On a recent edition of his “The Snake Pit” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts shared his experience working with Barry Windham and Ray Stevens, among others.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his chemistry with Barry Windham: “It was a natural thing, man. We didn’t have to even work at it. It just seemed like the right thing to do each time we stepped in the ring. We didn’t talk about it. We just went out there and looked at each other and just went. It’s like we’d read each other’s minds.”
On their tag team: “It could have worked if they’d ever given us the opportunity. Because the whole problem in Mid-Atlantic was, I was being fed different partners and doing the same thing. We never got in the ring with anyone who really meant anything, We just had job matches, where we’d go out and beat up two guys.”
On being similar to Windham: “We were, man. it was absolutely fabulous. But the only time we ever did it was on television and the secondary towns, you know. We never went to the major towns. We just got fed the secondary downs. And you know, nobody wanted to be there. And the opponents we had didn’t want to be there. Nobody wanted to f**king be there.”
On cutting white meat babyface promos: “Well, I was just getting into the learning thing, man. And you know, Mid-Atlantic was the first time that I really got a lot of mic time. We had a lot of mic time there, whether you were doing interviews for the tape itself or for their individual cities where you do promos for each town. It lasted, you know, three minutes. So you got to do something in three minutes. So the white meat babyface thing was just that’s where I’ve been put. You know, I couldn’t go out and do that sinister s**t. But I was learning.
“In fact, I don’t know if you can find it. But I went to the Crockett TV truck and made friends there. And we put together a three-minute highlight reel of my matches. And we played it to Pink Floyd. And it was really pretty cool. At the end of the song, you hear an airplane going down. And I look at a guy, giving him a DDT in slow motion. And as it hits, the plane explodes. And as I turn over pin the guy, I look into the camera, a baby starts to cry. So I made that but I couldn’t f**king use it. Where can I put it into play? I couldn’t put it into play in Crockett territory because he was straight out heel s**t. But I did use it later on in life.”
On working with Ray Stevens: “Well, it only happened one time that I remember. And he blew his knee out. But no, he was — I remember that night, man. I’m like, looking at the crowd going, ‘Holy f**k, here we go. Finally.’ But the bottom line was they wanted to shoot an angle with Ray Stevens and [Nikita] Koloff. So we were just out there to pad the f**king walls.”
On what made Ray Stevens special: “He was just a hand, man. You know, he knew where he was going and nobody else did. But he knew where he knew where to go, and he knew how to get it done. And there’s not one thing that you can just point out, but it’s just always been there, man. I mean, when you sit down with Ray Stevens, you sit down with the best. He was definitely one of the best.”
On a recent edition of his “The Snake Pit” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jake Roberts shared his experience working with Barry Windham and Ray Stevens, among others.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his chemistry with Barry Windham: “It was a natural thing, man. We didn’t have to even work at it. It just seemed like the right thing to do each time we stepped in the ring. We didn’t talk about it. We just went out there and looked at each other and just went. It’s like we’d read each other’s minds.”
On their tag team: “It could have worked if they’d ever given us the opportunity. Because the whole problem in Mid-Atlantic was, I was being fed different partners and doing the same thing. We never got in the ring with anyone who really meant anything, We just had job matches, where we’d go out and beat up two guys.”
On being similar to Windham: “We were, man. it was absolutely fabulous. But the only time we ever did it was on television and the secondary towns, you know. We never went to the major towns. We just got fed the secondary downs. And you know, nobody wanted to be there. And the opponents we had didn’t want to be there. Nobody wanted to f**king be there.”
On cutting white meat babyface promos: “Well, I was just getting into the learning thing, man. And you know, Mid-Atlantic was the first time that I really got a lot of mic time. We had a lot of mic time there, whether you were doing interviews for the tape itself or for their individual cities where you do promos for each town. It lasted, you know, three minutes. So you got to do something in three minutes. So the white meat babyface thing was just that’s where I’ve been put. You know, I couldn’t go out and do that sinister s**t. But I was learning.
“In fact, I don’t know if you can find it. But I went to the Crockett TV truck and made friends there. And we put together a three-minute highlight reel of my matches. And we played it to Pink Floyd. And it was really pretty cool. At the end of the song, you hear an airplane going down. And I look at a guy, giving him a DDT in slow motion. And as it hits, the plane explodes. And as I turn over pin the guy, I look into the camera, a baby starts to cry. So I made that but I couldn’t f**king use it. Where can I put it into play? I couldn’t put it into play in Crockett territory because he was straight out heel s**t. But I did use it later on in life.”
On working with Ray Stevens: “Well, it only happened one time that I remember. And he blew his knee out. But no, he was — I remember that night, man. I’m like, looking at the crowd going, ‘Holy f**k, here we go. Finally.’ But the bottom line was they wanted to shoot an angle with Ray Stevens and [Nikita] Koloff. So we were just out there to pad the f**king walls.”
On what made Ray Stevens special: “He was just a hand, man. You know, he knew where he was going and nobody else did. But he knew where he knew where to go, and he knew how to get it done. And there’s not one thing that you can just point out, but it’s just always been there, man. I mean, when you sit down with Ray Stevens, you sit down with the best. He was definitely one of the best.”