Jake "The Snake" Roberts Says Shawn Michaels And Bret Hart Were "The Worst World Champions"
Jake "The Snake" Roberts is considered by most wrestling fans to be one of the greatest wrestlers to never win WWE's world championship. While fans might be upset the beloved wrestler never held the championship, Roberts doesn't feel the same.
Roberts spoke with the FlipDaScript podcast where he said his character never needed the championship belt to be a star, so the WWE never put the belt on him. He said other wrestlers aren't so lucky.
"You know sometimes when you bring someone into a place, and you're going to make them a star, you move them up the ladder," Roberts said. "Then finally, at some point, you put that title on them which makes them a star. They can make chicken soup out of chicken s—. That's what happens a lot of times. Nobody ever said The Ultimate Warrior could wrestler, good thing because they would be lying their a– off."
Roberts said he never wanted the belt anyway because he didn't want to deal with all of the external responsibilities that come with being the top champion and reiterates he didn't need the belt. Roberts mentioned two wrestlers he thought needed the belt to be seen as stars.
"Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart," Roberts said. "Those chumps needed titles."
Roberts elaborated saying no one would pay attention to them when they were in their respective tag teams. He said Michaels and Hart were the worst world champions.
"You check the books man, check the books," Roberts said. "Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were the worst champions of all. They did not put money in the bank."
Roberts would go on to say "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was the best world champion and says to be a good world champion you have to have the mythical "it" factor. Roberts said that Hulk Hogan had "it" too. He admitted Michaels had the "it" factor Hart didn't have, but that both were too small in stature to be believable stars.
"Could you see Shawn Michaels facing Andre [the Giant]?" Roberts asked. "Thank you very much. My case is closed."
Roberts noted that a great performer has to have charisma and sell tickets.
Roberts pulled no punches with Hart and Michaels, calling the Montreal Screwjob a "joke" and elaborated on what led to one of wrestling's most iconic moments.
"You know what happened there, you've got two little b—–s, fighting over a girl, fighting over Sunny, and both of them sticking it to her, and they both hated each other for that," Roberts said. "They fought over the pu–y man, and she was giving it away to everybody, so whatever man!"
He confirmed Hart and Michaels were fighting over Tammy "Sunny" Sytch and that feud made it nearly impossible to get the two to work together.
"I used to be writing Vince (McMahon)'s TV for him, and this was during that era," Roberts said. "He would say 'I've got to talk to these guys at 10:30.' He would get on the phone and talk to both of those fools for two or three hours, trying to con them into wrestling each other.
"Because of the pu–y, neither one of them wanted to lose to the other one, because they felt like the other one was going to get the pu–y."
Roberts did levy some praise to both wrestlers, saying Michaels was a good showman and Hart was a good "mechanic" in the ring. He said Hart didn't work as a champion because he was boring.
"To me, Bret Hart would have never been champion. He belongs on the fifth or sixth match in a tag situation," Roberts said. "He's a great mechanic in the ring. There's a million mechanics out there that ain't got no damn nuts to turn. Why do you think he was in a tag team situation all those years? Because Bret Hart did not have any flash. He didn't have no flash, no bang.
"Shawn Michaels would give you all the flash and bang. Bret would work his a– off, make no doubt about that, and he was a great wrestler, but he wasn't 6'5" either. He wasn't 6'3". He was barely 6-foot.
"What's special about that? Nothing."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit FlipDaScript with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.