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HE'S BEEN DESCRIBED as
petulant, charismatic, violent, obnoxious and above all, "Rowdy". But the
only thing that can accurately be said about the phenomenal Roddy Piper is that
he's totally unpredictable. During the past 14 months, it's been harder than ever to keep track of the Scotsman, a 19-year veteran of the mat sport. When 1991 began, Piper had seemingly settled into Semi-retirement wrestling occasionally but preferring his commentating duties on the WWF's syndicated Superstars Of Wrestling program. And after a pair of motorcycle mishaps, Piper hinted that he was close to hanging up his kilt-and his tights-for good. Then Ric Flair entered the WWF last fall. Goodbye, retirement hello wresting. Piper's decision to make a full-scale comeback is one of the best decisions he's ever made. Still livid with the "Nature boy" because of their mid-'802 feud, Piper took on Flair in hard-fought matches, at times beating the seven-time former NWA/WCW World champion by count out. But Piper's crowing achievement was yet to come. Piper was given a shot at Intercontinental champion The Mountie when Bret Hart was forced out of his match at the Royal Rumble on January 19 in Albany, New York. It took the determined Piper less then six minutes to crush the Canadian in one of the most one-sided title matches in WWF history. After eight years in the federation, Piper had finally captured his first Championship. Apparently, even that's not enough. In an exclusive conversation with Senior Editor Bill Apter, Piper, as outspoken as ever, tells about his plans for the future-which definitely include the WWF World title, now in the possession of his old rival, Ric Flair. BILL APTER: Roddy, thanks for speaking with me today. You certainly made sure The Mountie's I-C Title reign was short-lived two days! RODDY PIPER: Anytime they have to fight Roddy Piper, their career's gonna be short-lived. APTER: Mountie beat Bret Hart in Springfield, Massachusetts, on a Friday night, buy you got your championship match just two days later at the Rumble. How'd you manage that? PIPER: I happened to be in Springfield. After I had showered down, I was watching the match with Bret Hart and The Mountie. I saw The Mountie beat Bret Hart, and after he beat him he started kicking and taking advantage of the guy. So I came down to ringside. I jumped in the ring, and I told him to get out. I thought that Bret Hart had enough. I was not trying to be Mister Good Goody. It was just a gut thing that I did. And the next thing I knew, Mountie nailed me and ran away. "Macho Man" was there and Sid Justice was there, but non of those guys got attacked. I came out there, I think that made me get the shot-from WWF President Jack Tunney-because I'm considered a contender and time I want to be because of my track record. APTER: That's why your got the shot? PIPER: Plus I said, "Hey, gimme this idiot. Gimme this joker." Because if this guy is going to put 10 pounds of metal upside my head, obviously he wants to fight. Justice? He ain't done a doggone thing in the WWF other than fight three middleweights, get a torn bicep, go to the doctor and get it all fixed up. You know, my right rotator cuff is torn, my left wrist is broken. But I'm fightin' and winnin'. I don't think Justice even matters right now. Savage? "Macho Man" retired, he got married, he's been inactive. Then he came back when Jake Roberts so viciously attacked him and his wife. He's obviously got his hands full. I don't think he wanted any part of The Mountie. APTER: What about Hulk Hogan? PIPER: Hogan at that particular time was concentrating on the Royal Rumble. APTER: What about Hart? PIPER: Bret Hart was not even there. APTER: Was he still too ill to take a rematch that soon? PIPER: Bret Hart says he was sick before he went in the ring. (Mock whining) "Oh, I'm sick! I don't feel good! My tum-tum hurts!" A long time ago, there was this guy-was it Thomas Hearns?-he hurt his little finger and he couldn't box Marvin Hagler. C'mon! So you're sick, so you got a little temperature. Get in there and fight! APTER: Have you wrestled with a 104-degree fever, as the say Hart did the night he lost the I-C belt? PIPER: Oh, yes (laughs). I wake up with a 104 fever and I figure hmmm, something's wrong. APTER: The big question, though, is why he was not considered immediately for the rematch. PIPER: Well, it was two days later. Hart, after he lost, he put his tail between his legs and he went home. He pulled himself out of the Royal Rumble. Guys, this is a man's sport. I'm not knocking Hart. If he says he's sick, that's fine. Buy if you want to be a champion and you wanna make a really big name for yourself, some of these things you've just got to push through. I've been probably, pound for pound the toughest guy ever in professional wrestling to hang in there. I've been sick plenty of times, but it's never mattered. APTER: A lot of people, when they found out that you were going to be the challenger, said, "This man is crazy! He's going to wrestle for the Intercontinental belt, and then he's going to go into the Royal Rumble." PIPER: Were they psychiatrists? APTER: No, they weren't. PIPER: They should've been, because they're right (laughs). APTER: Why did you not pull out of the Rumble? PIPER: That's backing up-and Roddy Piper never backs up from anybody. Besides, I could have been the first man in history to win both championships in one night. They say I'm crazy? I suppose so, but I gave an interview that said "dare to dream," and I meant it. Bill you're a tremendous sportswriter, with great knowledge of our business. But you folks at PWI printed a story: "Roddy Piper: The WWF's Most Successful Failure" (September 1991). At that time, you guys were saying it was because I never won a belt. Well, now I've won a belt. And you know what? It don't make a lick of difference to me. I just was beating up The Mountie. And the Royal Rumble? To go after both belts? Yeah, crazy-first guy in history to do it. But the actual holding of the belt, or calling myself the champion, that egotism I don't have. That has nothing to do with it. The way I make my money is by beating people. APTER: This the first time in eight years that you have won a title in the WWF. What did you feel like when you finally captured the gold? PIPER: To be honest, I feel like I've attained every goal there is in wrestling to attain. The actual title itself doesn't put me a notch higher or lower in the WWF. The only thing that was kind of cool was all the fans in Albany had signs that said "Dare To Dream." It meant a lot that they were listening so closely to me. It meant that they believed in me that much. So for the first time, for one small second at the Rumble, the fans and I were all on the same side. I felt the support, and I really loved them for that one small second. It wasn't something I was striving for. But it don't matter to me what you think of me. You guys again, in your magazine, wrote "oh, Roddy's all busted up, he's finished." Remember that one? APTER: Sure PIPER: Well, now I'm the champ. Just when you think you have all the answers, Roddy Piper changes the questions. APTER: What about the Rumble itself? You were in until near the end, but you didn't win. What do you feel were the determining factors there? PIPER: florida mobile home insurance Rick Martel was in the ring, and Rick has just come back from a layoff... APTER: He was on a modeling tour in Europe. PIPER: I didn't know you could model with a bag on your head (laughs). Anyway, he go me by the ropes. I had been in there a long time, and I had tried real hard in all my efforts not to get tied up. Martel was trying to hip toss me over the top rope. All of a sudden, Sid Justice, who had been sittin' down for a long time-what did he pick number 25? APTER: Actually, he was number 29. PIPER: All of a sudden he comes from behind and dumps us over. So my mistake was in locking up with Martel, who I don't believe to be a threat to me. I wasted too much time on him. Otherwise, I think I would've been the winner. With Flair, there's no doubt in my mind I could've gotten him out. APTER: Even though you have not had a pin fall victory over him since he came in? PIPER: I haven't had a clean victory, but I had a victory. Also he has had a dirty victory over me. We've both had dirty victories and we both came out champions that night. In facing Flair at the Rumble, I was nailing him. I knew is was gonna take time. I know he's a very durable athlete. But I was getting to him, and he was getting real tired. APTER: You mentioned Sid Justice earlier. When Sid threw Hulk over the top rope, most of the response we received was that Hogan was a sore loser. Do you have animosity toward Justice, and what do you think of Hogan's reaction? PIPER: I don't think "sore loser" is appropriate. I think in the heat of battle, Hogan wanted to win as much as anybody else did. He was very disappointed, I'm sure. He reached up to grab his hand, and shake it... APTER: No, no. He was trying to pull Sid over the rope-or that's how it appeared. Flair came up behind Sid, and with Hogan holding Sid, and with Hogan holding on, dumped Sid over. PIPER: So we got a guy, Sid Justice, that has come from nowhere beat no one, done nothing in our profession. Tell me what he's done of significance. Tell me what huge arena justice filled. Tell me what children he has helped. Even if he wanted to be the nastiest guy in the world, what has he done? Nothing! This guy walks in, pretends he's a crowd favorite, walks in with really no credentials at all. Let's go back to SummerSlam '91. What's the first thing he did? Hogan tried to help him out, and Justice holds his hand up by his ear to hear the crowd. APTER: Buy didn't Hogan invite him into the ring? PIPER: Absolutely. So now here's a guy, Justice, that's supposed to take care of business, and he gets an injury and backs out, and Hogan has to take his place on several different occasions while Justice had his arm repaired. So we must look at the animosity that built up toward the Royal Rumble. There's Hogan, who got dumped by this guy who's nothing. Justice is nothing. I don't think Hogan's a sore loser. I think there's animosity there and I think it's well-deserved. APTER: Some people have called Justice the second coming of Hulk Hogan. PIPER: (laughs) Well, I don't think Hogan would agree with that. Second, I don't know there can be a second coming of Hulk Hogan. Third, I don't know who wants seconds of that. APTER: Your schedule is now going to be stepped up because you have to defend the I-C belt every 30 days. How are you going to handle it? This time, you can't say, "I want to go and do a movie." You have a title to defend. PIPER: It's gonna be real easy, and I'll give you the scoop before I tell the world on television: I'm going to take on anybody. Absolutely anybody, as many times in one night as they want to. APTER: Wait a minute! You're telling me that in one night, you would wrestle Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Bret Hart... PIPER: Yes. I would wrestle them all-and not only wrestlers. I heard Tyson say, "I want to take on a wrestler after Holyfield." I welcome him. APTER: Even after your battle with Mr. T? PIPER: I hope he's that easy! Tyson's got to be twice as smart because he knows to get his hair cut all the way, so I give him that much credit. I welcome L.T., Lawrence Taylor, too. APTER: You'll invite anyone to challenge you for this title? PIPER: Anybody. I fight for a living. And we've always got people out there who think they're tough and think that they can be champion. Folks, come on! APTER: Sounds ambitious, but how about flair? You're the ranked number-one contender to the World belt now. PIPER: If somebody else wants to be the number-one contender against Flair, then they have to beat me. If Hogan wants to be it, if Savage wants to be it, come on, folks. Let's go. Otherwise, we're talking favoritism, aren't we? APTER: I guess so. PIPER: They it's the same old thing. You know what it is? They're all afraid of me, and that's the truth. I really do scare Flair and I scare Hogan because they don't know where they heck I'm coming from. APTER: Roddy, the years certainly haven't mellowed you at all. Are there any last statements you'd like to make to the fans? PIPER: I would think that this is just the beginning for the public to see a brand new Roddy Piper. I think the wrestling world is going to be slapped in the face a little bit. Again, your magazine - and if I read your magazine, everybody should-said when I had beat Curt Henning several times on a count out when Henning was the champion, "If Roddy Piper ever gets it, he's the most cynical unpredictable, he'll be terrible! Look out!!" Wrong again, guys. Roddy Piper isn't going to do anything just for attention, but I think that the people are going to be surprised at the new morality code that I have, and the 1992 phrase that I'm living by: "Dare to Dream."
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