WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts took to an episode of his Snake Pit podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including how the company was seen in 1984 by other promotions.
Roberts said, “They just kind of did their own thing, man. And it was all good. Everybody had their territory, had their spots that they hit, and everybody was making money. They were just another territory.”
On the NWA having an infallible aura at the time:
“Yeah, I thought it would last forever… I knew some guys had a piece of this, or a piece of that. But I didn’t know the inner workings at all.”
On pro wrestling being the Wild West during this time:
“Yeah, everybody had their own thing, and because it was on local television. You didn’t have to worry about exposing anything, you know?”
On the frustrations of being a booker:
“That sucked. Because you would have something painted in your mind that was so beautiful and so good, and so with it, and you know is gonna make money. And you’d get some asshole who’s like, ‘I don’t get it, man. Oh, I don’t want to do that.’ Or they just wouldn’t put the right emphasis on the right times in the match or the angle. They wouldn’t do the right spin on it. It’s the fine-tuning of the stuff that makes you money.”
On the most frustrating wrestler he dealt with:
“King Kong Bundy. He can f**k up a wet dream… he’d just s**t all over it in the ring. Just f**k it all up completely.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
