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The following interview highlights were provided to PWTorch.com by the producers of Interactive Wrestling Radio.
Show: Interactive Wrestling Radio
Guest: Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Date: May 13, 2019
Your Host: James Walsh
Jake “The Snake” Roberts is on a tour that is bringing delight and laughter to all the fans of classic 80’s and 90’s wrestling with his “Dirty Details” tour. Promoting an evening of entertainment Jake jokes you will have to “wash your ears out after hearing”, the WWE Hall of Famer stopped by the Wrestling Epicenter to discuss the tour, his 7 years of sobriety, the Dark Side of the Ring documentary series he has been a part of, the birth of AEW, and the hunger for wrestling nostalgia.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts rolls into Mesa, Arizona at Club Red on Tuesday night, May 21st for his “Dirty Details” show. Jake promises a meet and greet signing for those who turn up early where he will sign your classic “Snake Man” memorabilia.
To listen, visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com and download the MP3 and find it on YouTube! Follow us on Twitter @wepicenter and on Facebook!
•On deciding to do the Dirty Details tour: “I just wanted to have fun, man. Get out there, see the fans. Rub elbows with them. See if I can’t help some people on sobriety’s road. This is how I’m doing it, man. I went and saw Mick Foley’s show and I said “I know I’m funnier than that! Why don’t I start me a show?” And then I said, “Well, heck. Instead of writing new comedy, why not go over the things that happened in the past!” Lord knows I’ve got plenty of that to go over. I have wrestled for 37 years. So, I’ve got 37 years of material to go over. I’ll be busy for a while!”
•On the popularity of classic wrestling stars: “I think with VInce putting it out there all the itme with the (WWE) Network, it creates new fans of that era. I go to Comic Cons all the time and there are kids there that are 8 and 9 years old and they want my autograph and I say, “Wait a minute, you weren’t even born yet when I was wrestling.” They’re like, “Yeah, but we watched you do this and you on that.” I’m really grateful for it (The Network) man. It’s given me another career.”
•On comparing himself in 2003 when we last interviewed him to now: “I was miserable. I was still drinking and using drugs. Those were dark times for me, man. I’m very fortunate that I made it through it. By all rights, I shouldn’t have because I was a mess. I didn’t even want to live anymore. Really dark times. But, I came through it. It took a lot of hard work but I’ve been clean now 7 years. Things are beautiful.”
•On how much DDP is to credit for his sobriety: “Well, I’ll tell ya the real truth on that thing, man. DDP opened his doors and gave me a safe place. But, I had to do the work. He didn’t go to meetings with mme. I did. I went to meetings every day. He facilitated the thing is what he did. He didn’t actually take part in it. As far as me traveling, he gave me rules like, “Ok, you’ve got to go with somebody.” I had to pay somebody to go with me. I was never alone. But, he was seldom a part of it. But, facilitating it, yes. In facilitating it, he was a big part of it.”
•On his current relationship with DDP: “Pretty good. Pretty good. We talk nearly every day. He’s doing a lot and so am I. We kind of went our separate ways there. I’m busy on the road all the time. He doesn’t want to be on the road. So, there you go.”
•On the birth of AEW and his take on it: “Oh, huge. They needed to create a buzz to kick it off and make a splash. They’re going to do it. They’re going to make that splash. How they follow it up is going to be key. If they don’t follow it up with something good, then it is over. They’re spending big money and the guy has got deep pockets so the hope is they’ll bring wrestling back around and become competition with McMahon. That would be the best thing that could happen. But, the problem is the talent. There isn’t a huge talent pool like there used to be. A lot of guys today are cookie-cutter types. They’re not characters. They don’t know how to do it yet. That is the bad part about Vince’s machine. His machine creates new talent all the time. But, the talent never gets to grow and become something to where they’re unique. They’re all built at that Performance Center. The guys learn a bunch of moves and that’s it. As far as doing interviews, they don’t do their own interviews. It is all written and scripted stuff. When you’re doing scripted stuff, the character is not there and the people see through it. They realize these guys are just reading. The fans want more. They deserve more. But, whenever Vince started this whole thing up and killed all the territories, that was the breeding ground for the talent. So, there it went. It is hard to learn how to wrestle working once or twice a week. You can’t do it. You’ve got to go out there five, six, and seven nights a week to polish it, to get it where it is second nature. That is what these guys are missing.”
•On the finished product of Dark Side of the Ring: “I thought it was a pretty good job they’ve done all in all. I think they did a pretty fair job and they were fair with what they did. They didn’t go for jugular veins, but they were honest. They brought some things up that need to be brought up and I like it!”
•On if his WWE DVD was his autobiography: “Not at all. My book will be out within the next few months. 600 pages, I did all of it myself. It is going to blow some things out of the water. It is straight up me, all me, and the inside and out of me. It was done with a lot of hard work and love. I’m very passionate about me. It has taken six, seven years to do it. Speaking from my heart and my head. There is a lot of things that will come out that I think people will understand more about wrestling, wrestlers, and life.”
•On the content of his Dirty Details tour: “You’re going to want to wash your ears out after my show. Nobody under 18 is allowed in. But, other than that, man. Get ready for the ride of your life. You’re going to get to hear about all the things you thought you wanted to know about. After you hear about them, you’re going to say, “Oh my God, these guys were crazy!” These were the wild times, man. The ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. We were wild, man. We were running hard. And, the boys that ran hard played hard and we did. You’re going to hear about me, the Snake, and where we went.”
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