The Snakeman Deven Michaels

September 2nd

         Holy shit, this past week has been a wild one. The week started with the one and only Jake the Snake Roberts trying to call me out by contradicting what he himself has said for years. Don’t worry, I am going to be talking about that in great detail a little farther down the page. LOL This past weekend was crazy, I was in Morgantown for three days promoting the hell out of the Back to School Bash. We were at Shop-n-Save, K-n-B Variety Store, Sidelines Bar and Grill, Forge Rock Bar and Grill, Morgantown Honda, and Superior Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln.

          The people were just awesome everywhere we went. It couldn’t have been a more exciting weekend. I would like to thank all of the sponsors that had me in. I had a lot of fun and I am definitely looking forward to coming back. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend that you stop out at all of these businesses. The people there will treat you right and make sure you are well taken care of!!!! Tell them that the Snakeman sent you.

          While I was going from business to business meeting all sorts of wonderful people I had the pleasure of being on the news, I believe, four or five different times. I also got to talk with Big John from WKKW radio! All of these sponsors were front and center supporting a very good cause. The Back to School Bash benefited the Monongahela County Literacy Volunteers. I don’t know for sure how much money was raised, but I do know that every penny of the profits was given to the Literacy Volunteers. Championship Wrestling; Jeff Poole, Dave Parsons, and Jim Hawkins are to be commended on a job well done and it was an honor working for this promotion.   There is at least one promotion that I can think of off of the top of my head that should follow that example, when you do a benefit for a charity or any good cause, you should actually make sure it is a benefit. Anyway, more about that promotion later. LOL

          Not only were the people great, the show was fucking awesome. I think there was about 250 people in attendance. It was certainly an honor for me to be on that show, especially since the money was being donated to the Literacy Volunteers. I wrestled The Maestro from WCW. Unfortunately, I lost that match, but I have to give the Stro credit, he is one of the best in the business. Even though I lost, it was a great match. It was very back and forth and I felt confident that I was going to win once I had him hooked for the DDT. As soon as I went to drive Stro’s head through the canvas, his manger Justin Kace grabbed my leg distracting me just long enough for Stro to regain his wits and when I turned around he nailed me. I personally believe that had Kace not got involved in the match I would have won. That is something that I am going to wonder about until the next time I step in to the ring with Stro. Until then, I am going to bust my ass in the gym and train harder than I have ever trained before, this way, I know for a fact that I am ready and that he will LOSE!!!

          One of my personal highlights of the weekend was made possible by Jared from Superior Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln. I had the privilege of joy-riding in a 2010 Cobra GT 500 convertible. That car was fucking awesome!!!!!!!!!!! 500 horse power, V8 with a 6 speed transmission.    Driving around in the Cobra is something I am going to be bragging about for a very long time!!!!!! I barely had to touch the gas and this car was flying. I had to keep an eye on the speedometer to make sure I wasn’t speeding. The power of this car is unbelievable. After driving it, I wish I had $61,000.00 laying around to spend on a new toy, but since I don’t I am going to have to spend even more money on my Z so I can get it as close to 500 horse power as humanly possible. As it is mapped out right now it should have around 250 horse power, but that’s only half way there. I need to find myself a supercharger for my Z. Either way, thank you very much Jared, I had a great time running around in the Cobra, but just to give you fair warning, after I get the Z built a little more I want to race. LOL

          As many of you know I have worked for the RWA in West Newton, PA from the very beginning of the company. According to the owner/promoter of the RWA J-Ru and myself was his favorite storyline. The two of us did our best to make sure the fans got their money’s worth at every show. The storyline between J-Ru and myself never came to an end. All of the fans in attendance were informed that I walked out on the fans and the company that I helped to grow. As some of you already know that is only partially true, I walked out on the company not the fans. I was texting with several of the fans at the show as the promo was delivered about me leaving at the show. The promo was a crock of shit, I am going to give you the true details as to why I quit working for the RWA.

          I got to the building just in time for the “before the show meeting“. All of the wrestlers were standing around, ring side, listening as Dr Feelbad was giving his speech. So far things are all well and good. Then Feelbad decided that he was going to make a new rule because he wanted to keep kayfabe alive (kayfabe is basically the portrayal that wrestling is real). Dr Feelbad claims that he wants to do everything in his power to bring back kayfabe. For the most part kayfabe died when the fans found out the wrestling is sports entertainment and not really a sport. Anyway, Feelbad loves to run his mouth about bringing back kayfabe, which in my opinion is something that will never be brought back completely. The fans aren’t stupid. Most fan’s know that this is entertainment. Feelbad feels so strong about bringing back kayfabe at his shows that he as a heel (bad guy) walks around talking to all the fans as if he is their best friend. Hmm, wait a minute, a heel talking and mingling with the fans as a nice guy goes against kayfabe. So the simple fact that Feelbad is always preaching about kayfabe, and then turns around and as a heel is being a nice guy to the fans proves that he himself is a hypocrite when it comes to kayfabe.

          Feelbad’s hypocrisy is not the reason why I decided to walk off, well, it is a part of it. I mainly just wanted to give you a little background on the owner/promoter of the company. Back to the pre-show meeting; Feelbad’s new rule was actually a very simple rule to follow, but it was and still is a bullshit rule. The wrestlers are not allowed to step out side of the building before the show or during intermission to talk with the fans. The rule would have made sense had Feelbad said that the heel’s weren’t allowed to be talking and making nice with the fans, but that isn’t what happened. He said that none of the wrestlers were allowed to be caught outside talking or mingling with the fans. Over the years I have made a habit of walking out to the fans waiting in line to get into the building to greet them and make them feel welcomed. There is nothing wrong with babyface’s talking with the fans in the building or outside of the building. It is the babyface’s job to make the fans happy.

          There are also several of the wrestlers that smoke. You can’t smoke in the building, so if you want to smoke you have to go outside. But wait a minute, they aren’t allowed to go outside before the show or during intermission because they might talk to and interact with the fans, heaven forbid. Here comes my favorite part, the wrestlers can go outside during the show. During the show you want the fans to be sitting in the seats watching the show. If the fans happen to find out that the wrestlers are outside during the show, there is a damn good chance that the fans will go out and talk to the wrestlers. Damn it though, the wrestlers are not allowed to talk to fans outside of the building.

          Yet again, some of the fans smoke, if the wrestler is outside during the show and then a fan comes outside to smoke, is the wrestler allowed to talk to the fan then? I don’t know that either, I never had the opportunity to find out. I did get to find out that the new rule applies to everyone across the board except for Feelbad who stated that he will do what he wants when he wants. I guess that means breaking his beloved kayfabe and not leading by example.

          I always thought that wrestling shows were about the fans. The fans pay to see the wrestlers and to talk to them. Feelbad now has rules to when, where, and how the wrestlers can talk to the fans. If I was a paying fan I would be pissed. I have personally stood outside the building and smoked with lots of fans before the shows and during intermission. Unlike Feelbad, I like to make sure the fans are happy and that they are getting their money’s worth. I personally hope that the RWA does well; however, I think after the fans find out that Feelbad doesn’t care about them, he only cares about making money and feeding his ego, he will be in for a surprise.

          Now, on to the reason why I walked out. I didn’t walk out because of the rule. I walked out because of the way that it was presented to the wrestlers and to myself. He was being rude, and talking down to everyone. Basically he was acting like a loser on a power trip, I’m sure you all get the picture of how it was presented. Here was my deciding factor, I tried talking to Feelbad three different times about the new rule. Once with bad timing during the meeting. That was a slip up on my part. I should have waited until the end, but I didn’t. Then I tried talking to him about it twice more after the meeting off in a corner. Every time I tried to talk to him and ask him about the rule he flipped out, yelled, and became belligerent. I don’t deal well with someone yelling at me and treating me like shit. After he flipped out on me for the third time when I was trying to talk to him I said fuck it and left.

          I did not walk out on the fans, I walked out on the asshole running the company. Feelbad does a good job creating the illusion that he isn’t an asshole, but let me give you a few more interesting facts and you be the judge of it. This last show was a benefit for a family that lost their house to a fire. Sounds like a pretty good cause. Hell, they even had a little bit of news coverage the night before the show which, in my opinion, was just a ploy to get more asses in the seats. Now, Feelbad decided to donate $1.00 from every ticket sold. That is less than 10% of the cost of a ticket. I heard several different counts on the attendance ranging from 75-110. I’m going to go with the higher of the two numbers for this conversation, so lets say that there was 110 people in attendance. That means that the RWA was going to donate $110.00 dollars to the family that lost their house. If you think about it, that is not very much money for a company to donate. Especially when you do the math. 110 people times $12.00 per ticket equals $1,320.00 in ticket sales. It is safe to assume that 25% of those people also bought a hotdog and a drink. Which all together comes to $4.00 that adds another $110.00 dollars to the total, which now makes the gross for the night $1,430.00 minus $450.00 for the building and ring rental. That leaves you with $980.00. Rumor has it, that Feelbad only spends about $200.00 on talent. That leaves you with $780.00 in profit.

          I know what you are thinking, that some of these figures are assumptions, and a couple of them are, such as concession sales and the talent budget. What isn’t assumption is the fact the Feelbad himself has told me that he makes between $800.00 and $1,000.00 dollars per show. Now the point with this is, that in my opinion offering so little to the family the show was supposed to benefit was cheating the family. Feelbad saw a family in distress and decided to get himself some news coverage by capitalizing on an innocent family’s misery. When you run a benefit show, most promotions donate 100% of the profits to the cause. Not just $1.00 from each ticket.

          Now, these are the facts, I quit because I felt that he was over the line by becoming belligerent with me when I was trying to talk to him about the new rule and because I felt that he was trying to screw an innocent family by using them as cheap advertisement. Those are the real reasons why I quit.

          Recently, Jake the Snake Roberts decided to contradict everything that he has said in the past 9 years. So, I am going to give you the history of myself and Jake Roberts. I met him and drove to Gainesville, Texas in July of 2000. Once I was in Texas, Jake and I talked for a little bit and I handed him $2,000.00 up front for training. The first day Jake and I worked out, he made me do squats until I could not stand and then he made me run the steps that led from his cabin up to his Mother’s place. Either way, what we did is not important. Jake after telling people that he trained me, has now changed his story saying that he only spent a couple weeks with me, which is a complete bullshit lie!!!! Jake and I spent a year together and that is the facts. As I stated, I met Jake in July of 2000 and I left Texas in June of 2001. In all actuality, it was eleven months that I was with Jake. I have often said and will say again that I spent a year with Jake. Eleven months is close enough to a year for me. LOL

          In that time period I remember driving Jake to Philadelphia for a shoot interview with RF Video, I remember building a floor on his boat house, I also put a new roof on his boat house and his Mom’s trailer, Jake’s Mother got me a job at the Moss Lake Dam, I remember having Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with Jake at his Mother’s house, I remember working at Joe’s garage. That seems to be a lot of stuff to have done in only a couple weeks. I am sure there are more things that I can’t remember at this time.

          Jake is right about one thing, when it comes to actual wrestling moves he only taught me a few moves, which was and is fine with me. Jake himself only did a few moves. What Jake taught me about wrestling is far more important than the moves. In that year time period we had numerous conversations about the single most important part about wrestling. Jake the Snake Roberts taught me ring psychology. I have always stood by the fact that Jake taught me psychology and not the moves. Dr Feelgood from the APWF taught me the moves. Either way, Jake not only taught me psychology by talking to me and explaining it, he taught it to me by allowing me to set back and watch a true master. Jake worked every person that he has ever been around.

         Jake can set back and tell his lies all he wants. I know the truth and so do many others. For almost ten years Jake and I have both talked about how he trained me and about how loyal I have been to him. A couple years ago, I remember meeting up with Jake in Philadelphia at the old ECW arena where he was doing a training seminar. He introduced me to everyone at the arena as his favorite and most loyal student. Then I proved my loyalty to him by doing the squats he asked me to do in front of the people there for the seminar. I also had the privilege of meeting Jake’s wife Judy that weekend and she told me how much Jake had talked about me and put me over.
Since meeting back up that weekend in Philly, Jake and I have went on several different road trips and have had the privilege of wrestling Jake in Alliance, Ohio. Jake and I have had a long history together. During our match together, I became the first man in wrestling history to DDT the legendary Jake the Snake Roberts.   Think about it, if what Jake is now saying is true, why would Jake have put me in the history book as being the first man in history to DDT him?

          Jake also said in his blog that I was not in any way shape or form related to him. I am not going to say that I am and I am not going to say that I am not. I am going to let you be the judge of that. We both look a lot alike, we bald in the exact same spots, if you look at pictures of me before tattoos we have the exact same body, right down the long chicken legs. I am also going to mention that Jake has been heard by many people introducing me as his son. So tell me Jake, why would you introduce a nobody as your son? I can think of a lot of times when Jake himself has told people that I am either his son or his nephew. Now, all of a sudden Jake has decided to tell people that I am nothing to him. So was Jake lying then or is Jake lying now?

          Here is what I think is going on. And I am going to be addressing my thoughts and feelings toward Jake himself. I don’t know if he will ever see this and I don’t care if he ever sees it, but now everyone will know my feelings on the subject.

          Jake, how low must you be right now to feel the need to try to tear me apart? I remember shortly after you got out of rehab, I met up with you in Dunbar, WV. Do you remember the night in Huntington, WV when I got you out of that bar before you got hurt? Damn brother, I have been there for you on more than one occasion. Do you remember the night at your home in Florida when you sat there and looked at me said, “Deven, Shannon is just like Val. She knows that we are close and she will do anything to pull us apart.”

          Lets face facts brother, God didn’t make Deven Michaels in his image, Jake the Snake Roberts made Deven Michaels. Hell, you gave me the name Deven Michaels, do you remember that? For almost a decade I have been loyal to you and, for lack of better terms, kissed your fucking ass. Guess what, I’m not doing it anymore. If you want to go on your myspace and spread bullshit and lies, I will correct you. I am not going away, I will always be here. You taught me well brother. You taught me just as much about life as you did wrestling. There is one lesson that you tried teaching me that has finally sunk in to my thick skull. Never trust anyone in this business. Well, for almost ten years I made that mistake. I trusted you. You always told me you would be there for me and help me make it to the top, well guess what, I fucked up by placing my faith and trust into you. I may have fucked up, but one thing is for sure that is I will always respect you and be thankful for what you taught me. You taught me to be the best and damn it I will be the best!!!

          Face it Jake, you made me. I am you made over. You once said to me that what scared you the most was that when you looked at me you saw a younger version of you. You are right Jake, when you look at me you are looking back at a younger better version of you. Oh yeah, I said better. I am better looking, faster, more charismatic, and unlike you I have a future!!!!

          Contrary to popular belief I don’t want to be you and I don’t want to be like you, I want to be bigger and better than you were at the top of your game. I am the better of the two evils and you fucking know it. That is why you are scared. I am going to step on you on my way up and on my way down if you are still around. You once told me that a wise man knows where to steal his best material. You may have invented the DDT but I perfected it. Like I told you in Alliance, your time is over, you need to step out of the business and let the one true Snakeman step in. I am The Snakeman Deven Fucking Michaels and I am better than you will ever be!!!!

          But since I am cruel but fair, I will show you a little mercy, I am going to give you a chance to redeem your shell of a self. Any place, any time, you and me, one on one in a no rules, no DQ, no time limit last man standing match. Do you have what it takes Jake? Are you man enough to face me one more time? Well, are you?

Until next time,