Jake Roberts Gives His Opinion On Why Talent Today Aren't Getting Over
Five years after his last match and over 20 years from his last extended run in a major promotion, Jake "The Snake" Roberts is front and center in AEW. He is aligned with Lance Archer and has been a fixture on AEW programming while continuing to give legendary, cerebral promos.
Roberts was been through a lot in his life, from several health scares to battling drug and alcohol addiction. He probably never thought he'd be back with a wrestling promotion in 2020, and he was asked if he thought he'd be in his current position on The Chris Van Vliet Show.
"No. I'm surprised I've lasted this long, actually. At some point in your life, you decide you want to do things that make you happy, and I was okay with that. Sometimes, I say the wrong things because I feel that way, but I've realized that at the end of the day, I want to be able to look in the mirror and say, 'I like that guy.' And if it means that I can't work for Vince [McMahon], that's fine," said Roberts. "I'm very good with that. I don't need to be around him and he doesn't need to be around me. It's just the way it is; so, I'm very, very happy. I feel very fortunate. I've been blessed and I got a pretty good guy [Lance Archer] to run with."
Roberts appeared in AEW before Archer, and there he hinted at a new client of his coming to town. That would end up being Archer, and the two have been paired together since, with Archer advancing to the finals of the TNT Championship Tournament earlier this year. Roberts was asked how he got paired up with Archer.
"A phone call, man. [AEW] came with the idea and they asked me if I'd be interested, and I said, 'Well, sure.' They wanted me for ten weeks, and then after that ten weeks was up, they just said, 'Please stay,'" recalled Roberts.
"'Okay,' And it was just great timing because had the virus not been going on, I'd have been out doing my shows all the time and I wouldn't have had time to do them. So now it worked out to where I can do both, and I'm hopeful, real hopeful, that I'll be able to start my comedy shows again come November, December. And I got a book coming real soon, so yeah."
Roberts' promos and interviews were what set him apart from other Superstars of his era, and he feels that those aspects are something that's lacking in today's wrestling. Today's Superstars have all of the ability in the ring, but it takes more than that to truly get over, as Roberts explained.
"The talent today, they don't know how to get over. Wrestling today is all for visual. In my day, it wasn't; it was through the heart, it was emotional. I wanted to hook you up emotionally, and the thing about the difference is visual lasts a split second then the brain wants something fresh. But emotionally, if I hook you up one time, I've got you for the rest of your life because you'll always go back to that moment," stated Roberts. "So, hey man, good for me because they're [WWE] still selling s–t on me. It's kind of freaky."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Chris Van Vliet Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.