WWE Hall Of Famer Jake Roberts has recalled how he walked out on WWE in 1992 after believing that he had been lied to one too many times by Vince McMahon.
Roberts built a wrestling career for himself like no other, making his WWF debut in 1986, making his WrestleMania debut just a month later, wrapping his prized snake Damien around his opponent’s head.
Roberts honed his interview skills in his own segment called ‘The Snake Pit’ where he went toe to toe on the microphone with some of wrestling’s biggest ever icons. A feud with the Honky Tonk Man saw Roberts become a hero for the first time in his run with the company. The feud was not without cost however as a guitar shot from Honky Tonk did immeasurable damage to Roberts’ neck.
Jake Roberts aligned for a spell with The Undertaker as The Deadman engaged in a feud with Ultimate Warrior before Jake ‘The Snake’ moved on to tormenting Randy Savage, going as far as having his prized cobra bite Savage on the arm in a memorable segment.
When Roberts became enraged after a loss to Savage he was stopped from attacking Savage’s wife Miss Elizabeth with a steel chair by his ally The Undertaker. This led to a WrestleMania VIII match which saw Jake Roberts become the second victim of The Undertaker’s WrestleMania Streak and was also Roberts’ last match in the company until his comeback in 1996.
Now ‘Jake The Snake’ has discussed what caused him to leave the company in 1992 on his DDP Snake Pitpodcast with Diamond Dallas Page. According to Roberts, he had been promised Pat Patterson’s role in the company but that never came to pass:
“Vince (McMahon) had made a promise to me that when the day came for Pat Patterson to move on, that I would have that position. I was looking forward to it.”
“There had been some things happening with Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin where some things got disclosed that got pretty ugly, and supposedly they were let go, so I was waiting for my spot. I talked to Vince about it and he said, ‘Well, out of respect for Pat, we’re not going to put anybody in that position.’ What? That’s total bullsh*t.”
“Bottom line was Pat was never gone. He was just out of the public eye. I love Pat Patterson, don’t get me wrong. I love the man to death. He was always a man to me and treated me unbelievably well. I have all the respect in the world for Pat and his legacy, but it really upset me.”
Jake Roberts then explained how he agreed to a contract with WCW before telling Vince McMahon he was finishing up for WWE. However, a non-compete clause and a change of management in WCW caused Roberts time there to be only for a matter of months:
“At the time, they had somebody running WCW and he was making the contracts. We sat down and came up with a contract that had everything that I had ever thought about. It was unbelievable what they were offering me. I was over the top excited.”
“I couldn’t wait, so I gave my notice at WrestleMania. I told Vince, ‘This is it. I’m done. You lied to me one too many times and tonight’s the night.’ He said, ‘Fine, but there will be a 90 day no-compete.’”
“Well, in that 90 day period, about the 85th day, Bill Watts is hired and the other guy is gone. When I came down to write my contract with WCW, Watts looked at it, laughed at me, and tore it up in my face because he knew I wasn’t going to go back to the other guys. I just left them.”