida to deliver gifts to patients and participated in the George Steinbrenner Children’s Holiday Concert for underprivileged kids of Tampa. He also recently took part as a celebrity guest judge in a fundraiser benefiting Art for Autism.
— WWE announced today that due to a scheduling conflict, the SmackDown live event at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon on August 20, 2011 has been canceled. Monday Night Raw will return to the Rose Garden on February 27, 2012. An on sale date has not been announced.
— Jake “The Snake” Roberts appears at the Sports Heroes and Legends 10 Giffords Lane Staten Island, New York on July 23, 2011 from 2:00 p.m. to 4L00 p.m.
source: PWInsider.com
– In recent weeks, WWE announcer Michael Cole has been the special guest referee for the dark matches that take place after WWE RAW goes off the air. WWE wants to have Cole take bumps during these matches and there are plans for him to start in-ring training.
Some have also speculated that Cole’s in-ring training will be to prepare him for a match at WrestleMania 27, with his rumored opponent being fellow RAW announcer Jerry “The King” Lawler.
In any case, if Cole training means he’s going to be taking more RKO’s and Attitude Adjustments, we fully support this initiative.
– WWE has hired Dr. Mark Unterberg as the company’s new Wellness psychiatrist. Unterberg is currently the team psychiatrist for the Dallas Cowboys and involved in the NFL Players Program of Substance Abuse.
– WWE legend Jake “The Snake” Roberts will be retiring later this month, with his final match taking place on January 29th at the Pro Wrestling Guerilla show in Los Angeles. Roberts will be facing Sinn Bodhi, formerly Kizarny in WWE.
Fellow legend Terry Funk is also having a (yet another) retirement match on that show.
(Partial Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)
It was announced Friday that Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ retirement match will take place next month during Wrestlereunion weekend in Los Angeles, California:
Jake “The Snake” Roberts has been actively wrestling for 35 years. This past August at a show in NY, Jake made an announcement that he was retiring from pro wrestling. The internet reports misconstrued his “retirement speech” as immediate but he continued to wrestle at several previously agreed to obligations knowing his last match was around the corner.
For several months, Wrestlereunion had been trying to work out something regarding Jake’s schedule and make him a premium guest and we had previously offered him a spot in the Legends battle royal. It had been several months since we had any conversations with Jake Roberts and quite honestly, we didn’t think he would be part of this year’s convention.
Then, late last night, fate put the two of us together on the phone once again and Jake asked if there was still an invitation. We said we would love to add him to the battle royal and then he said that he had another goal in mind, he wanted to end his wrestling career at a location where the Legends are respected and the best young talent was on showcase.
Jake Roberts asked us if we would host his retirement match. Per his request and with our great honor, Jake Roberts’ retirement match will take place at the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla show on Saturday January 29th.
Jake Roberts will also be a Wrestlereunion vendor guest and will be doing pictures and autographs on Saturday afternoon. Additionally, Jake will be doing Deluxe Photo Ops and video ops, more information on those as well as pricing will be provided in the upcoming weeks.
– Kevin Sullivan released the following statement concerning the passing of Luna Vachon:
“I am saddened to hear of the passing of Luna Vachon. Not only was she a fantastic performer, but I was lucky enough to consider her a dear friend and I will miss her greatly. Luna was an integral part of my career and I would not have succeeded without her. We have lost a great performer and an even greater person. My condolences go out to her family and to her friends.”
– Nickelodeon will be airing former WWE Diva Stacy Keibler’s guest appearances on the sitcom George Lopez Tuesday night at 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m.
– Former WWE star Jake “The Snake” Roberts announced his retirement from professional wrestling Sunday night while performing for the 2CW Wrestling promotion in Rochester, New York. Following the bout, he took the microphone and told the crowd that despite his love for wrestling, he could no longer compete due to medical issues. Here’s a video of Jake’s retirement speech:
– A battle royal featuring 7 SmackDown! talent, 7 RAW talent and the Nexus guys is set for RAW tomorrow, though it is expected to be a dark match. We’ll keep you posted on that.
– Bryan Danielson cancelled his appearance for NYWC in New York last night. He cited a family conflict but said he would be at the August 28 show. Danielson has no bookings on a Monday night listed on his website. He also is not booked on Night of Champions night.
– An article on the Big Show is available at Torontosun.com.
– Satoshi Kojima defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals of New Japan’s G-1 Climax tournament, making him the first non-NJPW talent to win the tournament in its 20-year history.
– An interview with Nick “Eugene” Dinsmore is available at Courier-journal.com.
– An interview with Jake “The Snake” Roberts is available at Pojoslam.blogspot.com Jake talks modern wrestlers and how he is the only guy who admits to taking drugs while others have died without ever confessing to having a problem.