WWE: 10 Best Moments From Attending WrestleMania Weekend

3. Jake Roberts Is Inducted Into The WWE Hall Of Fame

Jake Every wrestling fan is familiar with the sad story of Jake "The Snake" Roberts - how his drug addiction hampered his incredible talent and more importantly, ruined his life. Over the past year and a half, though, wrestling superstar-turned-yoga instructor/life coach Diamond Dallas Page has helped Roberts (and Scott Hall) get clean and healthy, giving him a new lease on life. His amazing recovery led directly to his inclusion in the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame class. Page, who made the induction, was as boisterous and entertaining as he ever was in his wresting career, giving Roberts a glowing introduction. Jake, however, was more subdued - during his career, he was always lauded for his calm, collected manner of promo delivery, and this speech was no different. He opened up to crowd about his love for wrestling and the horrible pain he had suffered, even admitting that he had wished himself dead in the past. The horror of Jake's story has always been in what an incredibly smart guy he is - Roberts could have easily succeeded as a doctor or lawyer, but he became a wrestler, and in doing so, he opened himself up to a world of temptation from which none of us are totally immune. The beauty of his speech came in the fact that he's not only better, but seems to have made peace with himself; the cycle of self-hatred has been broken, and he's ready to spend the rest of his life as a family man. No one can ask for a happier ending.
Contributor
Contributor

Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013