Jake Roberts Explains Why It's Okay For Wrestlers To Break Character

Having begun his career in the 1970s during the heart of the territory days, WWE Hall of Famer and AEW's Jake Roberts is a man who comes from a bygone era, where keeping the illusion that wrestling was real mattered more than anything else. As such, there were hardly any instances of wrestlers being seen out of character, especially during a wrestling show.

Interestingly enough, Roberts delved into the subject in the latest edition of "The Snake Pit," revealing that he himself had never broken character. However, when asked if he had a problem with it, such as The Usos laughing at Sami Zayn during certain segments, he revealed he wasn't bothered by that.

"That's okay," Roberts said. "That's nothing they haven't shown before. The only people who still believe it's real are the wrestlers."

While breaking character or "corpsing" doesn't seem to bother Roberts, there are still plenty of things about modern wrestling the legend would like to see done differently. In this year alone, Roberts has lamented what he's felt is a decline in strong stories within wrestling, as well as a dislike for the hard-hitting strong style of Japanese wrestling. Oddly enough, Roberts' reasons for the latter are similar to his reasons for having no issue with out-of-character moments, as he feels hard-hitting matches aren't necessary with fans in on the show.

Still, Roberts appears to be very much into pro wrestling these days, continuing to work in AEW both behind the scenes as a coach, helping wrestlers with their character development, and onscreen, where he continues to serve as the manager for AEW star Lance Archer.

To quote this article, please credit The Snake Pit and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription