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Jake Roberts has recalled how Vince McMahon thought he was a bad influence on The Undertaker outside of WWE.
The Undertaker, real name Mark Calaway, joined WWE in 1990 and initially traveled with Roberts. Keen to enjoy themselves away from the ring, Roberts set Calaway a light-hearted challenge to keep up with his alcohol intake on the road.
On the DDP Snake Pit podcast, Roberts revealed that McMahon raised concerns about the 2022 WWE Hall of Famer's lifestyle:
"It was taking a heavy toll on him. I remember going to TV one night and Vince says, 'Hey Deadman, you don't need to put the paint on tonight. You're looking dead enough already. You need to get the hell away from Jake.' A week or two later, somebody told me, I don't know if it's true or not, well, I do know that it's true, but he got alcohol poisoning." [4:46 - 5:16]
The two men formed a good relationship behind the scenes in WWE. On-screen, their most notable match against each other came at WrestleMania 8 when The Undertaker defeated Roberts in a six-minute contest.
Jake Roberts "cheated" to win his challenge against The Undertaker
It is no secret that Jake Roberts has struggled with alcoholism in the past. The 67-year-old's issues were highlighted in a documentary, The Resurrection of Jake the Snake, in 2015.
Roberts admitted that he was always likely to outlast The Undertaker in a drinking contest due to the vitamins he used to take:
"I ended the contest. I said, 'Look, man, I cheat. There's no way in hell I'm gonna lose to you because I know there's vitamins that you can take that will keep you going no matter how much you drink.' I shared the information with him, which wasn't a good thing to do because it was something that was highly addictive. That was my bad road." [5:21 - 5:50]
Roberts also said on this week's episode that there would be no Steve Austin or Undertaker if he did not help both men earlier in their careers.
Do you think The Undertaker is the greatest WWE Superstar of all time? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit DDP Snake Pit and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
