Jake "The Snake" Roberts Says WWE Is Treating "Talent Like Sh-T" With How They Book Brock Lesnar

Jake "The Snake" Roberts' battle with addiction has long been documented. Roberts gives praise to Diamond Dallas Page and his yoga program for helping turn his life around.

Roberts did so again in an interview with the FlipDaScript podcast, saying DDP was the only person that wanted to spend time with him to help him. He said Vince McMahon tried to send him to rehab but it didn't work out well.

"Vince McMahon sent me to a couple of damn rehabs, that's a joke," Roberts said. "I mean it's not a joke to him when he paid for it I'm sure, about 40 Gs a pop, and he sent me several times, but that s–t didn't take man. It didn't take.

"He sent me to hardcore rehabs man," he said. "The first one he sent me to man, this was back in 1987, '88 something like that man, and I'm going through the paces man. I learned the ropes pretty quick, what to say, what not to say, what to do, what not to do. But every damn day man, I'd be in some class or something, they run you in classes each day. You ain't sitting around, they have you doing things.

"What they're trying to do is reprogram you, trying to bring you back to reality where you have to do certain things at a certain time, get you in a different groove," he said. "Well I kept getting pulled out of my classes man, and had to go see a psychotherapist. He had me in there doing all sorts of goofy ass s–t. Playing with dolls, beating up dolls. 'What's wrong with you man wanting me to beat up a goddamn doll. Well show your anger! Do you really want to see my f–king anger? I'm going to show you some goddamn anger man.'

"I come to find out McMahon was having me analyzed man, every goddamn day I was there," he said. "Talk about rules brother. I thought a doctor-patient thing was supposed to be sacred, but evidently it wasn't, because this man was reporting back to McMahon. He wanted to see how I ticked man, so he can deal with me and play me. He learned a lot about me man."

Roberts said he has problems with the way McMahon is treating current talent as well. He said having Brock Lesnar as champion going into Wrestlemania is disrespectful to the rest of the roster.

"The thing about Brock is man, he's not an everyday wrestler," Roberts said. "He's a once a year guy, or three times a year guy. And to me, you are really treating your talent like s–t to, every year come Wrestlemania time after these guys have busted their asses for 365 days, when it comes time for the big one, they bring (Lesnar) in and they have to sit down.

"What's wrong with that," he said. "Well, from their viewpoint they are getting screwed, man. It's a shame the WWE feels like they have to have Brock on the card to fill up a building."

Roberts admits the WWE does need Lesnar on the card to sell out buildings, and said the sad reality is there is less talent now than in years past.

"You don't have the same talent today that you had 20 years ago," Roberts said. "See when Vince McMahon took over the world of wrestling, he went to every territory, they were called, and he took the top guys out of every place and put them in a big pot. Then from 1984, '85 when it started, he had everybody who ever had a name under him, and then he used them up.

"They got one shot at Hogan, one time around and then they were gone, or they went somewhere else on the card," he said. "You didn't wrestle Hulk Hogan twice on two pay-per-views back-to-back. Not back then, no sir. He beat you the first time. That's what made Hogan a star, is the fact McMahon fed him all the great talent there was. That's why you call him a champion, because he beat everybody, including Andre.

"You could put a midget out there, and if he won every goddamn match he wrestled, pretty soon you're gonna start calling that motherf–ker a champ," he said. "Plain and simple man, people eat what they are fed. In other words, if I dress somebody up with strings on their arms and stuff and tell them to go out there and shake a rope, you're gonna win every match. Pretty soon they're gonna put the belt on you, and guess what everybody says? 'He's the f–king best man!'"

You can watch the interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit FlipDaScript with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.