Jake Roberts Shoots on WWE, Jericho, and more.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

Get in the Ring Radio:

 

-Jake joins the show and jokes that he has relocated to London England, so he doesn't have to watch WWE programming anymore. He wanted to change his scenery, and claims that the US fans were getting boring. They don't have anything to keep their mind going. The fans are more appreciative in England because they are starved for pro-wrestling. Jake also loves the architecture in England, and before becoming a pro-wrestler, Jake wanted to be an architect. He says that some of the buildings are centuries old, unlike buildings in America that are being torn down and built up on a daily basis.

 

-Jake brings up the strange fact that Charles Manson (!?!?!) is his idol. Not for what he did, in playing a part in murder, but how he was able to control the minds of others. He wasn't very smart, or good looking, or really good at anything, but he had that one intangible quality that made people listen to him. This freaks out Sir Adam and The Phantom as they quickly try to change the subject.

 

-Talk turns to the subject of Chris Jericho, who Jake used to call Jeri"blow" on his ill-fated website. Jake says he doesn't hate him, but thinks he doesn't care about ring psychology or preserving other people's characters. He gives examples of Chris overpowering Rhyno in a match, or back suplexing Chris Benoit several times during a match. Jericho should never be able to overpower a character like Rhyno or take Benoit's trademark moves during a match. Jake feels like Jericho destroyed all the heels, and now he's destroying all the babyfaces. Phantom agrees with Jake, remembering some of the matches against Rock- where Jericho would do the Rock bottom, the People's elbow, etc. making the moves look almost easy to accomplish like "anyone can do them". Jake elaborates saying that Chris attacks every one of his opponents strong points, saying that when he used to wrestle he would never overpower anyone. Jake can't believe that the WWE office is still pushing Jericho down the fans throats. Jericho gets some defense from Sir Adam, when he says that the fans started to respond to him and that they can't pick up on the stuff that Jake was talking about-because Jake is an expert in the field. Jake thinks that the fans don't react as strongly as it seems on TV, to Chris, because WWE "sweetens" the crowd noise. Phantom replies that the then WWF was notorious for doing that stuff in the late 80's, during Jake's heyday. Jake says "they had to because they had the Ultimate Warrior around".

 

-Jake Roberts shoots down the widely believed rumor, that he came up with the Steve Austin/Brian Pillman Gun angle in 1996, when he was writing for WWF TV. While he does take credit for Austin "breaking" Pillman's ankle in a chair, he felt the gun angle "went too far", and says it wasn't him who came up with it. Jake's role in the WWF was to tell Vince McMahon what was good or bad with some of the scenarios the writing team would come up with. After hearing a 10 member team pitch ideas, Vince would kick them all out of the room except for Roberts and get the real story. Roberts was never a yes man. Snake believes that McMahon is scared of him. Not of him physically, but mentally. Jake believes he has a gift that he can develop other people character as well as his own. He always believed that if he went out and enhanced someone else's character, whether it be Ultimate Warrior or Dusty Wolfe, rather than "eat him up", it would benefit him when he eventually beat the other person. He feels like "less is more", wrestlers have to help each other out.

 

-Jake feels like the wrestlers of today aren't given 20-30 minute matches anymore because they aren't able to hold a crowd's attention, like Jake could. He blames Vince McMahon for this, after eating up all the territories during the early 80s. There isn't a breeding ground where wrestlers can learn their trade in front of the same audience week after week. Jake goes on to explain that the workers of yesterday couldn't go out and do the same match night after night, because they were performing in front of the same crowds in their specific territories (Florida, Carolinas, Mid-South, etc). Today the WWE worker, does the same match night in and night out, when they are on the road because they are in totally different cities.

 

-Jake says that the WWE has made a few phone calls to him over the years to return in a writing capacity, but Jake just isn't interested. He doesn't relate to the product anymore, and knew he didn't when he was asked, in '96, to write Goldust kissing Ahmed Johnson. He ran into a "power play" during the end of his run in WWE. He feels that Vince Russo was fortunate to come into power after Jake had left, "when the table ad already been set". Jake takes credit for noticing something in Steve Austin when he was just the "Ringmaster". He claims to have told McMahon, "This is your next Superstar", to which Vince laughed and replied "Nah, Mid-carder at best." Then Jake claims to have come up with the idea for Austin in the King of the Ring, for using the "3:16" tagline, which took off. Jake is sorry that Vince never used his other suggestion of "Austin's Ten Commandments". He hopes that the charges against Austin are "crap", because there is no excuse for hitting a woman. He also knows how the WWE offices are, "it twists your mind around and puts you into crazy".

 

-Jake also saw promise in the Headbangers tag team, thought they could be stars, but Vince would always book them in to lose. Felt that "those kids were cool, they were with it". He also claims to have caught Edge during his early years in 1995, and turned McMahon on to him, saying that he would be a success. Jake thinks that Vince McMahon is only concerned with merchandising, not talent. He thinks there is way too much emphasis placed on interviews, pyrotechnics, and he will puke if he sees another angle that starts with a limo pulling up back stage and an announcer yelling "WHO's IN THE LIMO???". Jake's begging for a wrestler to pull up in a beat up VW, or check into a Motel 6. Jake feels the WWE is "WORST WRESTLING EVER", and to help the WWE Jake would need total creative control to turn around the company. He claims to not want the big money, he'd do it to help the business, because he "love(s) this woman, the ring is the only woman I never cheated on." He feels that Vince will fall, soon, and no more big money contracts will happen anymore. He will lose TV, and soon territories will start to pop up again, "that is when the new talent will emerge. Jake feels that today's environment isn't conducive to breeding new talent. He isn't impressed with Brock Lesnar's character development, and thinks that Paul Heyman is putting all the heat on himself, making himself the focal point.

 

-Jake thinks that the HWA federation is Vince's idea of creating a breeding ground for new talent. But feels that Les Thatcher is another "yes" man to Vince, he's "good, but not great", and that's why it won't successfully breed new talent.

 

-Jake never felt he needed a belt to be a superstar. His match against Randy Savage on Saturday Night's main event was brought up as being one of Jake's best, because it was the first televised heel vs. heel match. Jake felt he got his wish because he earned the respect of Dick Ebersol, then-president of NBC. During a taping of the NBC produced show, Jake was handed a script by Ebersol. Jake read it and then started to complain to Jesse Ventura about how bad and cheesy it was, Jesse asked who gave it to him and Jake pointed to Ebersol saying "that goof over there". Jesse then took off, because he knew, unlike Jake, of how powerful "that goof" actually was. Ebersol overheard the Snake and asked him how he would change it. Jake then said he wanted to take a shower with the snake around him, and improv what he said. Ebersol thought the interview worked very well and looked to him for the next Main Event to put on a "good 25 minute match" because Hulk Hogan wasn't on the card. At the time, Jake and Savage were regarded as the best "wrestlers" on the roster, and NBC thought it would make up for the missing star power of Hulk if the audience got a great wrestling match. Jake said Savage blew up after 5 minutes in the ring, and then started listening to Jake to put forth a great match.

 

-Jake talks about the feud against Hulk Hogan that never happened. During a TV taping after attacking Hogan, and draping the snake over him, instead of chanting "Hogan", the crowd chanted "DDT". After McMahon heard that, he saw his marketing plan fall apart, and the feud was scrapped and Jake was quickly turned face.

[Guest FeArHaVoC]

credit; 1 Wrestling.com

 

btw

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

"-Jake joins the show and jokes that he has relocated to London England, so he doesn't have to watch WWE programming anymore. He wanted to change his scenery, and claims that the US fans were getting boring. They don't have anything to keep their mind going. The fans are more appreciative in England because they are starved for pro-wrestling. Jake also loves the architecture in England, and before becoming a pro-wrestler, Jake wanted to be an architect. He says that some of the buildings are centuries old, unlike buildings in America that are being torn down and built up on a daily basis. "

 

 

Jake may also like to know that it's significantly easier to purchase alcohol here in England than it is Stateside...

[Guest Nevermortal]

Did Get in the Ring pay him in crack to do that interview, or was he just naturally fucked up and delusional?

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Isn't he dead yet?

[Guest Austin3164life]

And I thought Vince Russo was bad......

[Guest buffybeast]

I thought the interview was interesting to say the least. I don't think anyone can deny that Jake had/has a mind for the business, at least from an old school perspective.

[Guest SmarkySmark]

I actually agree with a lot of what he said. Except about the Headbangers...what did he see in them?

 

But he did bring out some good points about Jericho whether we want to hear them or not.

 

I think "Austin's Ten Commandments" would have been hilarious.

 

"Thou shall not spill Austin's beer"

 

The guy may be a drunk and a dead beat dad, but he's also a very intelligent man and I can see him writing if he gets his life in gear.

[Guest Prince Paul]

Jake probably has better drug connections over there as well.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

-Talk turns to the subject of Chris Jericho, who Jake used to call Jeri"blow" on his ill-fated website. Jake says he doesn't hate him, but thinks he doesn't care about ring psychology or preserving other people's characters. He gives examples of Chris overpowering Rhyno in a match, or back suplexing Chris Benoit several times during a match. Jericho should never be able to overpower a character like Rhyno or take Benoit's trademark moves during a match. Jake feels like Jericho destroyed all the heels, and now he's destroying all the babyfaces. Phantom agrees with Jake, remembering some of the matches against Rock- where Jericho would do the Rock bottom, the People's elbow, etc. making the moves look almost easy to accomplish like "anyone can do them". Jake elaborates saying that Chris attacks every one of his opponents strong points, saying that when he used to wrestle he would never overpower anyone. Jake can't believe that the WWE office is still pushing Jericho down the fans throats. Jericho gets some defense from Sir Adam, when he says that the fans started to respond to him and that they can't pick up on the stuff that Jake was talking about-because Jake is an expert in the field. Jake thinks that the fans don't react as strongly as it seems on TV, to Chris, because WWE "sweetens" the crowd noise. Phantom replies that the then WWF was notorious for doing that stuff in the late 80's, during Jake's heyday. Jake says "they had to because they had the Ultimate Warrior around".

 

-Jake Roberts shoots down the widely believed rumor, that he came up with the Steve Austin/Brian Pillman Gun angle in 1996, when he was writing for WWF TV. While he does take credit for Austin "breaking" Pillman's ankle in a chair, he felt the gun angle "went too far", and says it wasn't him who came up with it. Jake's role in the WWF was to tell Vince McMahon what was good or bad with some of the scenarios the writing team would come up with. After hearing a 10 member team pitch ideas, Vince would kick them all out of the room except for Roberts and get the real story. Roberts was never a yes man. Snake believes that McMahon is scared of him. Not of him physically, but mentally. Jake believes he has a gift that he can develop other people character as well as his own. He always believed that if he went out and enhanced someone else's character, whether it be Ultimate Warrior or Dusty Wolfe, rather than "eat him up", it would benefit him when he eventually beat the other person. He feels like "less is more", wrestlers have to help each other out.

Jake's got too much dope up his nose: Any problems he has with wrestlers taking each other's finishers can't be solely blaimed on Jericho as plenty of other wrestlers do it all the time. Witness the Rock/Benoit feud in 2000 where Rocky did just about every move Benoit could and made it look easy. When you've got Shane MchMahon and Hulk Hogan hitting Angle with his own finishers, the point is completely moot. Jericho did that as part of his feud with Rock because he was trying to get himself over as "the next Rock" and for a while, it worked. Jericho was getting popsl just as big as Rock was. Also, the Rock/Jericho matches in which he stole Rocky's offense are better than any Jake Roberts match I've ever seen. I know the guy had talent (albiet short-lived talent), but he has been in more shitty matches than Jericho could be in if he tried. This also leads to my question of how Jake can claim today's wrestlers can't hold the people's attention when he was confortable dogging it every night for a consistant time period.

 

And how can he call the Ultimate Warior training angle "character enhancement"? That angle was one of the worst of all time and to say that actually helped Ultimate Warior develop as a character is the most stupid thing Jake could have said. I know the guy's coked up and all, but that's just ridiculous. That angle did nothing but make Warior look like a total idiot for not being able to see what EVERYONE ELSE AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW, that being that Jake was going to turn on him. Then he denies writing the gun angle, but refuses to name who did write it, even though he was supposedly getting the "no bullshit story" from MchMahon when he was writing TV. Oh, but that doesn't stop him from taking credit for the Pilmanizing angle, which was generally a success and managed to avoid getting them in hot water with U.S.A. unlike another angle that Jake supposedly had nothing to do with. What a coincidence.

 

Oh, and Jeri-blow? Who writes this guy's stuff? Hyatte?

[Guest Nevermortal]

[Looks at his jacket]

 

"What the fuck is this shit?"

[Guest WhenDanSaysJump]

"Look at those ducks. *WAKWAKWAKWAKWAK*"

[Guest chirs3]

Jake feels like Jericho destroyed all the heels, and now he's destroying all the babyfaces.

 

Yea, he's destroying the babyfaces, you guys!

 

Like...

 

Uh...

 

...

 

Well, he beat Val Venis by cheating...

 

...

 

...

 

DESTROYING THE BABYFACES!

[Guest Austin3164life]

I'll take Jake Roberts in his current frame of mind over any of the lackluster bookers they have in the WWE now (save for Paul Heyman). Roberts might have some good (logical) ideas for wrestlers. He seems to know what a wrestler should and shouldn't be about (excluding his Jericho comments).......

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

Jake should go back to that gutter that he calls home, toke up again, and NEVER show his face again.

 

What a coked-out idiot...

[Guest RickyChosyu]

I'll take Jake Roberts in his current frame of mind over any of the lackluster bookers they have in the WWE now (save for Paul Heyman). Roberts might have some good (logical) ideas for wrestlers. He seems to know what a wrestler should and shouldn't be about (excluding his Jericho comments).......

Translation: You'd take a dope-addicted gutter-dwelling hopeless wreck of a man over a group of well-meaning (albiet, stupid) writers. Oh, accept for the guy who ran his promotion into the ground; that guy can stay, too.

 

I think you and Jake have something in common.

[Guest TheSmarkzone]

He's got a point. Too bad that they can't rely on him to work for the company.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

He's got a point. Too bad that they can't rely on him to work for the company.

Who's got a point? The crack-head who thinks "Jeri-blow" is a funny nick-name or the crack-head who thinks Paul Heyman is a good booker?

[Guest oldschoolwrestling]

Does the SOB take credit for anything that failed, such as his life?

[Guest AlwaysPissedOff]

Apparently not.

[Guest cynicalprofit]

Jake, taking the book, *drools in excitement* jake knows the business better then anyone else today, and while hes cracked out, having him book angles would rock. I'd love to see what his demeted mind oculd do with Raven and the Flock.

[Guest buffybeast]

Jake could probably benefit the company if he weren't on crack and alcohol. You cannot rely on a cracked out loser to show up for work everyday.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

Jake, taking the book, *drools in excitement* jake knows the business better then anyone else today, and while hes cracked out, having him book angles would rock. I'd love to see what his demeted mind oculd do with Raven and the Flock.

The same dimented ideas he had in '96 that nearly ran the WWF out of business. Are people just choosing not to remember that time period, now?

[Guest RetroRob215]

The same dimented ideas he had in '96 that nearly ran the WWF out of business. Are people just choosing not to remember that time period, now?

If anything 1996's angles and storylines saved the WWF from all the money and fans they lost in 1995. IF Jake really did think of the "Pillmanizing" angle and turned Vince on to talent like Edge and Austin maybe he could be of service to the WWE. He would have to be clean first obviously. Or at least semi-clean, that's all I ask for.

[Guest Some Guy]

Jake's angle with Taker when he slammed his habd in the casket and beat him witha chair and his feud with Savage were gold. If he could stay somewhat sober and come up with fresh and creative angles like those on a regular basis than I'd be all for him coming in and taking the book.

I understand what he means with Jericho but I disagree. Jericho didn't make Rock look bad when he hit him with Rock's moves, it made Jericho look bad because Rock kicked out and Jericho jobbed to them. I have had a enough of the ME'ers steeling each other's moves though, it has become cliche.

[Guest RickyChosyu]

If anything 1996's angles and storylines saved the WWF from all the money and fans they lost in 1995. IF Jake really did think of the "Pillmanizing" angle and turned Vince on to talent like Edge and Austin maybe he could be of service to the WWE. He would have to be clean first obviously. Or at least semi-clean, that's all I ask for.

No, '96 was one of the worst years in WWF history, as far as money lossing. Literally no one bought the PPV's, and WCW was kicking the shit out of them thanks to the nWo angle. Austin getting himself over out of self-determination alone doesn't change the fact that business was at an all-time low.

 

And I wonder if Jake will book himself in a radical new feud with Jerry Lawler again, because Lord knows that drew money. I just can't believe people are suggesting the WWE sign Jake Roberts to book their show as a good idea. It's dumbfounding.

[Guest Some Guy]

You think that Jake booked his angle with Lawler? Why would he book himself into a feud where he is ridiculed and made to look like an alcoholic? Don't bookers usually make themselves look good?

[Guest Nezbyte]

If he sobered up, i wouldnt mind seeing what he could bring to the table.

[Guest Human Fly]

Jake and The Warrior should start writing a website together, and then the XWF should give the duo head writing and booking duties. At least this way the crash of the company will be memorable instead of slowly, painfully, and forgetable.

[Guest Prince Paul]

Jake all cleaned up and not on drugs as a consultant to the booking team would be worth a try. If he fucks up, just fire his ass. It can't be too much worse than what we've been watching for 6 months.

 

Prince Paul shakes his head in amazement as to why Ricky has to be such a dick about it.