On this week’s “DDP Snake Pit” podcast, Jake Roberts revealed that Vince McMahon had originally promised him the booking position for the WWF.
“Vince (McMahon) had made a promise to me that when the day came for Pat Patterson to move on, that I would have that position. I was looking forward to it.,” Roberts revealed.
“I’ve always loved creating new characters, writing, coming up with an idea for an angle so to speak. It was so easy for me. I never had to think about it long, 10 or 15 minutes and I can take you in a whole new direction. Things fell into place for me. A lot of guys have to sit down and think for hours, days, or weeks and still can’t get it. For some reason, God gave me that gift, and I was looking forward to that.”
“There had been some things happening with Pat Patterson and Terry Garvin where some things got disclosed that got pretty ugly, and supposedly they were let go, so I was waiting for my spot. I talked to Vince about it and he said, ‘Well, out of respect for Pat, we’re not going to put anybody in that position.’ What? That’s total bullsh*t. Bottom line was Pat was never gone. He was just out of the public eye. I love Pat Patterson, don’t get me wrong. I love the man to death. He was always a man to me and treated me unbelievably well. I have all the respect in the world for Pat and his legacy, but it really upset me.
Jake continued, “At the time, they had somebody running WCW and he was making the contracts. We sat down and came up with a contract that had everything that I had ever thought about. It was unbelievable what they were offering me. I was over the top excited.”
“I couldn’t wait, so I gave my notice at WrestleMania. I told Vince, ‘This is it. I’m done. You lied to me one too many times and tonight’s the night.’ He said, ‘Fine, but there will be a 90 day no-compete.’ Well, in that 90 day period, about the 85th day, Bill Watts is hired and the other guy is gone. When I came down to write my contract with WCW, Watts looked at it, laughed at me, and tore it up in my face because he knew I wasn’t going to go back to the other guys. I just left them.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit “DDP Snake Pit” with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.