Jake Roberts Recalls Getting Heat Over WrestleMania VIII Match Finish

Jake Roberts was the Undertaker’s second WrestleMania win ever, losing to the Dead Man at WrestleMania VIII, and he recently recalled getting heat for how the match ended. Roberts lost to Taker at the PPV, and the finish came when Roberts called an audible and had Undertaker Tombstone him on the floor. The situation was once criticized by Bret Hart as Roberts calling the audible so that he wouldn’t have to get pinned in the ring. Roberts denied that and confirmed on the latest DDP Snake Pit podcast that he got in trouble over the finish. You can check out some highlights below:

On the finish being changed on the fly: “That’s true. It was supposed to have been a Tombstone in the ring. But I thought it fit well, me chasing Paul Bearer and then Mark getting me right there. And having that done to me on the floor is much more dangerous than having it done in the ring… my thought was, I’m going to take this tremendous kill shot on the floor, and never be seen again.”

On getting in hot water over that finish: “I know I took a lot of heat for that. But they still had it on camera so there was nothing robbed there. And I get the point. The point is, him doing it to you in the ring, everybody could’ve seen it better. And that’s where I screwed up. It wasn’t something where I didn’t want to do the job, because certainly I did. If I didn’t want to do the job, I’d never DDT’d him once.”

On knowing he was done with WWE after that: “Yeah, I was. That was the deal. [Vince] had to release me if I did the match.”

On if the match was bittersweet for him: “Oh god yeah. Yeah, I was hurting, man. I began having problems at home, which magnified all this. The addiction was starting to rear its head. You know, it’s really hard to be out on the road for 20, 30 days at a time, not see your wife, or your children, and your relationship is struggling… and you’re getting beat up, your body is hurting, you got troubles at home… It was probably the worst time in my life, man. The hardest time of my life.”

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