Roddy Piper & Vince McMahon’s Contentious Relationship In WWE, Explained
Roddy Piper is widely regarded as one of wrestling’s greatest legends. He would go on most long-time fans’ Mt. Rushmore of great talkers and also belongs on any list ranking all-time great heels. Indeed, no lesser figure than Vince McMahon himself cited Piper as the embodiment of a great heel in discussing him in his A&E Biography documentary (h/t Fightful), stating, “When you look for attributes of a bad guy, you have to be fearless. You have to have the gift of gab. You have to be able to say anything that you want, even though you know it's going to be controversial. You have to have a certain attitude about you. Roddy had all of that and more.”
Related: 10 Things Fans Forgot About Roddy Piper's WWE CareerAs a testament to how highly McMahon thought of Piper, he trusted him in the key role of foil to Hulk Hogan as the face of the company at the dawn of the national expansion, including headlining the original WrestleMania. However, McMahon and Piper butted heads more than once as well.
Roddy Piper Put His Career First
Vince McMahon notoriously wanted his employees to give him everything they had. McMahon himself was a notorious workaholic who worked exceptionally long hours and expected the same of those around him, including wrestlers working relentless touring schedules.
Roddy Piper traveled the roads as much as anyone and clearly worked hard to perfect his craft. One point of tension arose, though, in how committed he was to looking out for the credibility of his own character. That included, for example, never wanting to take a clean pin at the hands of Hulk Hogan for fear it would diminish his character’s heat, throwing a wrench into some prospective creative plans, or the opportunity for these two top stars to trade wins.
Additionally, by 1987, Piper eyed a transition to Hollywood to better his long-term career prospects. From Piper’s own account in a They Live panel discussion (h/t WrestlingINC) McMahon started to resent Piper for perceived disloyalty when he abandoned WWE for Hollywood, at a time when The Chairman felt he still needed him.
Roddy Piper Defected To WCW At A Critical Time
In January 1996, Roddy Piper was appointed to kayfabe role of WWE president. By December, however, he had “changed his Jersey.” As the Monday Night War caught fire with WCW enjoying great success behind the New World Order angle, Piper defected to play a featured babyface role, one of the key rivals to the nWo and challenger to reigning world champ Hollywood Hogan.
While Vince Russo may not be the best respected or most trusted of sources, he nonetheless did have more access to Vince McMahon than most in that era. On Russo’s Truth and Consequences podcast (h/t 411mania), Russo suggested he lost respect for McMahon for how despondent he became over Piper winding up in WCW. According to the former WWE writer, McMahon saw Piper leaving for WCW as the last straw after the company had signed away so many big names WWE had built up. Not only did Russo think McMahon got too worked up over the situation, but he specifically called out McMahon’s hypocrisy after he’d built his business of cherry-picking top stars established in other territories. Regardless of what one thinks of Russo’s take on the matter, the point stands that McMahon was clearly affected by Piper leaving WWE for WCW.
Vince McMahon Was Critical Of Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper would, of course, wind up back in the WWE fold, in and out of the company as a part-time legend. Notably, McMahon was critical of some of Hot Rod’s later performances. In particular, Bleacher Report reported on McMahon blaming Piper for a segment gone wrong in 2012.
Related: A Look Back On Roddy Piper's Run With WWE In The 2000sPiper hosted a Piper’s Pit spot, building to SummerSlam, which involved Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler, and The Miz having words before they threw hands. The lackluster scene purportedly made McMahon not only less inclined to book Piper but legends in general for the weeks to follow.
Roddy Piper Grew Jaded With Wrestling, And By Extension Vince McMahon
In 2003, fans saw an unfamiliar side of Roddy Piper via an interview with HBO for a documentary project (h/t Pro Wrestling Stories). The most famous soundbite coming out of this conversation was Piper talking about how “Wrestling has a tremendous entrance plan … You rock the world, and everything’s wonderful. It’s got no exit plan. What would you have me do at 49? My pension plan, I can’t take out until I’m 65 … Look, I’m not gonna make 65; let’s just face facts, guys.”
Indeed, Piper passed at the age of 61, with clear indications that, despite all his successes in the wrestling business, he’d also grown more cynical about it in his latter years. He was unable to move on to another career, and his body clearly paid the price of spending decades in the ring.
Roddy Piper and Vince McMahon’s identities and success were intertwined for years. Piper proved instrumental in making WWE’s business thrive and evolved into different versions of himself over the years. There were very real tensions, too, between The Rowdy Scotsman and the longtime head of WWE as each looked out for their own best interests, and their needs didn’t always coincide.
