WWE Hall Of Famer Jake Roberts On How Childhood Trauma Helped Shape His Character

Jake "The Snake" Roberts has long been revered for the way he slips into character, capable of becoming a sadistic villain at the drop of a dime and in a way that very few have been able to replicate. Roberts explained why he thought that was during the latest "Dark Side of the Ring: Unheard," airing previously unheard excerpts of interviews for "Dark Side of the Ring."

"I wish I could tell you it was a process. For me, it never was. Somehow in my head, I flip a light switch and I'm on. I don't have to think about it ... I used to think that everybody thought like I did," he shared.  

Roberts' familial trauma from his childhood was extensively documented during "Dark Side of the Ring: In the Shadow of Grizzly Smith" as part of the third season of the docu-series. The WWE Hall of Famer had opened up on the sexual abuse he suffered from his father Grizzly Smith's second wife, as well as the physical and emotional torment his father put him, his siblings, and his mother. He opined that his upbringing had conditioned him to slip into character so easily. 

"I was a kid that went through a lot of bad stuff growing up. Being sexually abused and stuff and being tossed from family to family. A kid that goes through that learns to lie, learns to read people, learns to say the right thing at the right time because it's survival. And I think that helped me become what I was and helped me make it believable because I spent my whole life doing it."