Jake Roberts Says He Was Getting Ready To Say ‘Hell No’ To Vince McMahon’s Original Character Pitch

Jake Roberts recalls getting ready to say ‘hell no’ to Vince McMahon’s original character pitch for his WWE run.

Roberts is a WWE Hall Of Famer, and during his career with WWE, he would work under ‘The Snake’ nickname, where he would bring his own snakes to the ring as part of his gimmick. However, Roberts originally rejected the pitch until he saw the money involved.

While speaking to 12 News in a recent interview, Jake Roberts spoke about the original pitch for his character in WWE, noting that he was ready to reject the original offer.

“He (Vince McMahon) just basically told me that they had an idea, and the idea was for me to dress up in spandex, and, wear knee-high snakeskin boots and carry a snake in a bag, and I was getting ready to say, ‘hell no,’ because I’m terrified of snakes. But he wrote down some numbers on a piece of paper and slid it over to me, and I just said, hell yeah, I’m ready. You know, I threw caution to the wind and dove right in headfirst. So I did have some learning to do because I had to learn how to deal with those damn snakes, and Damian was not just one snake. I had to have a fresh one every week. So I never knew if I was going to get a poodle or a Doberman or a Rottweiler. I mean, some of them are vicious. I finally had to tone the guy down because the guy was a real mark for wrestling, and he thought he was helping me by giving me these vicious snakes. I’m like, dude, I got to get this shit around. I got to take it in my own room. I don’t want a mean snake. I don’t want to get bit. Because I was the one getting bit, and I finally got him straightened out, and we were okay after that.”

Elsewhere in another recent interview, Jake spoke about his feelings about the current WWE product. You can read more about that here.

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