Jake Roberts Recalls First Meeting Vince McMahon
In the inaugural episode of the DDT Snake Pit podcast, AEW manager Jake Roberts talked about his first meeting with former boss, WWE owner, and chairman Vince McMahon. Jake Roberts, a WWE Hall of Famer, described McMahon as one of the greatest manipulators of all time, and also how McMahon convinced him to use the snake.
"So I flew up there and walk in the room and I sit down, and he lets you sit there and stew," Roberts revealed. "He knows how to play, he's the greatest manipulator of all. Oh my God, but he comes in, he goes, 'Jake, we've got this idea. We're going to dress you in purple and lime green spandex tights'. And I'm like, 'wait a minute man, I've got skinny legs, I ain't gonna bullsh-t you, you know and spandex isn't something I do'. Of course, I didn't say this out loud, I ain't stupid, I'm gonna hear the whole thing out, but in my mind, I'm going, 'that ain't happening'. 'And we're going to put you with lace-up, snakeskin boots up to your knees'. I'm like 'lace-ups?', And I'm thinking to myself, cause I actually figured out this one time, that's the reason I went to pull ons. In a career, 20 years, you would spend about four and a half months of your life lacing up boots.
"Now to me, that's pretty d-mn stupid. So I went to pull ons. Simple. Why spend 25 minutes a day putting on the gear that you'll wear every day? Again, thinking to myself, 'let him finish his story.' And just about the time I'm about to tell him, 'this is stupid, I ain't doing that sh-t, he starts to write on a piece of paper, 'and we want you to carry a 15-foot python'. And before I could scream and say no, he handed the paper over to me, and I looked down and then I went one, two, three, four, five, six zeros. Wait, that means, holy sh-t'. I went, 'are you serious?' And he went, 'Yeah'. 'You know the lace-up boots, they'll probably save my ankles. I started justifying it, see, and if you can wear like green and purple, you got to be one tough son of a b-tch, cause people gonna make fun of you, so I like that idea too. As far as that snake goes, man, I ain't got no problem with snakes, I'm ready."
Jake Roberts also described the first time he ever handled the snake. He would later learn from a snake expert that he had been picking up the snake incorrectly for years.
"The first night picking a snake up was the first time I've actually picked a snake up," Roberts said. "And about two years, three years into, the snake guy goes, 'Jake, do you know what part of the body a snake attacks first?' 'No, what?' He goes, 'your eyes.' 'My eyes? Why?' He goes, 'the rapid eye movement startles them.' And I've been holding a snake up here? Are you serious?"
To quote this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription