During the latest edition of the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, Jake “The Snake” Roberts commented on Vince McMahon pulling the plug on his program with Hulk Hogan, and more. You can check out some highlights and audio from the podcast below:
On why he wanted to work with Hulk Hogan: “I just wanted to work with the guy, because that’s when you got paid. In the WWF, they got levels. The champ gets the most money, OK, I dig it, I understand. Then the Intercontinental Champ. But if you’re wrestling the champ, you get the same money, so that’s a damn good thing.”
On why Vince McMahon started a program between Jake and Hogan and then pulled the plug: “Well, you sorry son of bitch wrestling fans, I don’t know what I ever did to ya’ll but ya’ll really screwed me on this one. We shot the angle to wrestle Hulk Hogan in Phoenix. I DDTed him on the Snake Pit, and I go to the back and Vince is like, ‘Stand right here, Jake, this is gonna be beautiful, in about 30 seconds they’ll start chanting ‘Hulk,’ ‘Hulk,’ ‘Hulk,’ he’ll come to his feet, he’ll rip his shirt off, and you guys are gonna be making money for the next year.’ I’m like, ‘Fuck.’ So 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 45 seconds, and then Hulk gets up without them chanting, and then they started chanting ‘DDT,’ ‘DDT,’ and Vince looked to me and he goes, ‘You’re screwed.’ He allowed me to wrestle him twice, once was Providence, RI, we set a record there, and then in Montreal at the old Forum, we wrestled there and sold it out, man. And Vince said, ‘It’s not happening again,’ because the fans were split, chanting ‘DDT.’”
On Vince having so much money invested in Hulk’s merchandise: “I understood it whenever he put it out there, but I didn’t have to like it. The bottomline is, I get it, it’s all about business, and he’s got $10 million invested in Hulk’s merchandise, he’s got 52 cents invested in mine. And he ain’t gonna get stuck with Hulk’s shit. That’s when they decided I had to be a babyface, and that way I could get the heels ready for Hulk.”
