Why One Pro Wrestling Legend Will Never Give Jake Roberts Another Chance

Pro wrestling history is full of stories about heartbreaking circumstances and powerful human beings being able to overcome the odds. After all, some of the best stories out there don’t need to be made up at all.

Jake Roberts has experienced a real redemption story in recent years thanks to getting clean and following a path of sobriety. He is now a brand new person and continues on a daily basis to be the best Jake Roberts he can be. But it turns out that he might not have changed everyone’s mind about him.

Jim Cornette worked with Jake Roberts in Smoky Moutain Wrestling and didn’t have the best things to say as he remembered working with Roberts when the conversation veered into talking about Jake The Snake Roberts on a recent episode of Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru.

“I was foolish enough based on a conversation with the ‘good Jake’ and a desperate need for a top heel to work with Tony Anthony. I put the Smoky Mountain Heavyweight Championship on Jake and we have since talked over those differences but it was not a great move on my part because I ended up — Dirty White Boy beat him for the belt in Bluefield West Virginia. Unfortunately, cameras were not there and I never let Jake take the belt home.”

“That’s the way I got out of that and I’ve spoken to Jake since then, we’ve been friendly but I would have never ever booked him again ever. Especially when he no-showed me when I ran Marietta 8 miles from his fucking house.”

There are a lot of things you can do to change someone’s mind about you but sometimes it’s impossible to turn everyone around no matter how big of a transformation you make. Jake Roberts might still have some room to go until Jim Cornette is willing to give him a second chance. But the good news is there’s probably little chance they’ll need to work with each other at this point in their careers unless WWE can book another season of Legends House.

If you use any portion of the quotes in this article please credit Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru with a H/T to Still Real To Us for the transcription