The Lead: Jake Roberts Wants WWE to Clean House
WWE Hall of Famer Jake "The Snake" Roberts has delivered a blunt verdict on the state of the WWE roster. He declared he would immediately fire half of the contracted talent if put in charge of creative. The legendary master of ring psychology, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014, made the comments during an interview with Bill Apter.
His solution to WWE's massive roster was direct, simple, and brutal. He wants half the locker room gone. The old-school legend is not looking for a slow transition or a corporate restructuring.
When asked about his first move as a hypothetical WWE booker, Roberts did not hesitate.
“Fire about half of them.”
Apter asked if he really meant that, and Jake made it clear he wasn't joking. He feels that the current bloated state of the industry is actively hurting the quality of the product.
“Yes, I would.”
“Just the guys who can actually wrestle. That’s the ones I would keep.”
His remarks were first reported by Ringside News following his YouTube appearance. The statement sent shockwaves through the wrestling community, sparking debate over whether WWE's modern talent pipeline is actually producing quality performers.
The Philosophy of an Old-School Ring General
The Psychology of storytelling
Roberts' comments represent a direct critique of the modern WWE recruitment and developmental pipeline. Under TKO Group Holdings, the company has leaned heavily into college athletes and sports entertainers through its NIL program. These young prospects are physically impressive, but they often lack the fundamental training that defined the territorial era.
In Roberts' view, athleticism cannot replace the psychological foundations of professional wrestling. He came up in an era where matches were built on selling, pacing, and storytelling. Today's product is very different.
Modern television showcases performers who can execute a rolling elbow into a Code Red for a near-fall at 14 minutes. However, many cannot tell a story with a simple headlock. Roberts wants to return to a time when matches were guided by raw crowd reaction rather than pre-planned sequences.
He believes the art of drawing money is being lost to athletic choreography. He argues that modern stars focus too much on spots and not enough on the human element that keeps fans invested.
The Michaels and Hart Suggestion
This is not the first time Roberts has advocated for clearing out the dressing room. During his time on the WWF creative team in the mid-1990s, he grew frustrated with the backstage drama. He famously urged Vince McMahon to fire both Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.
Roberts saw their intense personal rivalry as a cancer that was holding the entire promotion back. While McMahon ignored his advice then, the legendary snake wrangler's perspective remains unchanged: cut the dead weight.
The AEW Hypocrisy: A Blind Spot in Roberts' Logic
The Jacksonville Roster Bloat
While Roberts' critique of WWE's roster size raises valid questions, his position is compromised by his own employment status. Roberts is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling, a promotion that is notorious for hoarding talent. AEW president Tony Khan has signed hundreds of wrestlers to active contracts, resulting in a bloated locker room where dozens of stars sit at home for months.
Former champions like Miro or powerhouse performers like Lance Archer, whom Roberts has managed, regularly vanish from television. They are sidelined due to a lack of creative direction. If Roberts truly believes that excess roster size is ruining the business, his first target should be his own workplace.
It is easy to demand mass firings at Stamford when you are cashing checks from Jacksonville. Critics will rightly point out this double standard in his logic. The territorial mindset of the 1980s, where promotions were lean and traveled constantly, does not fit the multi-million dollar streaming contracts of 2026.
The Netflix Streaming Demands
A massive roster is necessary to protect talent from burnout. It also covers for unexpected injuries during grueling touring schedules. Furthermore, firing half the roster would decimate WWE's ability to run parallel touring brands and produce weekly content.
Raw is transitioning to Netflix, and SmackDown is moving to the USA Network. The Netflix deal alone is valued at a massive $5 billion over ten years.
These massive TV deals require a deep bench of talent to avoid repetitive matchups. Firing half the performers would force the company to run the same main events week after week, burning out the remaining stars like Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Damian Priest.
By keeping a large roster, WWE ensures that fans are constantly seeing fresh faces and new dynamics. This is a reality of the modern era that old-school veterans often struggle to accept.
The Corporate Reality of the TKO Era
Performance Center vs. Indy Seasoning
WWE has already executed significant roster cuts following its merger with Endeavor to form TKO Group Holdings. In April 2024, the company released former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, alongside Xia Li, Sangha, Veer Mahaan, and Xyon Quinn.
These cuts were driven by budget-balancing measures and roster optimization rather than Roberts' pure wrestling philosophy. You can read more about the real reasons behind these roster adjustments to see how corporate strategies dictate these releases.
TKO has shown that it will release talent to appease shareholders. However, it keeps a massive developmental pipeline in NXT to ensure a constant stream of cheap, home-grown talent.
This corporate strategy is the direct opposite of what Roberts is advocating. Roberts wants to build around experienced workers who spent years on the independent circuit. WWE, conversely, prefers training college track stars and football players from scratch at the Performance Center in Orlando.
The current system values marketability and social media reach over old-school wrestling seasoning. While Roberts may look at the roster and see a bloated locker room of athletes who cannot wrestle, TKO executives see a highly efficient talent pipeline designed for global expansion.
Ultimately, Roberts' comments highlight a permanent divide in the wrestling industry. On one side are the veterans who believe the business should be built around ring psychology and athletic realism. On the other side is the corporate entertainment machine that views wrestling as content creation.
Jake Roberts may want to clean house, but the modern era is run by television executives. They need every body they can get to keep the content machine running. It is a clash between two worlds that may never find common ground.
