Jake Roberts as the Higher Power

[illiniman88]

So I swaer when I was younger I read that there was a possibility of Jake Roberts as being the higher power, which would have tied in with his match against Austin at King of Ring in 96, but they felt he couldnt be trusted so they nixed it

Has anyone else heard this? And if true how do you think it would have worked>?

[Deleted]

I was 7, but I also heard this somehow.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

He was on crack and this would’ve been shortly after he embarrassed himself in Beyond the Mat. f*** I think heroes of wrestling happened during that time.

Jake would’ve puked live on raw.

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Never heard anything like that. Bruce Prichard said that Christopher Daniels was supposed to be the higher power on his podcast. Once Vince saw his build he changed his mind right then and there.

[Deleted]

I thought it was going to DiBiase.

[jay]

While the promos would have been incredible, the timing of the beyond the mat release wouldn't have done the credibility any favours and potentially created a PR nightmare with the company going public.

[cjh]

The online talk about him or Shawn Michaels being the HP was strong enough that on Heat the night before the reveal, the announcers mentioned both guys by name as possibilities.

[illiniman88]

Jun 3, 2019 17:15:16 GMT -5 The 1Watcher Experience said:

Never heard anything like that. Bruce Prichard said that Christopher Daniels was supposed to be the higher power on his podcast. Once Vince saw his build he changed his mind right then and there.

Names I have heard throughout the year

Jackyl, Shawn Michaels, Jake Roberts, Dibase, Mankind

[The 1Watcher Experience]

Jun 3, 2019 17:37:28 GMT -5 illiniman88 said:

Jun 3, 2019 17:15:16 GMT -5 The 1Watcher Experience said:

Never heard anything like that. Bruce Prichard said that Christopher Daniels was supposed to be the higher power on his podcast. Once Vince saw his build he changed his mind right then and there.

Names I have heard throughout the year

Jackyl, Shawn Michaels, Jake Roberts, Dibase, Mankind

You should send your questions about them into the podcast. They do a mailbag once in a while. Maybe they can clear up whatever you’ve heard. I’ve only heard about Daniels. 

[Venti]

I love Christopher Daniels, but if he got revealed as the higher power, the 1999 WWF crowd reaction would've been like "who tf is this guy?"

Jackyl would have been awesome. I really wish they did more with that character.

Jake would have been perfect if he was clean in real life. There's a badass "what if" scenario of this that I read years ago, I believe on wrestlecrap

[jason1980s]

Jackyl had mega heat in WWF because...well something about locker room respect and Bradshaw being a locker room leader and old school and all that B.S. that Bradshaw's been allowed to get away with for 20+ years.

[Venti]

Jun 3, 2019 18:22:19 GMT -5 jason1980s said:

Jackyl had mega heat in WWF because...well something about locker room respect and Bradshaw being a locker room leader and old school and all that B.S. that Bradshaw's been allowed to get away with for 20+ years.

I remember him talking about that on Talk is Jericho.
They were like "you have heat because you are stand-offish around the boys" and he's like "well I'm never actually at the shows cause you guys never use me!"

That whole "respect dis buziness" thing is so lame

[Natural Born Farmer]

Daniels would have been greeted with crickets. That plus his build would have ended his WWE career and the storyline. I can’t believe he was ever seriously considered.

[Celexa Bliss]

Roberts would have been awesome and made sense, but in 1999, it would have been a total trainwreck. He was on drugs and would very likely have been unable to cut a coherent promo, let alone potentially work a match.

As for the other names I saw mentioned in here:

Jackyl: He was hated in the locker room, so I doubt he was even considered, tbh
Michaels: It could have worked, but like Jake, he was on drugs at the time. As well, his back injury would have been a major question mark at the time
DiBiase: Probably the most logical choice, with his history with both Austin and Undertaker. He wouldn't have been able to wrestle, but as a mouthpiece, it could have worked really well.
Daniels: In 1999? It wouldn't have worked. Prichard's working people when he says that, there is no way they were ever considering an unknown Indy worker for an instant main event push at the time.
Mankind: Like DiBiase, it made sense with his history, but it wouldn't have worked. Mankind was too beloved at the time, nobody would have bought him as an evil mastermind. Plus, he was out with a knee injury at the time, so it's highly unlikely he was ever actually considered.

[nickcave]

If he would have been sober it would have been incredible

[sabretooth]

I think I remember hearing that James Mitchell was up for it at one point.

[Joe Neglia]

Jake being the Higher Power was a hot rumor on the primitive newz sites back then (with a couple of the bigger ones even falling for mailed-in fake results for a taped Raw that supposedly pulled the trigger on the reveal), but no, it was never actually considered.

[Celexa Bliss]

Jun 3, 2019 19:19:24 GMT -5 sabretooth said:

I think I remember hearing that James Mitchell was up for it at one point.

Mitchell was still under contract to WCW at the time, so that was never going to happen.

[Paul]

It was always going to be Vince (according to Bruce Prichard).

[Jake, The Jake, Jake]

I don’t really see how any of these would have worked. At the end of the day, Taker’s just getting a manager out of the deal, and would any of these options really have been a better fit than Paul Bearer?