WWE Hall Of Famer Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts Discusses Weird Encounters With Randy Savage, Ronnie Garvin, & Andre The Giant

Jake “The Snake” Roberts was the featured guest on the most recent episode of the In the Room Podcast on VOC Nation. The WWE Hall of Famer was interviewed by Pro Wrestling Illustrated contributor Brady Hicks as well as Kathie Fitzpatrick and former WCW wrestler The Stro. Stro noted that he worked closely with Roberts early in his career, noting that Jake gave him important guidance heading into WCW and that they performed as a tag team at one time.

Roberts updated In the Room listeners on his recovery, sharing enthusiasm for his present good fortune. He was particularly grateful for the acclaim garnered by his 2015 biopic The Resurrection of Jake The Snake. As he has done time and again over the course of recent years, Jake credited Diamond Dallas Page and his DDP Yoga regimen as key factors in his sobriety.

“I’ve got the world by the tail. And life is so good for me,” Roberts beamed. “Even beyond the WWE years … I’ve got the movie going on, the movie is going strong. It’s helped some people, [the comedy thing I’m doing, which is me sitting down, having a blast telling old road stories. Everybody loves it. That’s awesome, too because the fans mean so much to me now that I’m sober and cleaned up.”

Jake also mentioned some ongoing work with a promotion in Las Vegas, Nevada, and noted that he is presently working on a book. He also reminded fans that he is doing voiceover work for the WWE Network animated show Camp WWE. Roberts also noted that he recently became an ordained minister, a development that yielded mainstream media coverage by Rolling Stone Magazine earlier in the week. The former wrestler had made the announcement via his official Twitter page.

Recently became an ordained minister!! That’s right come one come all this is real. Getting married. Well I’m ready to do legal vows for all

— JakeSnakeDDT (@JakeSnakeDDT) March 21, 2016

Prompted by Brady Hicks, Jake waded into his storied feud with the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage in their glory days at WWE. As he has previously suggested in other interviews, Roberts suggested that Savage was somewhat paranoid and would not allow himself to be bitten by a cobra for an infamous angle with his snake-handling rival until he witnessed Jake being bitten by the reptile first. Jake was somewhat less than enthusiastic about the whole thing in light of the ironic twist that he could not stand working with snakes in the first place.

“I was terrified of [snakes], man,” Jake told Hicks and company. “It just goes to show me how far I’ll go if you pay me enough.”

Roberts said he felt fortunate to work with some of the most talented people in the history of wrestling, sharing an offbeat bit of trivia about fellow wrestler “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin.

“I will always hold Ronnie Garvin in the highest [regard], strictly because he was the only guy I ever knew who, before he made his comeback, his nipples had to get hard,” Jake said. “I respected that. That’s true, by the way. I’d be beatin’ the hell out of him and I’d look down at the mat and he’d be laying there in a pool of blood or whatever and all of the sudden I’d see his nipples start to tweak up. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, here he comes!’ and he’d get up and just whale the s**t out of me.”

Asked about his work with Andre the Giant, Jake glossed over their in-ring work, opting to disclose an off-color recollection from the locker room.

“[Andre] woke me up to some exciting things,” Jake said. “He held me down once and farted on me for about 30 seconds, which was incredible, I might add.”

Roberts even touched on Hulk Hogan’s recent windfall victory over online tabloid Gawker, poking fun at the Hulkster’s public embarrassment over a leaked sex tape.

“Can you believe that crap?” Jake asked rhetorically. “Oh my God, that’s a video I didn’t miss. Thank you.”

Jake Roberts is still doing appearances on the independent circuit and he concluded the interview by plugging a forthcoming appearance in Texas. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014, on the eve of WrestleMania 30.

[Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images]