Jake Roberts reveals an unfortunate health diagnosis.
Jake “The Snake” Roberts is nothing if not a fighter. Having battled through addiction at several different points in his life, Jake's story continues to be an inspiration to some and a reminder of the humanity behind the larger-than-life professional wrestlers that have graced our television screens through the years.
Jake, who is a WWE Hall of Famer and a current manager in All Elite Wrestling, recently appeared on the Nothing Beats Experience podcast where he revealed that after recently experiencing coughing fits and an inability to breathe, he learned that he is struggling with COPD.
Roberts revealed that he stayed in the hospital for several days and wishes he could say that he was battling COVID-19, but what he has is worse. Roberts would reveal that this is hereditary but also attribute his current issues to his time as a smoker.
“I'm just going to hit on it fairly briefly because we're still struggling with it. About a week ago, man, I just couldn't quit coughing and couldn't breathe. That's not good, you know? I wound up having to get to the hospital and stay for a few days. I wish I could say this was COVID, but it's not, it's not. What I've got is worse than COVID. It's something that was passed down to me through the bloodlines, hereditary and all that stuff, you know? It's not your happy camper stuff, man. It's issues with COPD. Of course, me being an ignorant son of a bitch. I smoke cigarettes. Guys, if you don't ever do anything in your life, just don't smoke and you'll live much happier, I promise you that. Really. I mean, it's the bastard companies that hook us all and get us all into that, it's such bullshit. But, yeah, it's serious for me."
Roberts would continue to reveal how serious this issue is for him, revealing he doesn't know how this will limit him in the near future.
“I don't get the right amount of oxygen into my blood and that's not good. I don't know how much it's going to limit me and my future. We're testing it today for the first time to try to go do something. I know that without the oxygen if I talk for about 20 seconds, I'm done. I can't go anymore. It just is not there. So this is going to be something that I'm gonna have to work with.”
Jake would say that he's happy he is currently with AEW where they actually care because they put necessary restrictions on wrestlers who sometimes don't know how to quit for their own good.
“The thing that I'm happiest about is that I'm in AEW and they actually give a damn. It's really wild. They actually care about the athletes, they actually get us the help that we need. They actually set up protocols so us dumbass wrestlers don't say, 'hey, I'm okay, I can get in there' and have one arm missing, Wrestlers just don't quit. We don't quit. We don't quit, man. I can't, you know? That's what losers do. But these guys are smart enough to protect us from ourselves.”
Jake Roberts and Lance Archer did have a minor presence at last night’s Full Gear event. They were featured in a vignette where Lance promised he was going to hurt the entire roster regardless of their faction affiliation or championship.
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