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28.3.17 0603
The 7 - Pro Wrestling - Piper Fired Register and log in to post!
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Matt Tracker
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#41 Posted on 27.6.03 1331.27
Reposted on: 27.6.10 1331.46
Should the dismissals of Jeff Hardy and Piper be regarded as a warning of sorts to the WWE roster? The WWE just let go of two potentially bankable, marquee names, and drug use was at least speculated to be part of Jeff's slack.

I'm not sorry Piper the Wrestler is gone. In the ring, he's out of shape, pale and weak.

I am sorry Piper the Presence is gone because I always thought he, at any time, could snap off a great line or two. That potential is gone, and the responsibility of his absence rests on him.

It's the freaking WWE; what kind of contract do you turn down at his age and condition? You get t-shirt money, a spotlight, a mic, a chance to bask in your fan's nostalgia, and some ring time.

But I hate hearing about drug use by wrestlers I enjoy watching. I think of Jake the Snake and Mr. Perfect and countless others. Come on, guys, open your eyes and get clean before you drop dead.

P.S. I know Jake's not dead.
Mr. Heat Miser
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#42 Posted on 27.6.03 1340.46
Reposted on: 27.6.10 1341.29

    Originally posted by Matt Tracker
    The WWE just let go of two potentially bankable, marquee names, and drug use was at least speculated to be part of Jeff's slack.




There's an interview on the Live Audio Wrestling program with Jim Ross from last Sunday, where JR states that Jeff Hardy's refusal to seek help for his drug problem was the reason for the parting of their ways. This was the first quasi-offical thing I'd heard, but it seems like Jeff's drug use is no longer speculation.

The website is www.liveaudiowrestling.com, and the link is on the main page - you do have to listen through the program to get to JR's interview, though.
Jackson
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#43 Posted on 27.6.03 1731.55
Reposted on: 27.6.10 1733.45
It is amazing to read smarts bash a wrestler for saying the same things they write whole columns about themselves. How many threads and columns have you read about the tragic circumstances of a wrestler’s death? How about Vince is a heartless prick threads and columns? Yet Piper says it and he is a crazy old fool.

Even if you don't agree with him I don't think anyone can question that these are his true feelings on the subject. He was saying this stuff before his WWE return or his NWA/TNA shoot. As much as I hate the term shoot I think now it is safe to say that was one. You sure don't create angles that are going to cost yourself a lot of money.

He is crazy. Crazy enough to say what he feels about the people that have died in the business and those that are still a part of it even if he knows he will pay the price for doing so.
SKLOKAZOID
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#44 Posted on 27.6.03 1920.28
Reposted on: 27.6.10 1921.25
Exactly. People do realize that Piper was saying this stuff BEFORE Vince hired him, right? Why are people so up in arms in saying Piper "deserved" this? Say what you will about the guy, despite the hypocricy of working for the company he criticized, he stuck true to what he was saying about them even after being hired.
fuelinjected
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#45 Posted on 27.6.03 1952.42
Reposted on: 27.6.10 1954.32

    Originally posted by SKLOKAZOID
    Exactly. People do realize that Piper was saying this stuff BEFORE Vince hired him, right? Why are people so up in arms in saying Piper "deserved" this? Say what you will about the guy, despite the hypocricy of working for the company he criticized, he stuck true to what he was saying about them even after being hired.


This was before he hired him, though. The Piper interview in the Real Sports segment was taped before he returned to WWE.
ges7184
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#46 Posted on 28.6.03 1111.38
Reposted on: 28.6.10 1111.40
You know, WWE did know what they were getting with Piper. But it works both ways, Piper knew what he was getting into when he joined WWE. It's not like it wasn't the same company that he was ripping on NWA-TNA.

You have to see the hypocrasy of accepting a paycheck from a company that you supposedly hate working for and hate yourself for working for. I'm thinking if I'm the boss and I saw that said about me and my place, I would have "helped" that person out as well. Look, there's tons of places to work at, you don't HAVE to be a professional wrestler. And you don't HAVE to work at WWE to be a wrestler. And WWE doesn't HAVE to employ any particular talent. So if it's a bad situation for the parties involved, they shouldn't HAVE to stay in the bad situation. If Piper really had any conviction about this, he wouldn't have taken the job in the first place. He just apparently not smart enough to know that when you sell out, you are probably going to have to sell out all the way. Particularily if you haven't even locked in a contract yet.



(edited by ges7184 on 28.6.03 1113)
oldschoolhero
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#47 Posted on 28.6.03 1124.24
Reposted on: 28.6.10 1125.34
Well put. And, as a side note, when I referred to Piper's "tasteless self-promotion" I wasn't talking about his on-screen promos, but rather his numerous uses of Owen Hart's detah and other thorny issues which inevitably end up with him using them as a)An angle, or b)A plug for his website interviews/rants. The man does not deserve to have people listen to his words of wisdom; if they'd have pulled up Tom Billington for a probing interview then maybe we'll talk.
Evil Antler God
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#48 Posted on 28.6.03 1210.50
Reposted on: 28.6.10 1212.05
Personally, I don't care what he said to anyone, or what anyone said to him. I care that a character that entertained me for the short time he was back is now gone again.....
Notorious F.A.B.
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#49 Posted on 28.6.03 1502.08
Reposted on: 28.6.10 1502.26
Piper's just another old school wrestler. He's a mark for himself, a liar and a hypocrite. There have been thousands of guys like him in the business. He'll probably end up a sad old man hawking autographed pictures of himself with Mr. T before some podunk "legends" show.

Wrestlemania was supposed to be a one off deal (if the internet scuttlebutt is true.) The guy probably just sweet talked Vince the same way Nash did when word got out that he was going to return as Diesel.
Jackson
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#50 Posted on 28.6.03 2018.00
Reposted on: 28.6.10 2018.28
The irony is that one of Piper's main points was that there is no where for some wrestlers to go after the business is done with them. That is why you see so many of them at those autograph tables and other tasteless self-promotions. I am sure Piper has enough in the bank to live comfortably. Others are not so lucky.

As mentioned before, what was said on HBO was done before the WWE contacted HIM about Wrestlemania. Maybe he thought that he could help make some changes. The HBO thing may have just brought out some of the topics he wanted to address and then Vince reacted to him like he did on that show. Maybe Piper refused the contract. We will probably never know the real truth. The only thing we will see is if the way wrestlers are treated changes. Right now it doesn't look too optimistic.

All that aside, good luck to Piper and give him a little credit. Without him, we might not have gotten the Highlight Reel and let’s see what happens with O’Haire.
SKLOKAZOID
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#51 Posted on 28.6.03 2213.30
Reposted on: 28.6.10 2215.22
I wasn't aware of when the Piper interview was taped, since there wasn't a timecode or anything on the tape. Since Piper has entered WWE, maybe he hasn't said anything negative about WWE aside from that he wanted to "change things", but he never really did).

However, a lot of previous threads here seem to be painting a sympathetic picture of Vince McMahon. Vince "helped" Piper because he was saying bad things about him? Piper sweet-talked Vince into a new deal "like Nash?"

It's Vince's company. He's more responsible for this than anyone else, including Piper. WWE writes the contracts, they seek the talent, and they write that talent onto their shows.

Fine, maybe Piper was hypocritical, but Vince McMahon is responsible for both the hiring and firing of Piper. Piper, if he truly believed what he said, wouldn't have contributed to the piles of dead bodies coming out of WWE, but he wanted the money and that's what he got while he was employed.

My point is, the money shouldn't have been offered to Piper in the first place if WWE didn't want to be put in this lousy P.R. situation.

EDIT: One last note, we haven't heard anything out of Piper since WWE got rid of him, so let's not jump the gun and put words in Piper's mouth.

We might think we know what he's going to say, but what if he expected Vince to can him after the HBO special aired? Hell, I would.

(edited by SKLOKAZOID on 29.6.03 0349)
Well Its The Big O
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#52 Posted on 28.6.03 2259.53
Reposted on: 28.6.10 2300.48
He was fired for blasting the creative direction and saying that the Pipers Pits have "sucked" so far because the writers are writing them for him. Basically, Raven gets fired for pushing for his own ideas, and now Piper.

That's the sytem that Vince's increasingly paranoid ego/mind is creating, a shoot Kiss My Ass club. If noone is allowed to criticise or speak their mind, then you're not gonna get any improvement of the product.
Mild Mannered Madman
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#53 Posted on 29.6.03 0658.23
Reposted on: 29.6.10 0659.01
Roddy Piper is a conman and a bullshit artist who hasn't added anything meaningful to professional wrestling since 1992. Pardon me if I don't shed a tear over a man who cared about nothing except himself.
rv581
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#54 Posted on 29.6.03 1140.59
Reposted on: 29.6.10 1142.50
I guess the people who blast Piper for stating the obvious have the luxury of being spectacularly gifted in numerous vocations, so if one of them chafes your delicate notions of morality, you can smoothly slide on over in another direction.

From age 16, Piper was a professional wrestler. He's made a few B-level movies but basically, he's a wrestler. That's what he knows. He's tried other things, such as writing a book, but he's a wrestler. One of the most successful in the history of wrestling.

He gave his opinion on why so many wrestling friends of his have died... and was fired for doing so. McMahon made it clear that stating his opinion was a key reason why he was fired. The WWE could've, in their explanation about Piper's dismissal, simply said that the two parties couldn't agree on a contract extension and have amicably chosen to part company. Instead, the WWE specifically cited Piper's interview with HBO and inferred that Roddy needs to find happiness.

McMahon has the right to do what he wants with his company but how on earth can you defend him firing Piper in such a manner?
fuelinjected
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#55 Posted on 29.6.03 1217.19
Reposted on: 29.6.10 1218.02
Roddy Piper made GROSS amounts of money in the WWF and especially in WCW. He should be sitting pretty, not having to lift a finger for the rest of his life. If he pissed away all that money, he really shouldn't be whining about there being no life after wrestling.

SKLOKAZOID
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#56 Posted on 29.6.03 1301.23
Reposted on: 29.6.10 1302.00
I don't think anyone is making a case for feeling sorry for Roddy Piper. He's one of the most recognizeable names ever to come out of the business, he must have money saved up from movies he's done, as well as his huge WCW paydays (he's not known to do anything outside of his farm in Oregon).

But, does Piper deserve this? I don't think so, because he openly stated just as much as he did in the HBO special in a public forum before WWE offered him the contract. We knew what the deal was when Piper entered WWE last spring, and they should have, too. People don't have to have sympathy for Piper to see that he got screwed. Even if you hate the guy, surely you must realize that what WWE did to him was wrong and sets a dangerous precedent that could happen to someone else that you actually like.

I don't care if he is a self-serving ass. What WWE did not only goes as a slap in the face to anyone in the back with a dissenting opinion, but it also stands to be yet another sign that they don't have a clue about what's going on in their organization until someone goes on HBO and says something, even after he's already said it in books, radio interviews and other TV shows in years prior.

I think WWE are the ones that come out of this looking terrible, and deservedly so. Again, they hired him after his TNA rants, after his insane website promos, and apparently after he had already recorded those comments for HBO. They were the ones that were supposed to be in control of the situation and, looking at their actions, they obviously weren't.
Nate The Snake
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#57 Posted on 29.6.03 2046.58
Reposted on: 29.6.10 2048.48
Okay, people, let's all take a small step back to the real world for a moment.

Roddy Piper was not fired.

Roddy Piper was NOT FIRED.

Roddy Piper was not fired.

He was working without a contract, and they were having trouble coming to terms on one. So they stopped negotiating and left it at that. For all anyone knows, Piper was asking for ten mil a year and fifty percent ownership to keep doing Piper's Pit and stumble around without his shirt on. Until someone finds out what he was being offered and what he was asking, NOBODY has any reason to think he was being screwed.

There're plenty of valid reasons to vilify Vince McMahon. This isn't one of them.
rv581
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#58 Posted on 30.6.03 1150.57
Reposted on: 30.6.10 1151.29


    Roddy Piper was NOT FIRED.


Piper no longer being a part of the WWE was DIRECTLY linked to him stating his opinion about why so many friends of his have died and his reflections on the wrestling business. The WWE's own words admit to this in their statement.



    There're plenty of valid reasons to vilify Vince McMahon. This isn't one of them.

McMahon, in his actions, made it clear that the price of engaging in free, truthful speech can be the termination of employment. I think this policy is certainly worthy of condemnation.

Look-- if McMahon was worried about the public image of his company during that pice, he wouldn't have tried to slap the papers out of someone's hands. Piper is no longer with the company, not because he gave the industry a black eye, but because McMahon wants to censor speech.

And that's pretty crappy.

If Piper, within a 15-day period, was filmed on camera trying to intimidate a journalist by slapping stuff out of his hands and then whacked a fan in the face with a cane, causing injury, I'd have no problem with him being dropped by the WWE. But everyone who enjoys hearing tales from the wrestlers about the business (and I imagine this includes most of the posters on this forum), I ask: What effect will Piper's firing have on the openess of the wrestlers when it comes to cooperating with the media?

And is THIS worthy of condemnation?
Mike Sweetser
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#59 Posted on 30.6.03 1158.49
Reposted on: 30.6.10 1159.01
You know, for all the people bitching for the WWE mentioning their reason for releasing (not firing, read above) Piper, how many others would be bitching if the WWE *hadn't* mentioned the reason? How many would be saying the WWE was hiding the REAL reason they released him?

Cripes.

Mike
CANADIAN BULLDOG
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#60 Posted on 30.6.03 1204.52
Reposted on: 30.6.10 1205.10
    Originally posted by rv581
    McMahon, in his actions, made it clear that the price of engaging in free, truthful speech can be the termination of employment. I think this policy is certainly worthy of condemnation



Agreed that McMahon should have better morals and judgement than to end the WWE's relationship with Piper based on this one interview, but.... uh, this is Vince McMahon we're talking about. Its not even a debatable issue. The man clearly has no scruples.

HOWEVER, looking at the flip side of the coin here -- Piper was a very public face for the company right now; he was on one of their weekly shows, was promoted on pay-per-view and even acted as one of the main draws for upcoming house shows. Whether he spoke to HBO before or after being hired (or I guess hired is the wrong word, before he started back, how about that?) McMahon had to make a business decision.

Piper is one of company's representatives, and on this show he was clearly making wrestling and WWE look bad. VERY bad. He is saying things based on how the business was years ago and (may or may not) be today, and he is helping viewers draw conclusions that aren't 100 percent accurate. So how could Vince McMahon keep giving this guy a paycheck? He couldn't. That's the way I look at it. It was a business decision....

Oh... and before someone comes back with `Vince made WWE look bad all on his own'..... uhhh... yeah. True enough.

(edited by CANADIAN BULLDOG on 30.6.03 1006)
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