Jake Roberts Opens Up About Broken Promise From Vince McMahon

On the latest episode of the DDP Snake Pit, AEW manager and WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts recalled a time he was lied to by WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon. According to Jake Roberts, McMahon had promised him the role that Pat Patterson had held for years backstage when it was time for Patterson to move on. After Patterson left WWE, however, McMahon rescinded on his word, upsetting Roberts.

"Vince had made a promise to me that when the day came for Pat Patterson to move on, that I would have that position," Roberts said. "And I was looking forward to it. I've always loved creating new characters and writing, coming up with an idea for an angle, so to speak. It was so easy for me, I never had to think about it long, 10-15 minutes, and I could take you in a whole new direction. Things fell into place for me. A lot of guys have to sit down for hours or days or weeks and still can't get it, but for some reason, God gave me that gift. And I was looking forward to that.

"There had been some things happening with Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin where some things got disclosed that were pretty ugly, and supposedly they were let go. So I was waiting for my spot and I talked to Vince about it, and he said, 'well, out of respect for Pat, we're not going to put anybody in that position.' What? That's total bullsh-t. You know, bottom line, Pat was never gone, he was just out of the public eye. I love Pat Patterson, don't get me wrong, I love him to death. He was always a man to me and treated me unbelievably well."

That broken promise from Vince McMahon was the last straw for Jake Roberts, who ended up negotiating what he called a dream contract to leave WWE for WCW. Upon going to WCW, however, Roberts says that the new contract was ripped up by Bill Watts, who had replaced Kip Allen Fry, the man who offered Roberts his initial contract as head of WCW.

"We sat down and came up with a contract and it was everything I ever thought about, you know?" Roberts said. "It was unbelievable what they were offering me and I was over the top excited and couldn't wait. And so, I gave my notice at WrestleMania. I told Vince, I said 'you know what? This is it, I'm done. You lied to me one too many times. Tonight's the night.' 'Fine. But there will be a 90-day no-compete.' 'Good, I'll use a vacation.'

"Well, in that 90 day period, on about the 85th day, Bill Watts is hired and the other guy, Kip Frey, is gone. So when I come down to write my contract with WCW, Watts looked at it, and laughed at me, and tore it up in my face. Because he knew that I wasn't going to go back over to the other guys, I just left them, so what am I going to do? He really broke it off of my rear end good man. Typical Bill Watts."

To quote this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription