Jake Roberts Recalls Andre The Giant Shooting On Big John Studd, Standing Up To Andre

On the latest episode of The Snake Pit with Jake Roberts, the WWE Hall of Famer talked about what it was like to work with Big John Studd, not wanting to get on the wrong side of Andre The Giant, and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On Big John Studd: “We called him Big John Dud. [laughs] He was thick, you know. I love the guy, don’t get me wrong. I loved the guy, I had no problems with him. He made a big mistake whenever he said what he did about Andre being a freak. He did an interview where he said Andre wasn’t a giant, he was a freak. And Andre took offense to that, and that was it. The s**t hit the fan. And every time Andre got around him, he just beat the f**king s**t out of him. It was horrible, man. Hell, when we did that damn match in Atlantic City, and he was the referee. God damn, I was hoping I didn’t get hurt because Andre hit him so hard his body exploded and one of his body parts hit me or something. You know, Jake Roberts killed by a kidney, you know?”

On not being on the good side of Andre The Giant: “It’s not good to be on Andre’s [bad] side. I mean, Iron Sheik experienced that. Randy Savage experienced that. Randy was scared of the death of Andre, and rightly so. Jesus Christ, man. You know, I had an experience with Andre that wasn’t good. We had just done the thing where he was scared of the snake, and our first match was in LA and we got in the ring, and he absolutely guzzled me. He hammered me, he guzzled me, didn’t give me a f**king thing, man. Fifteen minutes of me getting my ass kicked. Well, it was so bad that when I got to the back, the agents were standing there going, ‘Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.’ Looking at me, and I’m f***king mad as s**t going, ‘F**k this s**t. I’m not playing this f**king s**t. I’m not doing it.’ I said, ‘Where the f**k is he?’ And they said, ‘Well, he’s in his dressing room. You’re not going in there, are you?’ ‘You’re f**king right I am!’

“So I f**king went in there, and I was so angry. I said, ‘Andre, what have I done to you? My God, I’m hoping that we can actually draw some money with this thing that we’re doing. And you set it up perfectly, and then we go out, and you do that? You just ate me from head to toe. Chewed me up, spit me out. The f**king people are are feeling sorry for me, just for being in the ring with you.’ I said ‘We can’t do that. I’m not gonna do that. If that’s the way it’s going to be, f**k it. I’m not doing it.’ And he looked at me and just said, ‘Okay, boss, we’re good.’ It was a test. He was testing me to see if I’d f**king stand up for myself.”

On it being intimidating to stand up to Andre: “Oh brother, you have no idea man! I’d go to throw a punch and he’d catch my punch in his fist like a baseball mitt, you know? And it f**king hurt too, you know?… I figured I could outrun him. And I already made up my mind that if we were gonna continue like that, I wasn’t f**king doing it. I’ll just get outta the f**king ring and walk away, because we’re not giving them a show. We’re giving ’em s**t. And that was my whole thing that, ‘Hey, those people weren’t f**king entertained. They’re disgusted.’”

On if John Studd could have confronted Andre: “Sure. I think if he’d have gone to a man to man, you know, and said, ‘Yo, straight up. Hey, I said something really f**king stupid Andre, and I’m really sorry.’ You had to earn his respect. If you earned his respect, you were okay.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Snake Pit with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.