Jake 'The Snake' Roberts has a story like no other. Arguably the greatest wrestler to never win a major singles championship despite two stints in WWF, and one in WCW, he commanded the attention of fans through his dark charisma and promo ability, his innate use of in-ring psychology - and the fact he carried a massive python to the ring.
The 62-year old has had a lengthy battle with drug and alcohol addiction and his journey to sobriety was captured in the award-winning 'The Resurrection Of Jake The Snake' film, where Roberts, real name Aurelian Smith Jr, moved in with close friend and former wrestler Diamond Dallas Page and was able to get his life back on track.
SPORTbible had the utter pleasure of chatting to the wrestling legend about his career, his current ventures and projects, DDP Yoga and how it has changed his life, how he conquered his fear of snakes, his thoughts on the current product and the lack of psychology, Bray Wyatt and the way WWE have been utilising him, the use of his famed DDT finishing move today, and much, much more.
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SPORTbible: First of all, how are things with you at the moment and what are you up to these days?
Jake Roberts: Busier than I've been! Doing everything from Comic Cons to doing a pretty good movie with Shia Labeouf and some other people. Things have been really good, man. I've been doing a lot of appearances and got a lot of stuff going on - I'm finishing my book, which should be out in either six weeks or two months, and I think that's going to grab a lot of people's attention; it's a real good read and I know every word of it! It's pretty in-depth, six hundred pages of pretty good stuff.
I'm getting ready to go to DDP's retreat down in Mexico, that should be good, it's a good time. It's on July 7 or something like that. I wish I was going on that cruise ship [Chris Jericho's cruise in October] they've got going on, have you heard about that? He wanted me to go but I can't because I'm booked in Toronto or some place else. Maybe I'll get the next one if there is one!
Image: DDP Yoga
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Also, I'm helping some people that are struggling with their addiction, it's what I like to do now, and to try and get them to a better place. Chasing my grandkids occasionally! Like I said, I've got a lot going on.
SPORTbible: You obviously mentioned DDP there and he was over recently for a UK tour doing q and a's and a few DDP Yoga workshops as well. Just how has DDP Yoga saved your life?
Jake Roberts: Oh man, that's simple. It made me breathe again, and when I was struggling with addiction, to quit doing drugs and alcohol you've got to do something; you've got to change your routine and start doing something else for your body. When you've been down for a long time like I've been, I didn't think I could go anymore. I didn't think I could change my body functioning, I didn't think I could get healthy again - I was just that low.
I started doing DDP Yoga, which is horrible, horrible, horrible at first, because I was so bad and like 310 pounds, and I just started making baby steps - doing a little bit more and a little bit more. I kept going, at first I was so miserable, man I wanted to quit because I hated every minute of it but after about a week my body started responding and it was like, 'oh my God, this feels so amazing!'.
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At the same time, my brain was cleaning out too and it was quite the experience. And I just stayed with it, I've rehabbed a shoulder injury, I've rehabbed a replacement hip and DDP Yoga's still right there with me. Now that they've got the app out, that makes it so insane because now I can get it while I'm on the road and travelling or whatever, in the hotel. They've got like 150 workouts, I think I'm up to number 26 or something.
It's a lot of fun and I couldn't have ever thought that at the age of 62, I'd be as healthy as I am. I'm in better health now than I was when I was 48, I'm not doing the drinking or the drugging, emotionally I'm in such a good place, so that's how it's helped me - it got me to start to dream again and once my body came back, my mind came back. You've got the movie [The Resurrection of Jake The Snake] - by the way that thing has been judged as the second-best Resurrection of all-time! It's just been a great ride and I can't wait for what comes up next because there's always something new.
SPORTbible: We obviously saw your journey to sobriety documented in the Jake the Snake film. How proud are you of the progress you've made and also how that film helps inspire others?
Jake Roberts: I can't believe how good it's been. Of the many blessings I've received, being able to have a relationship with all my children and my grandkids, things are so good there - with Codi, my daughter who works with me and lives with me also, she's doing so awesome, man. She's lost 75 pounds and has got in the best shape of her life; she feels so good. It's a wonderful life.
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The fact that I could come back and have a productive life, a successful business life - I've got everything. Years ago I worked so hard to get everything and I had nothing, no family or peace in my heart, my brain. That means a lot, to get yourself right. Quit lying to yourself, it's hard for some people to do, it was my hard for me - it was much easier telling a lie than living a truth. I used to visit England a lot for a couple of years but it was just a wasted trip because I was in such a bad place and it's one of my many regrets. I don't beat myself up anymore, it still comes to mind of course, especially when I was working with the book and remembering these times and what was going on, and all of sudden bad things start going on and I look at myself and be like, "wow, how did you do it, man?" and it's all drugs, alcohol or whatever it was.
SPORTbible: Also, how special is it for you that yourself, Scott Hall and now DDP are all in the WWE Hall of Fame?
Jake Roberts: Oh it's awesome. That was something I didn't think was ever going to happen, mainly because I'd been so rowdy and said some pretty horrible things about the WWF, WWE and the McMahons. That's what drugs do; that's what a drug addict does. I didn't think I was gonna get in, and for them to forgive me and invite me into it was the honour of a lifetime for me, to have my grandson come up on the stage with me, because he's my hero! He's something else, man. Came in like a whirlwind at a pound and a half so he's a survivor, he's a fighter. His two sisters are the same.
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That moment, to have my kids there, it was really awesome. And Dallas going in, as well as Scott, we went through a lot together and formed a deep friendship. it's a good thing.
SPORTbible: We saw in the film that your ultimate goal was to be an entrant in the 2014 Royal Rumble. That of course didn't happen but what was it like being brought back in for Old school Raw in 2014 and throwing the snake on Dean Ambrose?
Jake Roberts: It was awesome doing the Raw thing. I was just considering the opportunity to go into the Rumble at the time, it was something that I wanted to do. I wouldn't even attempt it now. I'm getting smarter, I realise that my body could not take two or three bumps, man it couldn't. It would nearly kill me! I'm getting smarter with that, these guys [wrestlers on the current roster], they're in such great shape, they're animals and they're high-impact and I don't even fly - snakes don't fly!
In the Rumble, I have no problem throwing snakes on people but we can't go much further than that. I would have liked to have helped with the bookings there again but it might not have been a good idea, it might have kicked off the drinking from the stress and I don't need that. Plus, I want to be at home, I don't want to be travelling everyday and going to Connecticut when you're not travelling. I've been there, man.
SPORTbible: If you were around wrestling today, who from the current roster would you like to be feuding with? Who do you like to watch?
Jake Roberts: Bray Wyatt. That's an easy one. Bray's innovative, he's different, he's interesting and unpredictable - I like all of those things. I just wish they'd really let him go [let him be himself], they keep holding him back. Maybe he'll get the chance to go someday.
SPORTbible: What do you make of the comparisons between the two of you? Do you see it, with that dark charisma?
Jake Roberts: Yeah, he's got it man. You've either got it or you don't, you can't go out and buy charisma, it's just something you're born with. You can't buy it, you can't learn it. And he's got it, he knows how to connect with the people and I really enjoy him.
SPORTbible: On the DDT, what are your thoughts on how it's evolved and the variations we see today?
Jake Roberts: Well, they always try to take the greatest thing and make it better but unfortunately that just does not work. The mistake, is that these people are using it for a high spot. It's the best finishing manoeuvre of all-time and everybody gets up there and does it. It does me a favour because it tells people that when Jake Roberts hits you with that DDT, you didn't get up. It tells the people that I can get my shit done and these guys can't! I'm very grateful for the WWE Network because they keep playing my stuff and basically creating a new fanbase so it's a good day to be alive, it really is.
SPORTbible: If you could give advice to a new talent coming through the Performance Centre, what would you tell them?
Jake Roberts: I'd probably tell them to come see me because I'd need to sit down and have a long talk with them. It's a different world man, I was not a good businessman - I made a lot of mistakes and I just didn't react well in the boardroom, I got pissed off and told people to 'eff off',drop dead or whatever and you can't do that. But I'd tell them to get a business manager or something to take care of business because I just wasn't [a business guy]. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and that's the truth. I wouldn't complain or anything, whatever they wanted I'd just do it - I never went to the office and tried to BS my way into something else. If I would have spent some time at the office I'd have made a whole lot more money but nobody can diminish my career, I don't give a shit who you are.
SPORTbible: As someone who has been backstage in the 80's boom, the 90's just before the Attitude Era, what do you think has changed over the years in the locker room?
Jake Roberts: I wasn't around the new stuff much, I've heard how much it's changed, guys being secluded a little bit. There was a little bit of that going on back in the day but I don't give a shit what you say, do what you wanna do, don't bother me - that's the way I've always been. They can get their private buses or whatever, I don't care.
SPORTbible: How much of the product do you get to watch today and do you think there is a lack of in-ring psychology?
Jake Roberts: Definitely there is a lack of it but a lot of it is to do with what's being written for them and also a lot to do with the performances in the ring these days. Because they don't sell anything and take care of business and go out there and work a match, instead they're just going out there high flying and high impact. [They should] go back to the old style a little bit and grind it out and do some real wrestling, I think that would be awesome.
But the guys today they haven't learned it, and the only way we learned it back in the day was wrestling seven days a week and we had old-timers teaching us. They made you work for it. These four/five minute matches don't do anything for anybody, they don't excite me. Today guys need a good storyteller; that's the reason they've got to do that stuff. They can't tell you a storyline, they just don't have the experience or talent to do it. - that's why they don't do their own interviews. I can't imagine them getting me to read an interview, that'd be fun!
SPORTbible: A few weeks back when we saw DDP, he said that you were scared of snakes. Is that true and if so, how did you conquer it?
Jake Roberts: Yeah. Money made me get over it! I'm still scared of them but you do what you have to do, man. It was a great idea I came up with, I just didn't think it through to the point of "oh my God you're going to have to carry that damn thing" but it worked out.
SPORTbible: Just before you went through the curtain, would the switch just flick and you'd become "Jake The Snake"?
Jake Roberts: Yeah, that's the amazing thing about wrestling. You get ready to go through that curtain and when the music starts, you take that step and it's like you're free at last. I never had a problem in the ring, I had problems when I got out of the ring - as long as I was performing I had it together but once the match was over it was time to come down off that high and I've got too much other stuff going on that I don't know how to deal with it. In the real world, that's where the mistakes are made.
I take care of myself these days, I don't travel alone - I used to get off and do my own thing and that's not good. Now, my daugher travels with me or I'll have somebody else fly in for a two to three day gig and they hang out with me, make sure that I'm comfortable and make sure that my first-class air ticket is ready! I don't fly coach anymore, it's too rough on me. Doing alright, man.
SPORTbible: Favourite and least favourite opponents to work with?
Jake Roberts: My least is Vader. I wrestled him two or three times and he broke my sternum twice. Just a big.... never mind.
Favourite, there was too many of them. Ronnie Garvin, Ricky Steamboat, Len Denton, Andre of course, Snuka, Piper, Rick Rude. I had all the greats man, I had them all. I could probably just keep on going.
SPORTbible: Most Underrated?
Jake Roberts: There's a lot of guys out there who are underrated. Specifically, I don't want to start naming names because I'll forget somebody but there's a lot who never got their break and never will. Sinn Bodhi was one of those, they called him Kizarny in WWE for a short time - they gave him like two shots at it and jerked him off. He's a good friend of mine, an unbelievable talent and good guy but sometimes it just doesn't happen.
He and I opened up 'The Snake Pit', it's a school for wrestling where you can come over to Vegas and train with us. We've got a plan for everybody and we also do a thing where a regular Joe, a plumber, an accountant, a teacher, a fireman or whatever - athlete or computer geek we don't care, you come over to Vegas and the first two days D'Lo Brown and Sinn Bodhi will teach you several wrestling holds and they'll teach you how to fall, or help anyway. And then on the third day, you get dressed up in the gear and you come through the curtain, get in the ring and I will interview you in 'The Snake Pit'.
At the end of the interview, myself, I might wrestle you or Steamboat might wrestle you, Gangrel, whoever you paid to see - it's your choice. We film it all, we put together a nice little film for you and you take that with you when you leave. You've had your match with Jake The Snake, he put the snake on you and you've got a memory for the rest of your life. That's called 'Fantasy Slam', it's an awesome thing and very reasonable too.
SPORTbible: Favourite moments in wrestling?
Jake Roberts: I can't pick it man. Wrestling Andre, being with Alice Cooper - there's just way too many.
SPORTbible: Worst bump or injury?
Jake Roberts: There was a shot with the guitar [from The Honky Tonk Man], it nearly killed me. I blew two discs out of my neck, and after that everything started breaking down. It is what it is it. It was a cheap shot, it was bullshit, they used a real guitar and it damn near killed me.
Featured Image Credit: WWE