Jake The Snake Roberts Pays Tribute To 'Trailblazer' & WWE Hall Of Famer Terry Funk

On "The Snake Pit," Jake Roberts was overcome with emotion while recalling the life and legacy of his departed friend, the late Terry Funk. Roberts explained why, unlike a lot of modern wrestlers who draw parallels with their peers of yesteryears, Funk was truly a "1 of 1" and incomparable to any performer who came after him.

"Probably one of the greatest performers ever," Roberts said of Funk. "Terry was just one of a kind, man. He always gave a 1000 percent, and always went above and beyond what was expected of him. He was a trailblazer. He did things nobody else even thought about doing. It was my pleasure to have spent some time with him ... and just a hell of a guy." Roberts admitted that he was fortunate enough to have spent time with Funk both in and out of the ring, which allowed him to pick the brain of his older peer. While Roberts didn't delve into those conversations, he implied that Funk — often praised for his innovative mind for the business — predicted a lot of the changes that pro wrestling underwent in the last three decades. 

"I just feel so blessed to have been around him at times ... some of the things he said to me were just so in tune with what was really going on," Roberts recalled. "Sometimes, some of the things he said to me were just hard to conceive. [They] were just hard to bring up and make sense out of, but once you did, you'd be like, 'Holy s–t, he's right.'" While Roberts never wrestled "The Funker" in a singles match at any point in his career, he did perform at ECW's "50 Years Of Funk" tribute show in September 1997. The event was meant to commemorate the retirement of Funk, but in typical Funk fashion, he would return to the ring 11 days later.