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The W - Pro Wrestling - Piper Fired (Page 4)
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AWArulz
Scrapple








Since: 28.1.02
From: Louisville, KY

Since last post: 99 days
Last activity: 99 days
#61 Posted on

    Originally posted by CANADIAN BULLDOG

    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.



Most companies, my own included, have a policy, whether directly stated or inferred, regarding statements to the press. Our ethics handbook states:

If you're in a situation that has the potential for capturing the interest of media, call xxxx xxx, director of public relations, ext. xxx.

Piper might have spoken before his employment with WWE this time, but maybe not. We don't know if he's been counseled regarding his press disclosures or if there's been any coaching on the subject. Sure, we see the nutball Roddy. But he's a bit corporate, willing to put the company over. He jobs, he does this or that.

But he spoke when he shouldn't have. Life goes on. I suspect if I spoke in the same way about my company on HBO, that I, too, would be walking. Justifiably.



We'll be back as soon as order is restored.....
rv581
Goetta








Since: 2.12.02

Since last post: 4926 days
Last activity: 4097 days
#62 Posted on
Those are great points AWArulz. And they would have so much more validity if Vince McMahon himself didn't appear on HBO and act infinitely worse than Piper.

Piper is a wrestler who has been in the business for a long time and has seen many of his contemporaries die. His gimmick is that of a hot-head. This was just my take on his appearance, and I know reasonable people can differ, but I don't think Piper-- given his capacity with the company-- did anything to damage the WWE's bottom line in that interview.

McMahon, on the other hand, is the public face & industry leader of a publicly-held company. I thought his behavior, given his leadership role in the WWE, was amazingly deplorable. If he wasn't "acting" in that interview, then he's a lunatic and made his company look bad. If he was "acting" in that interview and was playing the part of MR. MCMAHON, why would he want to punish Roddy for also staying true to HIS gimmick?

Unless, of course, firing Piper was more about stifling the voices of the WWE wrestlers than it had to do with Piper's specific content.



"Who ate my sandwich???"
fuelinjected
Banger








Since: 12.10.02
From: Canada

Since last post: 6706 days
Last activity: 6706 days
#63 Posted on
Could you imagine if Bud Selig were being interviewed about the steroid problem in baseball and he smacked the clipboard out of the reporter's hands and started making funny faces at him?

I don't think Vince was playing "Mr. McMahon", I think he's fallen into the trap of so many performers, he's living his gimmick now. Ever since the XFL, he's never been the same.
InVerse
Boudin blanc








Since: 26.8.02

Since last post: 2046 days
Last activity: 2009 days
#64 Posted on
To paraphrase CRZ, the WWE isn't the US, it's a private company. (Yes, it's publicly held, but it's not GOVERNMENTALLY owned.) Why wouldn't a company fire someone for degrading them, regardless of the validity of the accusations?

That being said, do you really think Piper would have been let go if he had been under contract? Piper obviously wasn't interested in staying with the company if he couldn't even come to terms with them. The way I see it, if you refuse to sign a contract and go around trashing a company, you've the same as quit.

I don't think Piper's comments on HBO were the primary reason he got fired. I think the statement regarding that was simply to take a potshot at Piper and/or stir up shit on the Internet. And most of the people in this thread jumped right into that big pot of shit and started jumping up and down like they're trying to make shit flavored wine.
rv581
Goetta








Since: 2.12.02

Since last post: 4926 days
Last activity: 4097 days
#65 Posted on
The issue isn't whether or not Vince McMahon has the legal right to terminate his relationship with Roddy Piper. He certainly does, just as he has the legal right to run a necrophilia angle, drop his pants in the middle of the ring, or promote his daughter to head writer.

The issue is whether or not Vince McMahon used his power appropriately-- and what possible affects Piper's dismissal will have with the openess of other wrestlers when it comes to the media.



"Who ate my sandwich???"
Mild Mannered Madman
Toulouse








Since: 1.3.02
From: Westminster, CA

Since last post: 3913 days
Last activity: 159 days
#66 Posted on
Piper wasn't even DISMISSED. He was holding out on signing a contract. He demanded that WWE contracted the guy he has carry his gear around for the love of Christ. He's not in shape, and he can't work a match nowadays.


This, children, is what's called dead weight. For WWE to improve, they need to build on the future. Not rely on constantly showing old guys who can't do shit anymore.




There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Notorious F.A.B.
Pepperoni








Since: 4.2.02
From: Dudleyville's Gay Ghetto

Since last post: 7470 days
Last activity: 7456 days
#67 Posted on
He was holding out on signing a contract. He demanded that WWE contracted the guy he has carry his gear around for the love of Christ.

Well, The King walked out when they fired Stacey...



It's just you against the group mind.
Nate The Snake
Liverwurst








Since: 9.1.02
From: Wichita, Ks

Since last post: 7192 days
Last activity: 6662 days
#68 Posted on

    Originally posted by rv581
    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.


Noooo... Piper's no longer being associated with the WWE was directly linked to his not having a contract with them. His statements, stupid and ill-thought as they were, were at best a minor factor.


    Originally posted by rv581
    Piper is no longer with the company, not because he gave the industry a black eye, but because McMahon wants to censor speech.


That's just plain ridiculous. Do you honestly think that their decision to stop negotiating with Piper will make him sit back and think "gee, I should stop shooting my mouth off, especially now that I don't have anything to lose"? Now Roddy has all the time in the world to make tasteless, self-serving statements to anyone who wants to listen. If Vince wanted to keep Piper quiet, he'd have given him a nice, fat contract and limited his contact with the media as much as possible. Or sewed his mouth shut.


    Originally posted by rv581
    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?



Well, I'd imagine it'd cut down somewhat on, say, talking shit about your current employer when you're in the process of contract negotiations. Otherwise? Little to none. Wrestlers are public figures, minor celebrities. Cooperating with the media is what they do.



Kansas-born and deeply ashamed
The last living La Parka Marka

"They that can give up essential liberty to gain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin
AWArulz
Scrapple








Since: 28.1.02
From: Louisville, KY

Since last post: 99 days
Last activity: 99 days
#69 Posted on
    Originally posted by Mild Mannered Madman
    Piper wasn't even DISMISSED. He was holding out on signing a contract. He demanded that WWE contracted the guy he has carry his gear around for the love of Christ. He's not in shape, and he can't work a match nowadays.


    This, children, is what's called dead weight. For WWE to improve, they need to build on the future. Not rely on constantly showing old guys who can't do shit anymore.



But that's a whole 'nother thread. Yes, I agree that young guys need to come up. Yes, I agree that Piper's time is past (Whether the majority of watchers do or not is debateable). The thread here was about the firing (when someone is working and now they're not working and it wasn't the person who was working deciding to leave, it's called being let go, fired, canned, etc.) of Piper.

He got fired, it seems. I'd say, yeah, it was justafiable. Even if the Chairman of my company was being an ass on the same show, and I didn't have permission to also be an ass, my butt would be on the line, and I would expect to be terminated. As someone said, it's a private company, through publically held. Chairmen are rarely subject to that sort of thing, especially when they hold a majority ownership in the stock, which I suspect Vince does.

Could Vince be censured by the company for his actions as well? Possibly, since any chairman serves at the pleasure of the board, but it seems he holds the board in his hand. Could there be repurcussions? More likely if the stock is perceived as underperforming because of the bad publicity and the price goes down. (like most stocks, it's on the rise right now. They paid their dividend a couple weeks ago and it's drifting now)

More likely is that any publicity for the wrestling industry is good publicity right now. I didn't personally see it covered anywhere else, and frankly. it appeared on a show lower rated than Raw (MUCH lower rated). So I figure Vince will feel nothing. Except for being rid of a man who he probably felt he was tossing a last bone to, perhaps in light of his past glories, but who now was being disloyal.

Do I think Piper would still be Sean O'Haire's mouthpiece if he had kept his trap shut on the show. The answer is yes. Same kind of deal, just like many performers have. Be interested to know how many of the WWE performers have that kind of deal.

Let's deal with the issue of Wrestlers and the press. KAFABE used to be it. I never knew ANYTHING about Dick the Bruiser except that he was a badass who wanted to take Nick Bockwinckle's head off. And I though Baron Von Rascke was an ex-nazi. What I read in an Apter Mag or whatever it was back in the day. Personally, I liked it that way. And that is another thing done in business all the time. Our company had a new product coming out. Do you think for a minute that if I went inot the mainstream press and spoke badly of it, even in truth (there are these bugs in the code, bubba), that I would survive? Not a chance. Personally, I would prefer the wrestler's do their jobs, do the KAFABE thing, do a bad CRIBS thing on Confidential every so often, do a "shoot" interview once in a blue moon and keep my disbelief suspended.

I remember Tricky Nick Bockwinkle doing a shoot interview on either Dusty Rhodes or Ric Flair (can't remember which, but it was after an NWA/AWA co-event in the early 80s) that ROCKED. I suppose much of it was hogwash, but some of it was true. Nick said something about how the NWA guy didn't have to wrestle as long as his makeup artist made it look good on TV, as I recall. (Making me thing it was Ric). That is something to remember. Mick Foley did a similar rare shoot thing a while back. I'll remember those, not Piper in Real Sports or Hogan on Bubba

(showing my bias: I hope the piper one is permanant and the Hogan one is a work)


(edited by AWArulz on 1.7.03 1027)


We'll be back as soon as order is restored.....
Jackson
Sujuk








Since: 4.1.02

Since last post: 5434 days
Last activity: 4959 days
#70 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.10
In the grand scheme of who is right and who is wrong, in my mind, it comes down to greed versus love of the sport. I realize, in this recent nostalgia run, it is hard to tell the difference but I think it is safe to say that any of the old stars that worked for Turner for more than a month should be set for life. While some sat on their asses till their contract ran out, others wanted to contribute.


    Originally posted by Nate The Snake

    Do you honestly think that their decision to stop negotiating with Piper will make him sit back and think "gee, I should stop shooting my mouth off, especially now that I don't have anything to lose"? Now Roddy has all the time in the world to make tasteless, self-serving statements to anyone who wants to listen. If Vince wanted to keep Piper quiet, he'd have given him a nice, fat contract and limited his contact with the media as much as possible.
    ___________________________________________________________

    Piper is not Hogan. Piper is > Hogan.




    My apologies to DEAN~!






    (edited by Jackson on 6.7.03 1613)






Tribal Prophet
Andouille








Since: 9.1.02
From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Since last post: 2936 days
Last activity: 2196 days
#71 Posted on
Piper's said before (Larry King show) that he's made tons of money and that promoters like Vince can't do shit to him anymore. Whether or not he was holding out for a contract, Vince and J.R. knew that Piper had said before that he would do and say whatever he wanted when he wanted regardless of what they told him, and after seeing the interview, they probably thought "Damn, let's get rid of this guy before he says something else on another show".

They know that Piper's shelf life for public interviews pretty much ended the minute he was no longer able to be promoted as "WWE Wrestler" during an interview. There's PLENTY of wrestlers out there who have shit to say to Vince, but nobody cares who they are because the media can't advertise a current wrestler being on the show. Now that he's let go, I doubt anybody in the media gives a crap about him.


Tribal Prophet



Wrestling exists in the eternal present. What is, has always been, and when it no longer is, it never was. It has no past and no future, and sometimes even today is in question. - Madame Manga

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shea
Bockwurst








Since: 1.2.02
From: Brooklyn NY

Since last post: 7443 days
Last activity: 7329 days
#72 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.74
two things:

1. Logic tells me Piper taped the HBO interview before his re-signing with Vince. Not once did the interviewer mention that Roddy was a current WWE employee, and I'm sure that would have been brought up, given the line of questioning.

2. I admit my memory's not what it once was, but I don't think Roddy once mentioned Vince or the WWF specifically. He talked about promoters and the wrestling business in general.
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