Jake Roberts Recalls Getting Injured By Guitar Shot

Getting hit with that iconic weapon can have serious repercussions according to Jake Roberts.

Over the decades, weapon shots to the head have become less frequent. Following the death of Chris Benoit, a tsunami of lawsuits related to long-term damage, and a greater understanding of CTE and the impact of head trauma, wrestlers hitting each other in the head with weapons has been made into an exception in some places and banned in other.

But in Jake Roberts’ case, it took too long for wrestling decision-makers to learn of the risks associated with head-shots.

In an exclusive interview with Steve Fall of WrestlingNews.co, Jake Roberts explained how a guitar shot from the Honky Tonk Man not only injured him, but also contributed to his substance abuse problems that would cloud his life for decades to come.

“They sent somebody out to get one (a guitar), and the guy came back with a real goddamn guitar. The thing was a half inch thick, plus it had fiberglass on top of that. It was a $500 guitar. It was so thick that in the back, they tried to carve notches in the back so it would break, but they didn’t carve enough.

The other thing is he shouldn’t have hit me in the head. He should hit me across the back. The head can’t take that. He came from an angle so it just, boom, blasted me down, which blew out my C6 and blew out my C7 disc. Unfortunately, I’m hard headed. I didn’t immediately go for doctor help.

I wanted to keep going, and that’s where I made my mistake by keeping going because you start taking pills to get rid of the pain, and the next thing you know, you’re kind of liking that feeling, and then you just keep going.

For two years, I wrestled with that to the point that I couldn’t lift my left arm.”