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Jake Roberts Has A Relapse At Indy Event

As has been reported elsewhere, and seen in part on video, Jake Roberts suffered a severe set-back in his substance abuse recovery at a Firestorm Pro Show in Cleveland, OH on September 12.

Roberts showed up relatively unimpaired for the show in which he was scheduled to be in the Main Event facing veteran Ohio wrestler and Cleveland All-Pro promoter, JT Lightning.

Robert had a bag with him that contained vodka shooters and began downing those in addition to drinks fans bought him.

During the Semi-Main event he wandered out to the announce area grabbed a mike and called a large black bodyguard for one of the wrestlers a “Big Dirty N****r”.

It was clear he was in no condition to wrestle in the Main, and JT Lightning covered him for a pin to get it all over. Jake kicked out twice before he was finally pinned. Lightning was understandably upset. Another wrestler on the card, J-Rocc tried to salvage something by going into the ring to try and get Jake to DDT him but it was a no go. At some point before he left the ring he dropped his pants and fully exposed himself to the crowd which included kids.

When Jake got backstage he ended up hitting a wall with his fist causing quite a bit of swelling and it was assumed to be broken, but he refused to be transported to the hospital.

TMZ.com plans to air video this evening.

This is all a shame. Jake Roberts completed months of counseling in Atlanta at WWE’s expense, and was even a group leader in rehab with Scott Hall in his group among others. His recent blogs on his MySpace site reviewing RAW have been excellent. One can only hope he seeks the help he needs again.

The following statement was issued by Jake Roberts’ Assistant, Shannon, who claims that Roberts was drugged prior to the event:

Jake was booked at a show this weekend in Cleveland. He went to this show, doing a live interview earlier in the morning for the promotion, that by all reports went very smoothly. His appearance at the show did not.

Before I tell you what I know about what happened to him at the show, and that knowledge is very limited, I was not there, I will tell you this. Jake’s behavior would normally be construed as completely unacceptable. I understand from the promoter that he spend endless time wandering back and forth to the bar. Jake took his rehab from the WWE very seriously, and has not done such a thing in months, so this behavior made me really scratch my head as to the REASON. My sincere apologies go out to JC, the over the top kind natured promoter who did nothing to deserve this, and has been nothing but kind to Jake, and by association, myself as well. My sincere apologies to the fine fans of Cleveland, you did not deserve this at all.

That for this, again. Jake was given an open container of what he was told was a cold drink. That happened when he got to the venue. He remembers nothing between that time, and the time he woke up the next morning in the motel, alone, beaten, injured. I had a really fun time getting him back on the same page, by phone, to just get him to the airport to try to get back home. It was a constant string of conversation just to get him to MOVE. This is not how he behaves ever. On his worst days, Jake has always had total recall.

Jake was drugged. He has been home since Saturday afternoon about 4:30PM and up until last night about 8:30PM, had not eaten or slept. His standard answer for everything the last two days has been “I don’t know.”

That is the other side of the story, folks, believe it or not, it is certainly your choice. I’m dealing with the guy they sent home, and folks, it is frightening to both me, and to him, and really not much fun. To the guy’s that did this, and I say this often when confronted with sub-human behavior, something I see far too often I’m sorry to say, God’s a funny guy. You’ll get yours, I have no doubt at all.

Thank you for reading.

Shannon, Jake’s assistant
Team Snake