One of the pitfalls of being a famous wrestler and celebrity is that there’s always the possibility of attracting the wrong type of fan. In Jake Roberts’ case that almost led to him being killed after a career criminal stole his identity.
Roberts recalled the surreal, yet terrifying series of events which has some very serious consequences on a recent episode of his podcast, The Snake Pit. Roberts revealed that he’s had “plenty” of stalkers down the years but one was much worse than the others.
Jake Roberts Recalls His Life Being Threatened
The WWE Hall of Famer explained that there was once a man who stole his identity and travelled across the country impersonating him.
“The weirdest and worst… There was a guy that looked something like me and he was following me around the country. And he must have had an incredible booking agent or whatever because this guy was doing personal appearances as well,”
Things went up a number of levels when Roberts got a call from Vince McMahon asking if he been involved in a relationship which saw him commit a serious crime. It transpired that the man impersonating Roberts had drugged and robbed his wife before leaving her. The story took a potentially life-threatening twist for the legend when it was revealed that the woman was connected to the mafia. This led to the crime organisation putting out a hit on Roberts, despite him having nothing to do with the incident.
“She was connected to the mafia,” he recalled. “They called WWF telling me that I was a marked man. They were going to f**king kill me.”
Roberts explained that the man was eventually caught after he attempted to sexually assault a masseuse. After the attack he went to a local bar and run up a bar top of over $300 before being pulled over by police for driving under the influence. Obviously the man couldn’t provide paperwork confirming that he was Jake Roberts and ultimately landed in prison.
H/t to Wrestling Inc