Fair or Foul: Beyond the Mat exposes Jake Roberts demons

[Goldie79]

Barry Bernsteins 1999 documentary followed the lives of wrestlers on the road and away from the ring, heavily featuring 3 big stars: Mick Foley, Terry Funk and Jake Roberts.
Roberts' well known cocaine addiction is featured, along with his family problems: his estranged daughter, sisters murder etc.. WWE personnel including vince and jim ross heavily criticise Roberts for his addictions, and Roberts is even filmed on camera committing foul acts such as urinating in a backstage bin in front of other wrestlers!

Roberts in his own wwe profile dvd, criticised the film for portraying him in such a negative light, claiming he was tricked into it, let to believe it was a TV film about battling drug & alcohol addiction.
Was exposing Roberts personal demons fair? he should have known what he was getting himself into....
or FOUL: his personal problems did not deserve a public airing, and being portrayed in a negative manner.
FAIR of FOUL?

[Ninja]

I'll say 60/40% FAIR

Being that Roberts has worked on camera for most of his life it's hard for me to believe that he wouldnt know what was going on around him.
He's putting as if he was just acting during some of the scenes which clearly was not the case.

I do on the other hand have sympathy in the fact that some very personal moments and information became public while either under an intoxicated state or caused by emotional situations.

While taking advantage of this was very unethical it was Roberts who put himself into the situations knowing that it could be flipped in any direction.

Being someone who has been around people with drug problems most of my life I can tell you that one of the greatest effects of drugs and alcohol addiction is the day after syndrome of "it's not my fault", "I didn't know or I didn't do it".

So it was wrong for Barry Bernsteins to take advantage or trick the Snake, but Roberts should take the blame for his own actions and find away to get over it.

[deadrich]

As someone who was heavily involved in the scenes shot at APW in California, I can not speak for Jake's scenes, but I can say that if he was misled in the same way many of us where, it is a major Foul.

[Veritas]

Jake Roberts has indeed refused to speak about his time working with Bernstein because, according to Jake on The Interactive Interview (awesome show) a few years ago, he was "lied too about what would and wouldn't be used."

Looks like Jason could be supplying some credit to Jake's story.

[deadrich]

Again, unsure of Jake's circumstances, but from what I've heard about what Barry said to people at WWE, it lines up with what we were told and misled.

That said, it was a nice experience to be part of and I know Roland credits much of the success of his training school to Beyond the Mat.

[Saucemeister]

I'll say 60/40% FAIR


So it was wrong for Barry Bernsteins to take advantage or trick the Snake, but Roberts should take the blame for his own actions and find away to get over it.

I'm with you on that....

[The Legend Killer]

Foul. I can understand doing a documentary, but, he should have had Jake the Snakes permission to say certain things about him. Being part of the entertainment industry myself, you learn 1 rule. You never air out someone elses dirty laundry. Saying something like, "_____ came from a tough upbringing. _____ faced alot of demons." That's OK to say, but, you don't run your mouth off of about something that hurts someone to talk or think about.