The Resurrection of Jake The Snake

- I think that's what happens

to most people in this world.

They work their whole lives and

then they retire.

All the retirees don't last long.

They have no purpose in life anymore.

They have no...

"I'm needed" feeling.

Man, I was gettin' tired.

I was tired of people comin' to me goin',

"Didn't you used to be Jake the Snake when I was...

"What the fuck happened to you?"

Stop. Stop.

Cut it off.

(crowd chanting "Jake the Snake")

- From Stone Mountain, Georgia!

Jake "The Snake" Roberts!

Real genius.

This guy is one of the greatest.

Everything that I've always heard, I now understand.

- He had everything that you needed to be

a great professional wrestler,

and one of the great minds in the history of the business.

- In professional wrestling, the two athletes in the ring,

they're working together.

And I loved working with Jake, because it was so easy.

- Jake, to me, is one of the greatest talents

I've ever seen.

In the ring, he sure as hell could tell

probably the best story.

- I'd say the DDT and his promo work,

and his ring psychology

would be the three things that will always stand out

when people talk about Jake Roberts.

- He grew up on wrestling, he understands wrestling

and understands the psychology

in wrestling in front of a crowd.

- You know, if you're really good at what you do,

then the more believable you could make that character,

and the more you could draw them in

to where they're, you know,

sittin' on the edge of their seat.

And Jake had that ability.

- Jake Roberts is the guy who made me wanna watch

professional wrestling because you didn't know with Jake.

You didn't know what was real and what was fake.

You just didn't know.

- You know, when the cobra bit Macho's arm.

- And the snake has glommed on the arm!

And Randy Savage is helpless!

- The Snake was so unusual and so feared

that it became part of his persona.

Jake's the kinda guy

who has that creative mind

that came through very naturally.

- A long time ago I learned one thing:

that if a man has enough power,

he can speak softly and everyone will listen.

- He'd whisper and man, there was somethin' different

about a guy who didn't yell at you

like everybody else did.

People get drawn into it

and they're paying attention more than they would

than if you're yelling and screaming,

yelling and screaming.

- Even a fool knows that a man only has five senses.

A Snake, he has six.

- And he was one of the first people whose promos I saw

and he scared me.

You know, he creeped me out.

You're a sick man, Roberts.

Oh, that's true, I am.

At least you know that.

He casts a spell on you.

It's almost like you get caught in his web.

There are very few guys

that actually made me fear.

I will hook that DDT.

And I'll crack your skull.

- Jake developed that move, came up with it,

gave it the name.

- If you saw him hook that front face lock,

it was like, OK, it's o--

Nobody kicks out of it.

- And that's the grace of any great finishing maneuver.

You can strike suddenly and quickly

and you just don't even bother.

- When the time comes, I will hook the head

and I will drive him through the mat.

I will put the final nail in your own coffin!

- Especially the deal with Steamboat.

I just remember that DDT on the floor

and hearing the smack.

And just thinking, like,

"Oh, Steamboat might be dead."

Oh, my goodness!

I like it.

Steamboat, knocked unconscious!

He has to be totally out of it!

- So there was always an era of mystery with Jake.

- Well let me tell you something.

It's more shameful to deny fear

than it is to run from danger.

When it comes time for me to

name a few of my favorite Pro Wrestlers,

Jake is always on my list.

- If you're a student of wrestling,

and you don't watch Jake Roberts' matches

and his interviews,

then you're missin' out on one of the best ever.

- I think he was an influence on this entire generation.

You gotta be able to speak.

He's got it.

You gotta be able to work, he's got it.

He had intensity.

He had everything that you needed

to be one of the great minds in the history of the business,

and was a huge influence on my work.

- I don't care how much bigger their opponent is,

whoever their opponent is,

is in danger.

And that's such an amazing talent to have.

As a performer, have that audience

doubting.

And welcome

to Wrestlemania Three!

- As we have established, all of us,

a brand new, indoor attendance record

of 93,173!

Give yourself a big hand.

I remember laying on our floor

in Gainesville, in Texas

and watching wrestling on Sunday morning with our uncle.

And that's kinda how we learned about who our father is.

That was really the only time we had.

- My brothers are five years younger than me

and they're twins.

And nobody asked me to,

but I felt like it was my job as an older sister,

so I protected them.

Jake, kind of had two careers.

One was this great piece of talent,

who could communicate.

And then he had that other career

that most people don't want to talk to,

but he went through hell.

- In the last three or four years,

I didn't think I was gonna have a dad around.

It's scary to think, you know,

what Jake coulda done

had he been totally straight his whole career.

- He's one of the best, but he's got a lotta issues

that stop him from doing more.

- When the entire world knows you as one character

for such a long time,

I think it's easy to become that character.

- The crowd doesn't know who you really are

and then you leave that arena

and you have to go back to a hotel

and it's like you're all wired up

and now we gotta shut it off.

- You just wrestled in front of 50,000 people, so, phew!

Us as addicts, we can...

Our minds tend to

wander a little bit looking for something to do,

which cannot, you know, it's not a good thing.

- Back in the day, when they really traveled like they did,

nonstop, and the way that Jake was livin',

obviously hard and fast,

combined with that wrestling career.

You know, I know that guy feels like...

garbage.

- Your wife's not there, your kids aren't there,

and so how do you fill this void?

And...

- The thumbs start to twiddle and--

All's you see is the negative

and the dark, deep, places of death.

- Every time I tried to talk to him about it,

you know, he'd just kinda, "Ah, I know what I'm doin'.

"I know what I'm doin'."

And I'd say, "Jake, you don't know what you're doin'.

"It's got you."

- Suddenly, the reputation, the desire of this great pro

is diminished down to nothing.

- And you see these people droppin' like flies

just dyin' and dyin' and you're like,

"God, please don't take Jake from this earth," you know?

"Not another one."

- Hell, I wanna see Jake live to be an old man.

In our business, sometimes that doesn't always happen.

You get a lot of guys meeting their demise

and leaving this world way too soon.

- We told the promoter, "Listen, dude.

"Do not put him out there.

"He is in no shape to perform tonight."

Excuse me.

Shut the hell up.

- There were 22 of those airplane vodka bottles.

22 of 'em around where he was sitting,