Jake Roberts Talks WWE Hall of Fame, Daniel Bryan, Bray Wyatt – “I think they’re holding him down”

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In an interview with Ring Rust Radio, Jake Roberts gave his thoughts on Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan and more. Here are highlights:

On how much freedom he had in his promos: “Nobody ever scripted a promo for me. Never. For my induction speech, they wanted to give me help with that and they sent somebody to help me with it. I wrote some notes and I was supposed to say some things here and there and they were going to put stuff up on the tron, but when I walked through the door I wadded it up and threw it away. I’m not like that. I’m not to read I’m not giving a scripted interview because that’s not from your heart. That’s from somebody else’s mouth and mind. Nobody knows Jake like Jake. Nobody knows how to express Jake like Jake. So let Jake do it and leave him the hell alone. Nobody ever scripted anything The Snake said or any of my interviews. The only thing that happened with my interviews was that sometimes I would get the call and be told I went too far with that or we are getting calls on that one. It wasn’t that I said something with bad language or anything, but it was something that really struck people’s mind and made them think or scared them. So I thought it was pretty funny that I was getting called out for really getting the job done. I don’t like the thought that these writers are doing this, but then again I don’t like the thought that they have writers writing a wrestling show who never wrestled. There’s a lot wrong with that and the business has changed so much. This young talent is not getting the chance to actually learn their trade. They come in and in two years they are on television and then they are under the gun and you better do something to keep your job. So they’re going out there and they’re hurting themselves doing stupid stuff, high-impact stuff and dangerous things. The reason being is they don’t know what the hell they’re doing, and that’s the bottom line. They don’t know the art of wrestling. They know the physicality of it and they know how to do these fancy damn moves, but it doesn’t take a great wrestler to jump off the top of the cage. It takes an idiot; bottom line.”

On his Hall of Fame induction: “Well to tell you the truth, I can’t remember a damn thing about it. That’s the way most of my interviews are; I don’t remember them. All I’m doing is speaking from my heart. It’s not something I practiced and wrote down and read and re-read. I just go out there and let it flow. The gift I was given a long time ago, just like I said in my speech, I didn’t use all of it, but I did use some of it. Ya’ll got a little bit of it, but there’s still some left. How did it change my life? It made it easier for me to hold my head high. It gave me that stamp of approval in my mind and heart, and I needed that. I was always somebody that doubted my talent. I was very, very, very hard on myself. I always felt that I was never good enough for that ring, and I still feel that way. I guess with everything I’ve been through or just my attitude about the ring is to me that ring is my woman. I’m trying to make love to her, but I still can’t get it right, not quite. I was trying to do better for her because she deserves a whole lot better. I think as long as you have that attitude, your product is going to be pretty damn good. When you think you know it all, it’s time to take your tights off, take your boots of, and put them in a pile and burn the damn things because you don’t know what you’re doing.”

On Bray Wyatt: “Bray Wyatt; he definitely gets it done. I think they’re holding him down. I think he could do a lot more, and I would like to see them turn him loose, but I don’t think they’re going to. He would be something hard for WWE to ram something down his chute because his character is so strong. So they keep him beaten down and I think it’s a shame because he is very unique. He will never be a top heel because people are infatuated by him. Just like the way they were with me. Whenever I wrestled Hogan they cheered me, with Savage it was split. People are funny man. When you’re doing your job really well, and you’re different and unique and you have this edge, that’s very special. People dig that, they respect that and they want to be with that. If they are scared of your character like they were of me and Bray, they want to be on the winning team, so they will want to cheer for you regardless.”

On Daniel Bryan’s retirement: “As far as Bryan goes, that’s a huge loss and I hate to hear that. WWE needs him desperately. I’m very proud of him that he is smart enough to get out after being injured. Most of us weren’t. As far as concussions for myself, I went and did all the tests because I am having issues. We did all the tests and stuff and it did not come out good. It come out there’s some spots on my brain that don’t look good and shouldn’t be there. It came down to how many concussions do I think I had, and I thought I had maybe two or three year. It’s a very low number when really I think it was more like eight or ten. So let’s say two or three, but I wrestled for 40 years, that’s 120 now. So I am going to have problems, and I’m already having problems. When you do, it is a job. I think you’re smart enough to get out of the way and to get out. If you’re doing it because you’re truly in love with it like I was and you have the passion for it like I do, that moment in the ring is the greatest time of day, and I live for that moment. I live to perform and that’s the people that really do get hurt. There are still some guys that are going out there hurt and still perform, and then there’s guys that have a hangnail problem and won’t go out there for three weeks. WWE has seen that too, so there you go.”

Jonathan Widro is the owner and founder of Inside Pulse. Over a decade ago he burst onto the scene with a pro-WCW reporting style that earned him the nickname WCWidro. Check him out on Twitter for mostly inane non sequiturs