"(That's not saying much. What a mean-spirited feud that one was, for no real reason. Jake was trying to deal with his problems and be honest about it, and Vince let Jerry mock him endlessly on national TV for months.) "
Yeah, but Jake was pulling the pious clean-living, holier-than-thou Christian gimmick both as a character and in real life so he could do well-paid Christian speaking engagements while still drinking like a fish, so it's not like either side had clean hands.
Granted, but as fans we didn't KNOW that. The storyline was Jake coming back and confronting his problems, only to have Lawler endlessly rag on him for months, and then they had a match where Jake lost. It didn't make you want to see Lawler get his comeuppance or turn Jake into a bigger babyface, it was just an uncomfortable and mean-spirited bit of bullying from Vince. Just because he could. There's a world of difference between an off-hand comment from Lawler on one show that builds to one match, and MONTHS of comments on shows that had nothing to do with Jake. It seemed low class to me then and even moreso watching it now and knowing that Jake was doing even worse than he seemed to be. Like, if he's that much of a trainwreck, why not send him away to get help instead of putting him on TV week after week and letting him destroy himself?
My brother is an alcoholic that's been homeless for about 10 years. You try to reach out but there is nothing you can do. Everyone gets mad at YOU cause they say you didn't do anything or not enough. It's unfair to place the blame on others because someone else is spiraling down.
ReplyDeleteYou can argue Vince exploited Jake to get money but you can't put any of Jake's problems at Vince or anyone or anything else's feet.
They were trying to get Jake to straighten up. It's tough love!
ReplyDeleteOf course, you can't blame Vince for Jake being an addict but you can definitely blame him for trotting him out there every week on TV and being ridiculed about his personal issues.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine if they tried to pull that shit with someone today? Especially if it was leaked that someone like Jake was struggling as much as he was?
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jake get his revenge on Raw? He pretended to be drunk to fool Lawler and beat him?
ReplyDeleteTelling an addict to pretend like they don't have a problem for the benefit of your TV product doesn't exactly help matters, though.
ReplyDeleteWhere were all you complainers when CM Punk was mocking Jeff Hardy's substance abuse issues? Oh, right: You didn't care because Punk was getting a World Title push. At least Jake Roberts (and Mickie James during the Piggy James angle) humiliated the heels in the end ,which is what wrestling is all about. Jeff's feud with Punk ended with him knocked out on a ramp while Punk exclaimed that Jeff would now be "gone forever." Jeff is still gone.
ReplyDeleteMickie didn't get revenge in the end. After the Rumble, the feud continued, Laycool got their win back like 4 times, they took the title from her, kayfabe put Mickie out of action for several week, and after Mickie left, they were given credit for finally mentally breaking her to the point of leaving.
ReplyDeleteYou always saw people ask Kevin Nash and Sean Waltman that when Hall was really bad "why aren't you helping him more?" or whatever. Like all it takes is for someone to go "hey, knock it off!" and they're magically cured of being an alcoholic
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind that one at the time because I thought it was like Raven/Punk in ROH. I thought Jeff had cleaned up and was making a story out of what a mess he had been.
ReplyDeleteJake Roberts is a character, the real actor Aurelian Smith Jr had drinking issues and took on a role which involved his character being accused of faking his combatting alcoholism. It was a job not slavery.
ReplyDeleteIt's like Robert Downy Jr playing Tony Stark, you don't see film goer criticising Marvel for making light of the real actors alcoholism do you?
Also, there's a not-inaccurate line of thinking that if a guy's got demons and he's gonna feed them, better he does it around people who love him, care about him and can make sure he doesn't lose total control.
ReplyDeleteBut Robert Downey Jr. was sober at the time he played Tony Stark plus he had his wife Susan Downey as support during the production because she was a producer on the film. Jake was not.
ReplyDeleteWhen Jake was wrestling, the locker room ridiculed his attempts at getting sober until the Undertaker stopped it. And when Lawler spilled what was supposed to be iced tea down Jake's throat during a match, it was legit bourbon. Vince, as the micro-managing head of the company, is aware of everything he does and in his company. And he let it happen.
"Addiction Rehab Center" banner ad up top. Heh.
ReplyDeleteYeah this was distasteful, but I'm pretty sure that this may not even hit the top 10 of all time distasteful things to happen in professional wrestling. I feel like that could be a thread.
ReplyDeleteMy cousin is the same way.
ReplyDeleteThere's not a thing that you can do about it.
It was the 90s. We weren't as sensitive then.
ReplyDeleteMeh. If it ends with Jake finally snapping, embracing the dark side again, and DDTing Lawler three times on a chair for a stretcher job....its probably remembered as kicking off the Attitude Era
ReplyDeletehi why vince so mean
ReplyDeleteYes, but Jake was soon gone after that. The next time we saw him in ECW, it looked like they pulled him out of a car and then we got the infamous Heros of Wrestling spot.
ReplyDeleteIf you are allowing somebody to feed their sin instead of leading them to the One they need to confess to, then not much can be done. And sadly, Jake used the evanigicals to make everybody think Christianity is a joke. That is how Satan works.
ReplyDeleteBut at the same time I wouldn't throw a drunk to the curb for being a fake. I would do my best to show him true Christ-like love. God loved us so much, He came down as flesh and died for our sins. I like Jake and I wish him the best and hope he is in a better place now than he was then.
I never heard that bourbon story before. That's pretty fucked up.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer old testament god. Demanding sacrafice, encouraging genocide, that was some good reading the sequel didn't really do much for me though. They kind of ret conned god into a pussy.
ReplyDeleteI have a good friend who drinks like a lunatic on occasion, and as much as it bothers me, I realize that me just shutting him out completely won't help him either.
ReplyDeleteYou have to ride the line between dismissal and approval.
You just can't work harder on someone's problems than they do.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I think a dominant 20-second title victory on PPV followed by shoving cake into your archrival's face counts as pretty decisive revenge.
ReplyDeleteI pretty much hate every Jerry Lawler feud the WWE/F has ever done.
ReplyDeleteAll the things I mentioned happened after that. Mickie's last three months in WWE was spent having Laycool getting their revenge on her.
ReplyDeleteVince is guilty of exploitation. Nothing less, nothing more
ReplyDeleteLike I said, he exploited him. That's it. He just put a camera in front of the truth. On or off camera Jake was still an alcoholic
ReplyDeleteDifference is I doubt you exploited your brothers problems to the public for your own personal gain.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't absolve him of any responsibility.
ReplyDeleteAhman
ReplyDeleteIt's on the Jake Dvd
ReplyDeletethat's irrelevant. With or without a camera the problem still exists. Get mad at Vince for being insensitive. Don't put Jake's problems on his head.
ReplyDeleteJust because the problem exists doesn't absolve Vince's sins in exploiting them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hated God's face turn in the second book.
ReplyDeletewhich what I said. Get mad at him for the right reason not for something he has no control over.
ReplyDeleteHe has control over whether he exploits someones problems on television. I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that he doesn't have that control.
ReplyDeleteWe actually agree. He's wrong for exploiting Jake but he has no control over Jake's actual problem.
ReplyDelete