How WWE Fans "Screwed" Jake Roberts
'The Snake' watched a pot of gold disappear before his very eyes...
Jake Roberts joked on 'Talk Is Jericho' that "sorry son of b*tch wrestling fans" ruined his money-making feud with Hulk Hogan back in the late-1980s.
The legend told Chris Jericho that he watched his dreams evaporate from behind the curtain with Vince McMahon after an angle with Hulk in Phoenix, Arizona. There, on his 'Snake Pit' interview segment, Roberts planted Hogan with a DDT, and Vince McMahon assured him fans would start chanting for the 'Hulkster' to recover.
They didn't. They chanted, "DDT! DDT! DDT!" over and over again instead.
Vince looked Jake in the eye and said, "You're screwed". The boss cancelled all plans for an epic, year-long rivalry between Hogan and Roberts, and decided to turn Jake babyface so he could ready heels for Hulk instead.
Jake did say he enjoyed being a top babyface, but hates to think of how much money he left on the table after that red-hot interview. Fans had accidentally squashed any hopes Roberts had of working with the WWF's main man, and that's something that still haunts 'The Snake' to this day.
During the few matches Hogan and Roberts did have, the audience confirmed Vince's suspicions by again cheering for both wrestlers.