Jake “The Snake” Roberts is a legend in the wrestling world. He is now taking his stories on the road with his Unspoken Word tour.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts is a true survivor. Not only was he able to go toe-to-toe with rivals like Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan inside of the squared circle, he became a champion for people struggling with addiction issues. The WWE Hall of Fame inductee has turned over a new leaf and is using his troubled past to help people find their true purpose in life. Roberts is on the road with his Unspoken Word tour and hopes to inspire families to come together for the holidays.
"It's been a blast, man." Jake Roberts laughed as he sat down with me while discussing his one-man show. He continued, "Every night keeps getting better. Memories are being woken up and are being brought back to the front. It's pretty awesome. When I first started doing this show, it was sort of a grab bag as to what was going to come up. Now as time goes on it all seems like it's falling back into place. I could go to this year, that year or whatever. It's really a good time, man. The fans love it. They get a peak into the locker room and see what kind of debauchery that went on in the back and there was certainly a lot of it. Practical jokes that weren't so practical. Some of our ribbing got pretty stiff, you know.” The man who always carried a snake to the ring with him let out a big chuckle. Roberts explained, “Nothing was considered too much. You just kept firin'. When somebody did something, you had to top it. It was always a contest. The fans are into it. They sit back and just roar. I give them an opportunity to ask questions...a little Q&A. I also talk about my struggles with addiction and alcoholism and what people can do—what they can do to help other people.” The legendary wrestler elaborated on an important aspect of his show. “That's a real big part of what I'm doing now. I'm trying to help others. Without the help of Diamond Dallas Page, I wouldn't be here today. It amazes me when you think about how many people are struggling out there and how many people are really getting help. It's really sad. There's a lot of families who are tossed to the side because they just couldn't get things straightened out and didn't understand where the problem was coming from in the first place. To be able to talk about those things ultimately is really good. Not only does it help them, but it helps me keep straight and narrow. I've been very fortunate. I've been clean and sober now going on five years. I did screw up four or five times in the beginning, but I've been going four years now without any mistakes. I'm very thankful for that," he told me.
Roberts knows what it is like to fight a battle with addiction. His issues with substance abuse have been well-documented over the years. The Snake gave me a glimpse into his past combat with drug addiction and alcoholism by explaining the constant challenges he faced. "It's a disease, man. It's not something that is fun. The older you get, the less your body can take. It's an ugly animal to fight. It doesn't fight fair, it knows the ins and outs of you. It knows the tricks to play on you, it knows the games to play with you. It knows what to bring up. It wears you out emotionally. The emotional beat down is horrifying. The people who are struggling with it need a lot of love, man. It's hard to love somebody when you are being that ugly." Despite the ugliness of the disease, the fans never left Jake Roberts. They wanted to see their hero rise through the ashes like a phoenix and not become another grim statistic of the wrestling business. The documentary, The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, gave fans a behind the scenes look at the obstacles Roberts had to overcome to get to a happy and healthy place in his life.
"It wasn't much fun, let me tell ya that. It was really hard,” Roberts sighed as he remembered his experience with the documentary. He continued, “I didn't really think I could make it. I really didn't. Without DDP's strength and perseverance I wouldn't have made it. I was ready to give up several times. That's what I would have done in the past...I would have given up and ran. That wasn't an option this time. DDP wasn't going to give up on me and he wasn't going to let me run. He just stood by me, man. Each time when something came up, he would ask me, 'How could we attack this differently? What can we do differently?' I went through two or three different counselors. That's the most important thing I think—getting someone you can actually talk to and feel comfortable with. It's hard to open up your guts and let that garbage fly out, you know? Nobody likes the taste of that. 'Oh gee, let's talk about the worst time of my life. That's the most fun I have ever had. Ha. Ha. Ha.' You know? That's a bunch of BS. Nobody wants to talk about it.” Roberts then went on to explain his game plan for overcoming the disease. He said, “You have to find the right group of people to be around. The first thing you have to do is get away from the people you know because they are usually party people and you can't do that anymore. That's the hard thing to do. You ask yourself, 'Why can they drink and I can't?' The bottom line is that you can't. If I drink one, I might as well have a few because I'm not going to stop. That's just the way it is. Going on the road and opening up with people—I don't care what time of night I finish the show because it's never too late to talk to somebody about it. If they have an issue or they know someone that has an issue, I will be glad to stick around after the show and find a nice, quiet place to talk. See if we can work something out. Maybe get the opportunity to point them in the right direction. That is where my heart is at right now." With the wrestler’s heart being full, Jake “The Snake” Roberts is on a mission to help as many people as he can.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts never backed down from an opponent no matter how big he was.
"I encourage people to come out, sit back and enjoy one hell of a ride. When it's over, if you have some issues you want to talk about, boom. Raise your hand and we will talk about them somewhere. I'm there for a very serious issue. If people are willing to get down and dirty and open up their souls with me, I am right there with them. That is the show. There is a lot to it," Roberts told me. When I asked Roberts how he formatted his Unspoken Word tour, he grinned. "It's sort of like when I was wrestling, man. A lot of guys make the mistake because they think they can do the same thing nightly and just throw it out there but that's not the way it really works, man. Not for the great ones. I consider myself one of the few who is able to go out there and get the feel of the audience and go from there. As good as prime rib is, six days a week—you get tired of prime rib and want a damn bowl of beans or a freakin' sandwich. Just something that is different. A different taste to it. I kind of go out, feel it out, go in the direction that I think they are goin' and I go from there. I don't tell the same stories every night. Especially depending on the area. If I am in Canada, I gotta throw stories about Stu Hart in there. You gotta’ talk about some of the things that happened in Stampede Wrestling. That was a pretty wild place to be back in the day. We will be talkin' about a lot of folks. The Rick Rudes. The Earthquakes. Some of this, some of that and a whole lot of nothin'. I promise everybody a good time, I can tell you that much. Trust me," Roberts laughed as he dropped his signature line on me. The professional wrestler was on top of his game. Through all of his sacrifices and hardships, Jake Roberts never lost a step when it came to capturing a person’s full attention.
"It is different, man. I traded in the booze and the drugs for a different high. Getting high by going out there and helping people is incredible. It's a better feeling now than I had when I went out there in the ring. I'm shocked when I say that but it's true,” Roberts smiled. He followed up by saying, “When you help someone and you feel their appreciation, to see how grateful they are--it's incredible, man. When a kid writes you a letter thanking you for helping him get his daddy back, that's real. That is just real. I can't begin to tell you how good that feels. I'm getting more than I ever expected to. Much more. Now being able to have relationships with my grandchildren and children, meaningful relationships that are going to last a lifetime and beyond. I'm having the best time of my life and the great thing is I will be able to do this for the next 20 or 30 years providing I can stay healthy which I am dang sure trying to do. I'm doing a pretty great job at it. I weigh less than I did in 1980, pretty damn good shape. I'm feeling kind of cocky when I walk and that's a good thing. There is a little swagger in me now.” The Snake is on top of cloud nine and has no plans of getting off of it. He has earned the right to stay on top of it after the years of enjoyment he provided millions of fans all across the globe during his time in World Wrestling Entertainment.
When I asked Roberts about what he was feeling the night he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014, he told me, "It wasn't at all what I expected. I thought it would be more about wrestling but it was more about healing between a man and his family. It was certainly a great night for me and I will never forget it. I am so grateful to the McMahons for allowing me the opportunity when it seemed like I did everything in the world to keep me out of the Hall of Fame. I made mistakes but they were big enough in their own right to forgive me for those and I can never thank them enough for that. The McMahon family put me through several rehabs. They didn't work but they got me closer to being better. Finally the thing with DDP did work because it was the right mixture of things at the time. I just encourage anybody who is struggling to never give up. That's the bottom line. That's what the disease wants. It wants you dead. If plan A doesn't work try plan B. If plan B doesn't work try plan C and just keep the hope alive. When you find the right formula it will be worth it. It might be Kool-Aid instead of iced tea."