Jake Roberts To Wrestlers Performing During Coronavirus Pandemic: "Don't You Want To Live Longer?"

WrestleMania 36 was the first pay-per-view event to be held without an audience which is a strange feeling for any performer. Jake "The Snake" Roberts has been a part of many WrestleManias and he was asked if he caught WrestleMania 36 when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.

"No, I sure didn't. It's hard for me to watch because I miss it so much and I don't like all of the things that people are doing now. Now I'm in AEW and I can voice my opinion and try to help guys go about it in a better way," said Roberts. "With all of the guys flying the way they are, it's short-term brother. I'm talking not only from watching, but don't you wanna live longer [laughs]?"

He added that with the coronavirus pandemic, the wrestling business should go on hold for right now. Roberts said that if turn on the TV and see live wrestling, it means you know people aren't buckling down.

"Just go home and stay there until this sh*t is gone. It sounds to me like AEW is doing that too. At the last taping they taped a lot of matches so you can do several weeks of shows. So, guys can go home and take care of business. Keep everybody safe," Roberts said before adding he doesn't mind getting in trouble for what he says.

"I'm at the age now that I am not going to let someone bully me into something I don't want to do. I'm not gonna sit here and tell people, 'Yeah, you can still get away with that' because that's horsesh*t. Every time somebody goes out and doesn't do it, it just prolongs this thing we're going through.

"I'm stuck in a damn hotel. I'm on the 16th floor of the Marriott in Atlanta and the restaurant is shut down. So, I'm having food brought to me."

Some found it peculiar that AEW had Roberts and Tully Blanchard sitting around the ring on Dynamite even though both are well into their 60s. Roberts discussed being ringside and the measures that AEW is doing to protect their talent.

"It was touch and go. They didn't feel right about it and I will say that they really watched out for the guys. They had doctors to check people that were there. They talked to us about it and everything. They informed the guys and they really seem to care about what's going on with you," Roberts said before noting that's a departure from promoters in the past and nothing like how Bill Watts treated him.

Roberts has a friend named Joe Case who has cancer and has an Indiegogo campaign set up to help him battle it. Joe was also a mechanic and Roberts talked about him building a ring one time.

"He built a ring one time for me and that sumb*tch was prime," said Roberts. "The funny thing was, it got stolen. Somebody stole the trailer and ring. About a year-and-a-half later, Joe gets a call and it's the WWE. They said they bought this ring and asked who made this ring. Joe said, 'Well I did.' They said they wanted 20 of them and asked if he could build them.

"He said, 'Well I don't know. I built that for Jake and some sumb*tch stole it. But if Jake tells me to do it, I'll do it. But until then, y'all are just gonna have to do without' and hung up on them. They called back and offered him $100,000 and he said, 'Don't y'all understand? When a man says no, he means no and it ain't about the money.' He hung up on them again and never did it. He's just that kind of guy and if the folks out there could help him, it would be wonderful."

Jake Roberts is encouraging fans to donate to his friend Joe Case's IndieGoGo campaign. Case is a lifelong friend of Jake's and is currently battling cancer. For more information on how to donate, and what rewards Jake is offering, please click HERE.

Jake's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.