Jake Roberts Describes Pain He Felt After Years Of Hitting The DDT

Jake "The Snake" Roberts is one of the most memorable characters and wrestlers from the '80s and early '90s. One of the factors that helped make Roberts iconic was his finisher, the DDT, one that he could potentially nail his opponents with out of nowhere. Despite the DDT developing into a finisher guaranteed to pop the crowd, the move also itself became a curse for him.

While on "The Snake Pit," WWE Hall of Famer Roberts revealed what would happen to his body at certain times when he performed the DDT. "To do a DDT hurt so bad," Roberts said. "When I took that bump, it would just jar down my spinal column. Man, it just, a few times, my legs went numb. That was scary, you know, just for three or four seconds. But man, that three or four seconds seems like an hour."

Roberts recalled a time when he was supposed to drop fellow '80s WWE staple Ted Dibiase with the DDT, however he did not due to the pain he was in from performing the move. "It got to the point that I was in such pain that it was just crazy," Roberts said. "I cradled [Dibiase]. I didn't even do the DDT because the pain was just so unbelievable when I would do it and there was no getting around it and it was finally got to the point that Vince told me, 'Go home and don't come back until you're well.' He was, he was, he was genuinely pissed off at me." Following this match, Roberts wound up receiving surgery on his neck and was told by his doctor that he would never wrestle again. That declaration did not ring true, as Roberts wrestled for many years following the surgery.