Jake Roberts Reveals The Worst Thing He Has Seen Ricky Steamboat Do
If you are to believe Jake Roberts, WWE Hall of Famer Ricky Steamboat is among the nicest, if not the nicest, men Roberts has ever come across in his wrestling career.
On the latest episode of the DDP Snake Pit podcast, where he and co-host Diamond Dallas Page paid tribute to Steamboat, Roberts talked about what a genuine gentleman the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion was, sharing a story of "the worst thing" Steamboat ever did.
"He is probably the nicest guy in wrestling I've ever met," Roberts said. "A genuine gentleman. I had the ultimate respect for him as a man, as a wrestler, and as a human being. I can't think of one bad thing I've ever seen him do. Can you imagine? I think the worst thing I've ever seen him do, involving me, we had picked up this wrestler, a guy who never quite made it.
"He had been partying all night. We picked him up at the hotel in Charlotte and we had to go to Columbia, South Carolina for a show, which is like 120 miles. And this guy looks like hell. He'd been up all night, doing all the crazy stuff. And he's in the backseat and he's falling asleep. I'm like 'dude, you need a little pick me up, don't you?' And he's like 'I can use that.'
"Well Steamboat, in the meantime, has got a magazine and he's pouring out Sweet & Low on it. And we're like 'okay dude, we've got a little bit. You can have the rest of it.' And when we handed it to him, he went 'oh I love you guys. Oh my god, you guys are the best.' And he did it and then he goes 'ah! Hey, now I'm ready man. Woo! Woo! Woo! Let's go, guys, I'm ready. Thank you guys, you saved me. Now I'm ready for the match tonight.'
"The mind will trick you. And Steamboat killed it because the guy got about ten miles down the road and was like 'man, I wish we could get some more of that.' Steamboat said 'no problem.' And he drove through a McDonalds and he asked for two Sweet & Low. And we poured them out and the guy went 'oh man. I knew something was messed up with that stuff!' He's trying to pick boogers out of his nose."
Jake Roberts also talked about what made Steamboat, a career-long good guy, such a fan favorite. He also told stories about teaming with Steamboat, who he praised for his selling before tagging in Roberts to set up an explosive comeback.
"His total look and the way he postured himself and his kindness," Roberts said. "It's who he was. You watch him going to the ring, you don't think he's a bad guy. Even when he was doing the dragon stuff, you loved the guy. When he spit the fire? I tag-teamed with him, okay, which was so easy. It was so easy because he was constantly giving me the spot that made me a star.
"He would go out there and sell and give me the comeback. Of course, there's a little bit of a rib on that, because if you sell properly and tag, you've got to make that monstrous comeback, which you blow up in. That's hard work. Steamboat would just go out there and sell and raise his hand to tag me. And he'd have people in the front row crying. 'Come on Jake! Do something! He's hurt!'
"They're cussing me out because Steamboat can't get to me. 'Just go in the ring and help him!' He'd intentionally get me drawn away from my corner, and he'd dive across the ring for the tag and I'm not there. And by the time I got back to the corner, the heels have gotten him again and pulled him back out to the middle of the ring. So he had his fun too. But we had some fun matches. I was very fortunate to tag with him and Barry Windham and Jay Youngblood."
To quote this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit w/ DDP and Jake Roberts and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription