Dark Side of the Ring 3x6

1. Jake "The Snake" Roberts is one of the most authentic

2. personalities the wrestling world has ever seen.

3. I'll drop you so fast with that DDT,

4. your whole family'll fall down.

5. He's done it!

6. Behind his raw intensity lies a depth of personal trauma,

7. which has shaped his iconic in-ring persona.

8. How could anything that looks so hot be so cold?

9. Well, it's easy, you see, time has done that to me.

10. Unknown to fans for years, wrestlers Sam Houston and

11. Rockin' Robin are Jake "The Snake's"

12. real life brother and sister.

13. Each followed in the footsteps of their father,

14. wrestling giant, Grizzly Smith.

15. The control that Grizz had over his kids,

16. he could pit 'em all against each other because

17. he was a master of everything. He was a puppeteer.

18. Scarred by traumatic childhoods,

19. the Smith children followed self-destructive paths,

20. and each battled addictions

21. that nearly destroyed their lives.

22. You know how hard it is to put a smile on your face

23. when you know what a piece of shit you really are?

24. I'd been to prison two days and I tried to hang myself.

25. It's the very, very young girls,

26. that seems to be the trigger.

27. And, I was scared of him, just totally scared of him.

28. This is Jo Lynn here.

29. Without a body, they can't file murder.

30. Decades later, the Smith family finally face their

31. haunted past in order to survive beyond the ring.

32. Lies have consequences.

33. If you want to feel pain, then you have to go

34. from the top and get knocked to the bottom.

35. That's when you feel real pain.

36. None of us wants to talk about what happened.

37. It's too painful.

38. There's just too damn much...

39. that gets drug out.

40. There was just no relationship.

41. There was no pat each other on the back shit.

42. There was no, "I'm happy for you."

43. You would've never thought we were

44. brothers and sisters, that's for sure.

45. 'Cause we were always that way.

46. We had just been kind of raised at a distance.

47. Since the formulation of professional wrestling as

48. an organized sport, it's been a family business

49. to a lot of the participants.

50. There's been a lot of well-known wrestling families,

51. like the Hart family from Calgary,

52. the Von Erich's from Texas.

53. You could trust family members with the business secrets

54. and the secrets in the ring because they were your blood.

55. And also, they had a vested interest in the success of

56. the industry because it was their livelihood as well.

57. I'm Jim Cornette.

58. For over 40 years, I've been a part of

59. professional wrestling as an announcer, manager, promoter.

60. But also, I've been a student of professional

61. wrestling history for over 50 years.

62. Even though the Smith family was all related,

63. the people inside the industry knew that,

64. but to the fans, Jake Roberts,

65. Sam Houston, Rockin' Robin, Grizzly Smith,

66. were all different people. There was no knowledge,

67. publicly, that they were related.

68. You know, in all honesty, Sam Houston was the best

69. in-ring performer of the entire family.

70. My name's Michael Smith, aka,

71. Sam Houston.

72. How I fit into the Smith family,

73. I'm one of 'em.

74. Depending on who you look at,

75. I mean, I'm somebody's father,

76. I'm somebody's son, I'm somebody's brother.

77. Through our family, first, Jake's the oldest,

78. then Richard, then myself, and then Robin.

79. Robin's one of the best women's world champions,

80. you know, ever to come down the line.

81. And, she's my sister.

82. It's an honor for me to say that.

83. - Wah! - Oh! The bulldog!

84. Many years ago, Rockin' Robin.

85. - Rockin' Robin! - (cheering)

86. Actually, it was just kind of a lazy thing.

87. One of my first matches, they said,

88. "What do you want to be announced as?"

89. And I just said, "Okay, Rockin' Robin."

90. I think I would have liked to have tried out Rotten Robin.

91. I think that would have been fun.

92. I'm Robin Smith.

93. And, for the Smith family, I am the sister of

94. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Sam Houston, and then

95. I have another brother that a lot of people

96. don't know about, Richard.

97. My name's Richard Nabors, and Aurelian Smith is my father.

98. And Jake Roberts is my brother.

99. Sam Houston is my brother. Robin Smith is my sister.

100. It's Jake.

101. This is Jake and myself.

102. Jake "The Snake" Roberts is his wrestling name.

103. When he was growing up in high school,

104. my grandmother called him Buster.

105. That was his nickname.

106. That kind of stuck with him for years,

107. but Jake's what he wrestles by and what he goes by.

108. I didn't want to travel like that.

109. It's not a lifestyle. But Jake likes attention.

110. He likes all the stardom being on him.

111. Please welcome Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

112. When he walks in the room, I mean,

113. it's like, you know, he wants it all to be there.

114. And that's from being in the ring so many years.

115. That's from being in that business.

116. It's just a rat race.

117. It wasn't me.

118. Jake Roberts, as a wrestler,

119. had strengths and had weaknesses.

120. Jake Roberts was never a high level amateur athlete.

121. He didn't have a ridiculous physique.

122. But what Jake knew and understood was the,

123. the mental aspect of pro wrestling,

124. the psychology of it.

125. By growing up with a father in wrestling and by

126. learning how to think of it, and he had the verbal ability.

127. Don't come calling me a sicko because,

128. brother, if you look at yourself in the mirror

129. I think you'll find out one thing...

130. You're no different than me, if you tell yourself the truth.

131. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, once he fully developed

132. that persona, was able to make you believe

133. that he really was a snake in the grass.

134. And there was probably some truth to it.

135. He was kind of dad's shadow, in a way, I think.

136. He, he spent as much time as he could with dad and,

137. maybe, I guess, learning the ropes, you know.

138. That's...

139. dad and Jake.

140. Jake "The Snake" Roberts here.

141. Real name is Aurelian Smith Jr.

142. Now you know why we went Jake "The Snake".

143. He didn't want me in wrestling, period.

144. In fact, he got me fired a couple of places,

145. asked the promoters to fire me.

146. To get me out.

147. I got humiliated, I got stretched,

148. I got tore up.

149. Basically, crawled back to the locker room and,

150. my father looked at me and said,

151. "I'm ashamed of you. You're gutless and

152. you'll never amount to anything."

153. Exactly what I wanted to hear.

154. That was my whole drive.

155. I got into wrestling because I hated my father.

156. And that was gonna break it off in his ass.

157. I wanted to hear my father say,

158. "I'm proud of you, son.

159. I'm really proud of you."

160. You know, he never told me that.

161. He'd tell other wrestlers he was proud of 'em,

162. but he wouldn't tell me.

163. Never. And that was my drive.

164. He had worked in the oil fields.

165. He met someone that had...

166. knew about wrestling or was involved in wrestling and,

167. you know, saw this big, humongous dude, you know...

168. (laughs) And said, "You'd probably be good."

169. He would line up on Friday afternoon where they all

170. got paid outside the railroad yard.

171. And he would stand up against the wall.

172. And the guys would pay him 25 to 50 cents.

173. They would pay him if they could just draw back and hit him

174. in the stomach as hard as they could because

175. it was a bet to try to make him double over.

176. He would make more money that afternoon,

177. in an hour's time, than he would the whole week.

178. So, then he got the wild hair and

179. he wanted to get into wrestling.

180. He was 7-foot tall. About 350 pounds.

181. Long red hair, big beard.

182. He looked like he just walked right out of the woods.

183. He wore a pair of blue jeans and had a rope.

184. His sash cord, that's what he called...

185. That was his belt.

186. If he could ever get a hold of somebody and

187. wrap his arms around 'em, then that was it.

188. Wow, how'd it make me feel?

189. Well, I was honored. I mean, Superman was my dad.

190. He's the main event.

191. He, you know, he's the biggest thing on the card,

192. and he really was the biggest thing on the card.

193. I used to get really freaked out when we'd go to the matches.

194. And I'd be inside the matches, watching him.

195. He'd get his head busted open or,

196. you know, scratched.

197. And he'd go to bleeding and stuff.

198. I'm 6, 7, 8 years old and I would totally flip.

199. So, dad'd get out of the ring and I'd go back to the

200. back with him and I'd be crying my eyes out,

201. and he'd go back there and he'd sit down.

202. And the doc'd look at him and say,

203. "Grizzly, I told you I can't do anything else with your head,"

204. because the skin, the tissue was tore up so bad.

205. They'd take it, clean him up,

206. and put a butterfly Band-Aid on it.

207. "Okay, see you tomorrow night."

208. You know, and then he would travel to the next town,

209. and it was just an ongoing thing.

210. You know, I used to think when I was a kid,

211. I said, why does he want to do that?

212. And he'd tell me, "Son, I gotta make a living."

213. I think one of the things that has helped me to

214. understand life and to enjoy life as much as I do...

215. is my father.

216. He would give you a whipping for lying to him.

217. He'd give you a whipping

218. whenever he thought you needed it.

219. He'd give you a whipping for making a mistake.

220. My father was a mean man.

221. Mean in the way that he tortured us, psychologically.

222. He would play the angle out at home.

223. His injuries, his feeling of the upcoming match.

224. How dangerous this match was gonna be with those guys.

225. And, you know, I look back now and I say,

226. why didn't I figure it out?

227. You know, they kept showing up in the same territory

228. my dad would go to, every damn time.

229. What the hell?

230. These guys are chasing my father down and

231. they're gonna kill him!

232. I remember crying myself to sleep many a night,

233. thinking my dad was gonna die.

234. And that bastard never told us anything.

235. By the end of the 70s, Grizzly Smith retires from

236. wrestling in the ring and transitions to a management

237. position behind the scenes, but he would use his power

238. and influence for something much more sinister.

239. You know, I had been around the business for a little while

240. at that point, and when I first got there and

241. was in the locker room hearing all the other people

242. who had known Grizzly longer,

243. been around him, talk about him,

244. the wrestlers always had a way of,

245. of knocking or talking behind the back of the

246. authority figure or the "office" personnel.

247. But I'd never heard it like this.

248. Every joke wherever Grizzly wasn't,

249. every single little statement had something to do with,

250. "I wonder if Grizzly's mentoring the young girls,"

251. or, "he's probably got one of them on his lap

252. reading her Bible verses."

253. And they would laugh and they thought that was funny.

254. I'm like, that...

255. kind of strange.

256. And I had no idea of the back story that the family

257. had that would come out in years and decades later on.

258. Everybody knew Grizz.

259. Everybody had good things to say about him.

260. You wanted to do road trips with him because

261. you wanted to pick his brain about, like,

262. how could I make myself better?

263. How do I make more money?

264. My name is Nickla Roberts.

265. I worked in the wrestling profession.

266. Look where Baby Doll is!

267. My dad promoted in Lubbock, Texas.

268. Both of my parents were wrestlers.

269. But how I actually met and got into the Smith family,

270. I think this was like April of '85.

271. I kind of started talking to Sam a little bit then.

272. And, July 30th was the very first day that we kissed.

273. And we got married a year to the day from there.

274. Baby Doll is the mother of my children.

275. I love her immensely. I always will.

276. The craziest thing to go along with the whole Grizzly Smith

277. and, and the weirdness of it was,

278. to do a road trip with him, we would like all of a sudden

279. be like 50 miles off the road,

280. picking up some 14, 15-year-old girl.

281. Then she was gonna ride with us for 3 to 4 days.

282. And it was just like...

283. you're gonna put... okay.

284. And then her parents were like waving on the front yard,

285. like, "Bye, see you on Tuesday."

286. It was really weird because it wasn't until

287. after his death that...

288. you kind of start finding out, you know,

289. the whole whirlwind of the stories and

290. the whole just horrible stuff that was going on.

291. And, I was there and, and I...

292. you kind of get that feeling like,

293. okay, something, something's not quite right.

294. And you look for it.

295. I was right there and I never saw it.

296. Before embarking on a career in the ring as

297. Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Aurelian Smith Jr. endures

298. a traumatic childhood, which would be

299. a source of torment for the rest of his life.

300. Jake was a, a mean son of a bitch

301. that didn't care about nothing.

302. And there's nothing that's out of bounds with Jake.

303. Aurelian, completely different cat.

304. Aurelian hasn't grown...

305. since he was 12, 13 years old.

306. I put him away a long time ago.

307. I had to, 'cause it hurt too much.

308. I don't think I've been Aurelian in 30 or 40 years.

309. And I don't know that I ever will be again.

310. Aurelian feels it and Aurelian remembers.

311. And Aurelian's crippled and can't do nothing about it.

312. But I am more comfortable with Jake now.

313. I respect Jake.

314. I know how dangerous Jake can be.

315. Jake's okay as long as you've got him handcuffed, you know.

316. You know, really, seriously.

317. Aurelian though, very scared kid.

318. And again, I don't think I've grown since

319. I was probably 13.

320. When most of that stuff started happening.

321. She was 13 when I was born.

322. My father was a pedophile.

323. Disgusting pedophile.

324. Which would haunt me the rest of my life.

325. By the age of 17, then he divorced my mother,

326. and he left and went on the road,

327. leaving us all behind. Kids got passed out.

328. My little brother, Richard, he was passed out to

329. my dad's sister and her husband.

330. They couldn't have children.

331. My sister Jo Lynn was...

332. she was tossed everywhere.

333. She spent too much time with my dad,

334. if you know what I mean.

335. My mother was blind to a lot of this.

336. I had a great mother, wonderful mother.

337. Loving mother.

338. After his parents split up, Jake lives an idyllic life

339. with his grandmother until she passes away when he is

340. 11 years old, forcing him to move back in with his father

341. and his new wife, Marsha.

342. I thought it was gonna be the greatest thing ever, man.

343. This is gonna be so cool.

344. Well... it wasn't cool.

345. He was forced to take me home with him.

346. Shortly after I moved in with him,

347. his wife started playing games.

348. Sometimes games that weren't so funny.

349. Sexual games.

350. I went...

351. to my dad and told on her one time.

352. And...

353. she stopped me right in the middle of it,

354. said, "I'll tend to you later."

355. And she went in, talked to my dad,

356. next thing I know, she beat me with

357. a damn clothes hanger and fly swatter.

358. It's one thing to have sex, but it's another thing

359. to get beaten for doing it. Freaked me out.

360. Little did I know, my father was aware of all that

361. 'cause he was doing the same thing to my sisters.

362. First, I want to say this, is that my intention

363. is not to destroy a legacy that was,

364. you know, my dad was great at what he did.

365. He could be a hero.

366. But, to me, he was my monster.

367. I guess, just going back to when it all started,

368. I was probably 8 or 9 years old.

369. And, the, the wild thing about it was,

370. was that I remember about a month before

371. the first thing ever happened, he...

372. he, basically, was working me.

373. And this is part of the manipulation that,

374. that I think people...

375. people do to kind of groom you and, you know,

376. get you where they want you, basically.

377. So, for about a month or so before the first thing

378. ever happened, he was walking around,

379. completely ignoring me.

380. He couldn't stand to be in the same room.

381. You know, as an 8-year-old kid, I mean,

382. you think, what in the world have I done?

383. All you want is the love of your parents, right?

384. Then one day, my, my mother was gone,

385. and he, he worked during the day.

386. He was home working in the office in the back and,

387. so he called me in the back, and just to,

388. just to say, "Well, you know,

389. you know daddy loves you," and...

390. and, I mean, I was so relieved that, you know,

391. oh, he does love me.

392. He doesn't hate me and that turned into the

393. first time he put his hands on me.

394. So... (clears throat)

395. Ah, you come out of that real confused and real...

396. you know, had no idea how to process that.

397. I mean, you just don't.

398. I think that very day it strips you of your security.

399. It strips you of your self-worth,

400. self-respect, innocence.

401. It strips you of all the things that,

402. that make you a child. It really does.

403. I think from when I was about 8 until about 14.

404. I told my mother about it and

405. she gathered up everything and we left.

406. At about 15, I actually remember telling him that

407. if he ever did anything again that I would shoot him

408. with his own gun.

409. 'Cause I knew where they were.

410. All I can tell you is that my mother was

411. not the kind of person that

412. would have tried to be inappropriate.

413. If something happened with my mother,

414. I tend to think that my dad probably asked her to

415. do some things that she never would have done,

416. just for his own whatever pleasure.

417. She was what, 16 - if - whenever they got married.

418. So, I mean, she was very, very young.

419. When Robin is 15 years old, her half-sister,

420. Jo Lynn, Grizzly's other daughter,

421. pays her an unexpected visit.

422. She came, she picked me up and,

423. we went out, we went shopping.

424. And it, to me, it seemed like there was just,

425. there was something that she was wanting to tell me

426. or talk to me about, or ask me, or...

427. She was just asking quite a few questions.

428. Her main thing was, do I feel safe?

429. Do I feel comfortable?

430. I think she wanted to know if,

431. if I had gone through the same thing because there was

432. no doubt in my mind that the same thing happened to her.

433. I don't doubt it, to this day.

434. It just seemed like there was an awful lot on her mind.

435. And then, it was about 2 weeks later

436. when she was kidnapped.

437. Richard and Mike and I were at a roller-skating rink.

438. We had gone over there, gone skating.

439. And, they came over the intercom and said,

440. "Robin, Mike, Richard, the Smith family."

441. We got a phone call.

442. It was dad, and he told me, he said,

443. "You need to get home. Get home immediately."

444. So, we got home.

445. Dad left a note in the house that said

446. Jo Lynn had been kidnapped.

447. I thought it was kind of crazy at first because I was like,

448. how does he know she's been kidnapped?

449. Was there a ransom or...

450. what was going on?

451. Richard put his hand through the wall.

452. I busted. And I totally lost it.

453. They were very close, Richard and Jo Lynn.

454. Closer than any of us.

455. Somebody has hurt my sister.

456. I need to find out what my next step is.

457. I couldn't understand why somebody'd want to kidnap

458. somebody that was so sweet. She never hurt nobody.

459. She had no intentions of hurting nobody.

460. She just wanted to live a happy, free life.

461. And she was finally happy.

462. She had a kid, that mission was accomplished.

463. It was a quiet, peaceful trailer park she was living in.

464. She finally had it going on, and then this.

465. When you talk about murder, kidnapping,

466. armed robbery, something like that,

467. no, we, we just didn't have that.

468. That just wasn't in Tatum, Texas.

469. My name's Carl Gage. My nickname's Buzz.

470. I've been Buzz all my life.

471. I'm 69 years old and in 1979,

472. I was 28 and I was Chief of Police at Tatum, Texas.

473. As I remember, just on routine patrol

474. one particular morning and, the manager from the

475. Cherry Hill mobile home park flagged me down.

476. I knew him, and he said,

477. "I had a kidnapping out here at the trailer park."

478. Jo Lynn was there with little Ted, her baby.

479. They grabbed her and pulled her out and

480. threw her in this car, and took off.

481. Jo Lynn was 5'10, probably weighed 200.

482. You ain't gonna take her down by yourself.

483. Me and her used to wrestle, and she's tough.

484. So, there ain't no way one person loaded her in that car.

485. Went right to it pretty quick and got out there and,

486. the door's open.

487. Of course, we hear something in the house.

488. (baby crying) - And I go...

489. "What's that?" He said, "Well,

490. her baby's in there."

491. The baby's fine, wasn't no problem.

492. Then the husband got there.

493. We got in and I noticed some letters on the little table

494. there by the door and I said, "What are these?

495. They're addressed to your wife."

496. He said, "That's my ex-wife.

497. She would send threatening letters to her."

498. With the menacing letters as evidence,

499. authority's number one suspect becomes

500. Faelyn Rogers, the ex-wife of Jo Lynn's husband.

501. Investigators discover incriminating evidence in

502. Faelyn's car, and she eventually confesses

503. to the kidnapping, but she claims Jo Lynn escaped

504. shortly after the abduction.

505. Searching, oh, lord have mercy,

506. we had search parties out.

507. We had helicopters, we had horses,

508. we had motorcycles, we had people on foot.

509. I had a psychic call me. She came down.

510. "I think I can help you out.

511. I think I'm getting messages from Jo Lynn."

512. She was given a personal possession of Jo Lynn's.

513. She was saying, "It's just, it's dark.

514. Maybe like a well or something."

515. Let's starts looking for abandoned wells.

516. And we got information on a couple of 'em that had been

517. covered or filled in so, we went out,

518. we checked them. We never found a body.

519. Jo Lynn's body is never recovered,

520. making a murder charge impossible.

521. Faelyn is brought to court indicted on the lesser

522. charge of kidnapping and the Smith family is devastated.

523. I think that's probably the first time my father

524. ever missed a wrestling match,

525. was when my sister was kidnapped.

526. He went to the trial. I didn't go to the trial.

527. I was medicating myself, trying to pass out every day.

528. The only information we got was through dad because

529. we weren't allowed to go to court,

530. and he just said, "No, you're not going to court."

531. And that was that.

532. It's amazing that the evidence was overwhelming,

533. but without the body and without somebody to say,

534. "I saw her kill her"...

535. She got convicted of aggravated kidnapping,

536. got 30 years. I think she served 7.

537. Dad used to carry a piano string in his hand.

538. You'd take a piano string and two pieces of wood and

539. hold it in your hand.

540. He was hoping to get close enough to her,

541. supposedly, is what I been told,

542. he was wanting to get close enough to her to where

543. he could be able to do that, and it would kill her.

544. I was told that it was 4 sheriffs in front,

545. in back, and on the sides because dad was so large.

546. And they knew with a man that large,

547. once he was mad, it was gonna be hell to pay.

548. Well, they say murder's hard to prove.

549. How can you prove murder? Go back to the story.

550. She works at a place that has an incinerator.

551. I believe that that's where they took her.

552. Whether she was conscious, unconscious,

553. or even dead.

554. I think she found her way to the incinerator.

555. And there's no evidence, it's all gone.

556. I just started thinking that,

557. who would have the most to lose here?

558. What's the reason to get rid of her?

559. I thought, well, I mean, really

560. somebody who's got a lot to lose would be dad.

561. If she was gonna expose him, you know,

562. with the young girls and, you know,

563. it would cost him his, his career and,

564. so yeah, I kind of question that.

565. Richard really wanted to go to Unsolved Mysteries and

566. dad actually told him he didn't want him to.

567. We're going, "Why in the world wouldn't you want that?

568. They solve, they actually solve murders."

569. Dad was against it.

570. So, you know, that throws in more suspicion there.

571. Yeah, there's a wild thought.

572. Did dad have something to do with it?

573. Was he involved? I don't know.

574. You could bring up a thousand questions

575. on the whole ordeal.

576. I wish I could say, "Man, I walked in there,

577. I seen my dad, he was just bawling his eyes out.

578. It tore him to shreds."

579. I never saw it.

580. Although a conviction is made for the kidnapping of

581. Jo Lynn Smith, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and

582. his siblings struggle to cope with the

583. tragic loss of their sister.

584. Oh, yeah, the hate.

585. I, I use the hate a lot, man.

586. Thank you, dad. (spits)

587. The whole Snake character was made because

588. I didn't want people looking at me.

589. Look at the snake bag, don't look at me.

590. Don't ask me questions, look at the snake bag.

591. And everybody fears that, everybody knows that.

592. Kids loved it because mom and dad went,

593. "Oh, my god, a snake!"

594. And they loved seeing mom and dad do that,

595. you know, so, therefore, they loved Jake "The Snake".

596. Crazy people.

597. As Jake's stardom continues to reach new heights,

598. Robin seizes the opportunity

599. to pursue a career in wrestling.

600. I went to North Carolina and trained with Nelson Royal who...

601. was a fabulous wrestler and...

602. a legend.

603. And Nelson trained her like one of the guys.

604. Wow, okay.

605. I wanted to change things.

606. I wanted the girls' matches to be just as exciting,

607. you know, if they could, as the guys'.

608. I mean, why not?

609. When Robin completes her training,

610. she uses her father's connections to show off

611. her skills at a WWF TV taping, and she catches

612. the attention of top promoter, Vince McMahon.

613. So, they put me on a dark match with Sherri.

614. I couldn't tell you how long it lasted.

615. I mean, it was, it's a complete,

616. total blur, to this day.

617. I have no idea what happened.

618. All I know is that when I got out,

619. Mr. McMahon had said, "Oh, my, my god,

620. she throws a punch like a guy."

621. And, I was like, cool, alright.

622. And then, the next thing I know,

623. I get the package in the mail at my house that is

624. airline tickets and schedule and all that,

625. and I was like, wow.

626. You know, it was a, it was a total surprise.

627. don't count your chickens before they...

628. there's a bulldog off the top rope!

629. A bulldog! Turns her over!

630. - She got her! - No, I don't believe it!

631. History has been made, here in Paris, France!

632. At the time, they had Grizz, Sam,

633. Robin, and Jake were all working

634. for the WWE at the time.

635. In wrestling, the best compliment that

636. you can be given is that somebody would say,

637. "You're a hell of a hand." You're a good worker.

638. That means that you can not only perform pro wrestling

639. at a high level, but you can do it

640. without hurting your opponent.

641. And, Sam Houston was the best worker in the family.

642. He was the lightest.

643. He was actually too light, he was painfully thin.

644. And that was what held him back from being used

645. in a more prominent position.

646. Especially in the bigger territories,

647. Crocket Promotions, the NWA...

648. Poor Sam Houston.

649. Unfortunately, Mike was like

650. a lot of the other wrestlers.

651. He got to making good money and stuff,

652. was doing good, and then...

653. went to drinking.

654. (sighs) Um...

655. listen... whenever he told my dad that we were

656. getting married, he had 32 Crown and Cokes.

657. 32.

658. It was amazing how much he could drink and

659. still be able to walk.

660. At the time, I thought I would love him enough that

661. it would get better and it wouldn't matter and

662. that my love could conquer all, and...

663. it didn't.

664. I just realized that it wasn't me.

665. There was nothing I could have done.

666. Addictive personality must run through

667. our entire family. I mean, seriously.

668. Because they're very strong addictions.

669. You have to find ways to put that

670. self-respect back into yourself.

671. After years of living on her own,

672. Robin gets a surprise visit from her father, Grizzly.

673. The bell rings and, I go to open it up and

674. I see him standing there.

675. And, right by his side, this little girl,

676. about 9 years old.

677. I could tell you, the colour, everything

678. just drained from my body and

679. I knew for sure this girl was in trouble.

680. So, he comes in and the first thing he says,

681. "Can you make her a daiquiri?

682. Do you have the stuff to make her a daiquiri?

683. She wants to try daiquiris."

684. It took everything just not to absolutely

685. come apart and come unglued.

686. And, I said, "No, I don't."

687. Shortly after, he went to the back and he went to bed.

688. I stayed up with her all night.

689. We never went to sleep.

690. And, I wanted to ask questions and

691. I knew what questions to ask. I said, you know,

692. "Sometimes, does he pull off to the side of the road and

693. want to give you a kiss?" And she said, "Yeah."

694. It didn't scare her, but, I mean,

695. she was like, "But yeah, it makes me uncomfortable."

696. He got up the next morning, got all his things together

697. and said, "Come on, we gotta go," and I said,

698. "You're gonna go, but she's not going anywhere.

699. She's staying right here."

700. I was not letting this girl go anywhere.

701. I think that told him everything he needed to know

702. about how I felt.

703. Reeling from the traumas endured in their adolescence,

704. Jake, Robin, and Sam

705. each battle addiction into adulthood.

706. But for Sam, the consequences become

707. a matter of life or death.

708. Sam Houston had the all-time Texas state record

709. for most DUI offenses.

710. And, the reason why that he was not jailed for them long

711. before that he was, was because Grizzly Smith had

712. been such a big name and such an important person,

713. and knew so many people in the state of Texas over all

714. those years and etcetera, that he was able to

715. get him out of it.

716. He never spent more than a day or two in jail before.

717. Grizz was right there and got him out

718. 'cause he knew somebody.

719. And Grizz just knew everybody,

720. and I think he knew something about everybody.

721. I really don't know 'cause, I mean,

722. everything I was ever charged with was only first,

723. or first offense, or I think... And I got a second offense.

724. It was basically always a fine that I'd have to pay and,

725. you know, community service.

726. Any time I was doing any, anything like that,

727. any kind of community service,

728. I always gave it my all.

729. I washed 7 firetrucks one day for the parade, you know.

730. After years of shocking repeat offenses and

731. lenient punishments, Sam's luck has run out.

732. Grizzly is unable to come to his rescue,

733. and Sam is ultimately sent to prison.

734. If they caught you doing something 20-something times,

735. how many times have you really done it? Right?

736. The Mothers Against Drunk Driving had gotten

737. his record, and had seen, like, all the judges and

738. all the magistrates that had gotten Sam off.

739. Finally, he did have to go to jail.

740. They're telling me 30 years.

741. I, I was at the end of my rope.

742. So, two days, January the 12th,

743. two days, a Saturday night...

744. I knew I had to break my neck when I jumped.

745. I said, "God, only you can stop this."

746. And... and I jumped.

747. I'm gonna tell y'all, I hit the ground with such force.

748. The soles of my feet were bruised for weeks.

749. I know how to tie a knot. These knots broke.

750. Meanwhile, Jake spirals deeper into new depths of

751. drug and alcohol fueled addictions.

752. I'm not gonna sugar coat this.

753. A lot of people in professional wrestling,

754. just like a lot of people in professional sports,

755. a lot of people in rock 'n roll,

756. have had bad personal habits.

757. Having said that, Jake's were stunning.

758. The one guy that you would think,

759. this guy's not gonna make it,

760. and somehow, he always did, and still has,

761. he was like the Keith Richards of pro wrestling.

762. The most important thing in my life

763. for 20 years was cocaine.

764. Above all things.

765. Above sex, above money, above children,

766. above wives, above mama, above everything.

767. Cocaine had to be number one.

768. That is really messed up.

769. I will tell you this.

770. Being in the limelight gets you things that

771. you think you want or you need. Because when you do drugs,

772. your idea of a good time changes, brother,

773. and you get kind of freaky.

774. You know, at first it was one girl.

775. Then it was two girls, and then it was three girls

776. doing this with a rabbit and a dog and donkey and clown.

777. (laughs) Having fun.

778. Sitting on the back of a chair with a lamp on my head.

779. Yeah, it gets stupid.

780. I guess one of the biggest lows in Jake's career was

781. the Heroes of Wrestling Pay Per View.

782. And, this is story number 747,000 of Jake Roberts

783. showing up in no condition to perform or actually to

784. function as a human being.

785. A lot of the guys that night put in bad performances just

786. because they were out of shape our past their prime,

787. but with Jake, he was legitimately

788. on planet Neptune.

789. Everybody knew that Jake was not right.

790. And, he had a snake, which became a phallic symbol.

791. And, it was a 10-year period or more there

792. where that more often than not,

793. if Jake Roberts made a public appearance,

794. you would hear about Jake Roberts

795. doing something he shouldn't do in public.

796. I'm a junkie. I'm a liar, I'm a thief.

797. Do you know how much self-hate is involved

798. in admitting that?

799. How I had to look at myself in the mirror?

800. I took all the mirrors down. The ones I didn't, I broke.

801. Within years of the WWF phasing out their

802. women's division, Robin ends her career as a wrestler and

803. eventually hits her own rock bottom with alcohol abuse.

804. Drinking was never a problem.

805. I did it really, really well.

806. I was better than just about anybody at it.

807. It wasn't necessarily because of...

808. of... not working as much.

809. I think that had more to do with from,

810. from my childhood.

811. You know, unfortunately, the result of that is addiction

812. and, even with that, I realized that

813. it wasn't getting me anywhere.

814. And, you know, my father ruined my childhood and so,

815. I'll be damned if he ruins the rest of my life.

816. On June 12, 2010, Grizzly Smith dies from

817. complications due to Alzheimer's disease.

818. He was 77 years old.

819. His biological son, Richard,

820. who was given up for adoption,

821. would be Grizzly's sole caretaker until the end.

822. I, ah...

823. I got there as quick as I could.

824. Dad had passed.

825. He...

826. He had just passed.

827. He died while I was in prison.

828. I'm in the worst place in the world,

829. I just got the most devastating news in the world.

830. Well, he's got a...

831. he's got a lot of good qualities.

832. And, he was born out of love and I still love him.

833. I thought that with him passing I wouldn't

834. have to think of some things anymore.

835. But memories don't go away that easily.

836. No, no. Hell, no.

837. I don't think he thought, no.

838. I don't think he thought he did anything wrong.

839. You know, there was never any kind of serious

840. conversation, apologies, anything like that.

841. I think he thought everything was just, just fine.

842. A few years ago, we finally did.

843. I, I can't imagine.

844. I can't imagine how devastating that would,

845. could be to somebody.

846. You know, and, and Robin, I guess,

847. like my mom, you know, they knew as a child

848. growing up that my father was Superman to me.

849. And, they wouldn't do anything to tarnish him

850. because they care for me so much.

851. Sam idolized his dad.

852. He probably would have forgiven his dad for it

853. rather than helped his sister.

854. He could make Sam believe that it was Robin's fault.

855. Or he could make Sam believe that it was Jake's fault.

856. It wasn't Grizz's fault, it was somebody else's fault.

857. I don't blame anybody at all

858. for the lack of being together.

859. That was all done early on by dad.

860. So, I mean, it, it's... Nobody dropped the ball.

861. It's not anybody's fault.

862. It just, it was how it was.

863. That's me and dad.

864. I was probably 10.

865. He never apologized for giving me up for adoption.

866. And I never asked for it.

867. I have no complaints. I mean, how can I complain?

868. I'm the lucky one out of the bunch,

869. is the way I consider it.

870. With Grizzly's death, his children finally feel

871. safe enough to open up about their experiences

872. from childhood,

873. but their estrangement still exists today.

874. I think there's a certain amount of hope that

875. Robin and I could be friends.

876. I respect her and I love her very much.

877. And it'd be nice to have a sister.

878. Yeah, I'd love to be close with everybody, you know.

879. I understand though that, you know,

880. we've all got like different paths.

881. Do I wish I could have spent more time with my siblings?

882. Yeah, it sounds good, yeah.

883. I'd like to try.

884. And after this, I mean, there's a lot of thoughts

885. going through my mind right now. It's...

886. maybe I gotta figure out how to do that.

887. Bridging out across.

888. You know, I think this is opening some communication.

889. It might have a little to do with bringing us

890. a little bit closer in.

891. I guess this is why I agreed to go ahead and

892. talk about it was that, I want people to really know,

893. it's very, very tough and I would never say

894. it's easy to get past it.

895. I don't know that you ever do get past it.

896. But, you don't have to stay in it.

897. You can be successful, you can overcome it.

898. And for God sakes, if it's something

899. you're going through now,

900. if anybody's going through it now,

901. tell somebody. You've got to tell somebody.

902. It will not stop. You have to tell somebody.

903. And, and you will get help.

904. What I want to tell you is this:

905. you can't glorify what happened to me.

906. But I ain't the only one.

907. There's millions of other kids that are

908. going through the same thing as I speak.

909. If you're one of those kids...

910. Run! Run like the wind.

911. Go to the police, go to your pastor,

912. go to the... just go.

913. And if it's already happened to you,

914. you gotta get help.

915. I'm 65 now, and I'm not ashamed anymore.

916. Still a little angry at times,

917. but not so angry that I have to medicate it.

918. I've been sober now for 10 years.

919. 10 years, woo.

920. I did it. I made it all the way back.

921. The bottom line is, never, ever...

922. ever give up.