A recent special episode of “The Snake Pit” podcast featured Magnum TA as a guest host instead of WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts.
Magnum TA discussed a wide range of topics including his first meeting with Roberts, as well as his appearance on Dark Side of the Ring, where he delved into his initial hesitation to participate in the series, the nature of the series, as well as his thoughts on the episode dedicated to his story.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
When reminiscing about his first encounter with Jake Roberts, Magnum TA shared: “We both ended up in Florida. And the funniest thing happened to him and I both was, we saw each other — so back then when we did television, there was a very small facility there in Tampa. And I saw him talking on a monitor live as I was walking by. And it was just a like, you know, neck up shot. And I double took, I thought I was out there, you know. I thought, I mean I had glanced, and you know, I had short hair, darker hair, and a mustache. And I said, ‘My gosh, the likeness is uncanny from the headshot.’ And so, we both had got a couple chuckles outta that over the years. I did get to work with Jake a few times back then. He was tagged up with Angela Mosca and somebody else, I think part of Kevin Sullivan’s Band of Indians. And so, I got to spend a little time in the ring with him, but certainly would’ve loved to have later on when I got to a main event status and had some more experience. It would’ve been a lot of fun to work with him.”
Expressing his initial hesitation to participate in Dark Side of the Ring, Magnum TA revealed: “Oh I had [seen the show]. And it took me two years I think it was, to even talk to them. Because I had seen some things that weren’t the most flattering, I guess I could say, of some of my friends. And the tone, I just didn’t ever want my career to be looked upon as a dark side of anything. Because certainly it was a devastating premature end into a career, but it didn’t define my whole life. And I wanted to make sure if we told the story — and of course you’re encapsulated in 40-some minutes of airtime [on] one of those shows — that it didn’t take a twisted turn that I couldn’t see. ’cause I didn’t see the finished product till everybody else did. So I had no idea what it was gonna look like at the end of the day. Although the producers were very accommodating and gracious, and did everything they could to make me feel good about it, and told me from the beginning they wanted it to be different than things they’d done in the past. They wanted to be able to tell a story that had a positive turn. And so all in all that was what they gave me at the end of the day.”
Reflecting on the nature of the series focusing on dark subjects, Magnum TA commented: “Unfortunately from a ratings perspective, you know, most people want to know the car wreck or they wanna know the travesty. They wanna know the drama and the things that took place behind the scenes. And we certainly were a great subject matter for that ’cause we lived as crazy a lifestyle as any human being could have back during our heydays. And those of us that were lucky enough to survive it, we got a lot of stories and a lot of things we probably take to our grave.”
Discussing his thoughts on the episode dedicated to his story, Magnum TA remarked: “I did enjoy it. And the only thing that like jumped out in my mind, ’cause they recreated so many really cool things. They did such a great job. And they researched and came up with things that I didn’t even know would be available for something like this. Because you know, Vince owns all the libraries and everything else, so I didn’t know what they’d better get in terms of footage. But the belt scene where Flair comes in and gives me the belt, it wasn’t the Big Gold Belt, it was the 10 Pounds of Gold belt. It was the original, you know, the Harley Race, Dory Funk — that belt. And that’s the one he came and laid on my chest in the hospital. So, they had depicted it as the Big Gold and I told him the 10 Pounds of Gold, thinking that the acronym would identify it. But they didn’t know the inside twist of — you know, the NWA belt was the unicorn. That’s what everybody wanted to achieve when being the World’s Heavyweight Champion really meant that you had the backing of everybody in the alliance to let you represent the company as their champion. So, it was a huge recognition back in the eighties to have a chance to have a run with that title.”
