So....is anyone gonna start a petition for Piper?

[ravenlo 0]

He may be washed up and have a huge beer belly, but he shouldn't have been fired for telling the interviewers from HBO the way the locker room was(and probably still is). I mean, didn't Vince make himself look like a total idiot when he flipped on the interviewer(not the first occasion, btw). Should someone start a petition? Heck, if it worked for the Blue Meanie, it could hopefully work for Piper-right?

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

nope..

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Won't work...Meanie was a fluke and they fired him right away again anyway.

[Guest MaxPower27]

I say good riddance to Piper anyway.

[Guest Downhome]

I still don't understand why he was let go or whatever.

[Guest MaxPower27]

I guess that whole thing on HBO really pissed someone off.

[Guest Downhome]

I guess that whole thing on HBO really pissed someone off.

What in the hell happened exactly? Is there a transcript somewhere or anything?

[Guest MaxPower27]

Don't ask me, this is all wonderfully fantastic NEWS to me. I don't have HBO. All I read about was some reader ripping Vince's ass on the Torch.

[Guest JRE]

Pfft, petitions. And we say "WWE take us seriously, please."

[Guest JRE]

Piper didn't really speak against the company in it's current state. The WWE.com reason might as well be legit- OR it did make the company look bad and that is not a good thing. Even though Vince's personality does it to.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

If you have digital cable Im sure it will replay on one of the HBOs at some point. It was Real Sports and the second segment after a Ted William's baseball segment.

The interviewer asked Vince if he felt responsible for the deaths of wrestlers since all of them had wrestled for WWF, and Vince started mocking the way he spoke and then jumped up and tried to smack the paper's out of the reporter's hands, and finally answered that if they can't take the rigors of the wrestling business then they shouldn't be in it.

As for Piper, he explained how the cycle of the WWF locker room was, of taking pain killers, steroids, downers, etc. and how he's watched all his friends die because of the sickness they have for the wrestling business. He even said "they screw em up. these promoters screw up their minds" or something to that effect. Akwardly, the naraator explained that Piper still made a comeback to the WWE. Piper answered that he has the sickness too and knows nothing else. He says he can't get pension until he's 65 but he knows he's not gonna live that long so he's coming back now to make some money. He said he doesn't like who he's become and can't even watch himself on TV because he resents what the wrestling business has done to his collegues.

 

Now, Piper clearly can't have it both ways. IF he truly feels this way, it's completely hypocrytical of him to continue collecting pay checks from the same industry he believes ruins lives. WWF is justified in being pissed, and firing him to save face.

[Guest BrokenWings]

Here's a recap of what happened, courtesy of rajahwwf

 

HBO’s segment on the deaths in professional wrestling on their “Real Sports” with Bryant Gumble just aired. The segment was not as long as I would have liked to have seen but placed a rather large bit of the blame on Vince McMahon. Wrestlers who were involved with WWE that were interviewed for the piece included “The Patriot” Del Wilkes, Rowdy Roddy Piper, and Vince McMahon. The feature showed clips of wrestlers that have died at a young age. Names included Brian Pillman, Rick Rude, Davey Boy Smith, Curt Hennig, and others.

 

Del Wilkes revealed that during his peak in his battle with pain pills he was taking 100 pain killers a day. He said that he did it because everyone else was. Wilkes went on to say that if he were in the locker room with 10 people, at least 7 were taking drugs.

 

Piper made some of the most interesting comments. He revealed that he lived a life of drug and alcohol abuse for 20 years and sounded like he only returned to WWE because he is a 49 year old man that can not take out his pension until he is 65. Piper said that he doubted that he will even see 65. The most interesting thing that he said was that he does not watch himself on WWE television because he hates the man that he sees and knows what that man is capable of, referring to himself as that man.

 

Vince McMahon definitely looked rattled during the segment and even lost his temper in the interview by smacking the papers almost out of the hands of the gentleman that was interviewing him. McMahon asked him if he was supposed to be responsible for every wrestler who dies. He said that he will not assume responsibility for any of the deaths and if wrestlers can not handle it they should get out. McMahon said that he is the one that gives them the opportunity.

 

Bryant Gumble talked to the guy who interviewed McMahon and mocked him by saying that he would not smack his papers out of his hands. There was a statement read that quoted made by Vince McMahon saying that he saw no reason to do testing in the WWE locker room. They ended the segment by saying that the problem is on going, despite McMahon acting like it was just a problem of the 80s.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Don't my tears say enough??

 

I'd say Pipers comments of "because he is a 49 year old man that can not take out his pension until he is 65." is probably more self-destructive than the drug-issue. As Unionizing is a big threat to Vince McMahons empire... Gotta keep a tight sheep... I mean ship.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Who was said reporter that had the papers slapped out?

[Guest humongous2002]

A petition to rehire Piper???? BWAHAHAHAHAHA.That's the funniest joke i've ever heard.

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Bryant Gumble talked to the guy who interviewed McMahon and mocked him by saying that he would not smack his papers out of his hands.

Damn right, cause if I know one thing it's that Bryant Gumble is hardcore!

[Guest notJames]

How about we start a petition to get other people fired instead?

 

I got a list the size of my… arm.

[Guest Cerebus]

So all this crap about Jeff Hardy and rehab and Piper and drugs and Vince STILL doesn't even give a damn about testing the follks in the locker room?

[Guest Youth N Asia]

He's probably scared to test knowing that SO many of the guys will come up positive.

[Guest webmasterofwrestlegame]

WWE weren't using Piper in a productive way anyway.

 

It also gives them an excuse to be lazy with O'Haire, saying that since Piper left they will be thinking of something for him (read: Piper's left, we are too lazy to think of something for you, how about you spend some time on Velocity).

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Remember when everyone was cursing WWE for hiring an old, washed up Piper?

 

Apparently not since people on various forums and IRC channels seem to be bitching about his release now.

 

Anything to complain, I guess.

[Guest JHawk]

It's not so much that people are bitching that he was fired, it's the ambiguous statement explaining how he got fired that's got people pissed off.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Well, going by WWE's official explanation, it sounds like it's mostly due to the Real Sports thing, and I can see why being fired for speaking your mind would upset you.

 

But I also took from the statement that Piper was being difficult with them, just like he was in May. The Observer reported that the reason Mr. America vs. Roddy Piper was announced only one week before Judgment Day was because Piper had no contract and was almost out of the company the previous week, but they reached some sort of deal. To me, and this may be misinterpreting / buying too much into the official company spin, it sounds like they were trying to extend (or make official) a deal until August, but this new deal would include seeking rehab because the company feels he has a drug problem based on his HBO comments but Piper won't get rehab, so negotiations were stopped.

 

I was ok with Piper being back, but I'm really not upset to see him go. The only real problem here is O'Haire is probably on the A-Train to Velocity, but based on various SmackDown reviews I've read in the past month, nobody likes O'Haire's in-ring work anyway, they just liked his cool promos before his re-debut.

[Guest Polish_Rifle]

Piper was definitely not doing anything productive anyway. Hopefully, O'Haire can be salvaged by getting a chance to talk and possibly advance in the US Title tournaent.

 

As for this petition, I think it would be a better idea to have a petition to get rid of some more crap from the roster.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

How about a Petition to stop Meaningless Petitions that Don't Do a Damn Thing?

 

I'd sign.

[Guest nikowwf]

Everyone bitched and whined anytime they used Piper for anything. How anyone can complain now that WWE fired him, REGARDLESS of how they did it is beyond me.

 

niko

[Guest geniusMoment]

There is no such thing as bad publicity. Vince acted like a jackass on purpose to create a stir. Piper was only in for the short term. Vince and Piper both know the benefits of controversy. This deal gives both of them loads of it. Piper can now be a media darling while Vince got and will continue to get media attention at a time when his company needs it. EVERYTHING IS A WORK IN THIS BUSINESS.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Tell Michael Jackson that there's no such thing as bad publicity.

 

Bad Publicity when you want to be *established* is a good thing because it gets you attention. When you already have that attention then Bad Publicity is damaging. And really, Bad Publicity in the long run is always bad. The sleaze of the Attitude Era made Vince a lot of money, but look how he's coping with it now. The UFC is the same way - they are trying to undo the damage that the earlier UFC's caused by advertising it as a bloodsport.

[Guest nikowwf]

Yeah, but Vince has yet to figure out that looking like an ass, scaring investors and potential business partners because he feels like playing a character in a situation that can't possibly help business is NOT NECESSARY!

 

nikokoko

[Guest AndrewTS]

He's gone and I'm glad--I don't care how.

 

Thank God we'll be spared of that Piper/Hogan feud I feared we'd get.