Jake Roberts Says Vince McMahon Viewed Steve Austin As “Middle Of The Card” In 1995

On the latest episode of the DDP Snake Pit podcast, AEW manager Jake Roberts talked about his time working with Stone Cold Steve Austin back in 1996 WWE.

Roberts famously lost the 1996 King of the Ring final to Austin, and according to him, he knew from the beginning Austin was going to be a star, even before WWE owner and chairman Vince McMahon.

"He came up there as The Ringmaster, which stunk," Roberts said. "And he knew it stunk, I knew it stunk, but Vince has this thing, man. He's going to make it work. But it wasn't working and it wasn't doing anybody any favors, and it finally got bad enough that they gave him some time off and he came back Stone Cold.

"At that time, I was helping write the storylines and I looked at the whole thing there and I told Vince 'that guy's going to be your next megastar.' And Vince laughed at me, he said 'no way. Middle of the card. Maybe.' I said 'no, you're wrong. You wait and see.' And that's probably one of my better feel-good moments too because I was right."

Even after they stopped working together, Jake Roberts says Austin would call him up and ask him for advice. According to Roberts, he would tell Austin what he shouldn't do but let him figure out the rest himself.

"Every night he would call me and tell me about his match," Roberts revealed. "And he would ask me 'what did I do wrong? What should I have done?' And I wouldn't tell him what he should do, but I would tell him what he shouldn't do. I did the same thing with Dallas, let him figure it out. Once you figure it out, you understand it. You really understand it. That went on for several weeks. I kept pushing him in the meetings and stuff and everybody was just looking at me like, 'really?' I was right."

To quote this article, please credit DDP Snake Pit and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription