AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL WRESTLING FANS FROM “ROWDY” RODDY PIPER

To all wrestling fans world wide:

As time has gone by I have sat on the sidelines watching Vince Russo destroy, not only the sport you fans love, but the lives of many wrestlers by putting them out of a job with no where to go and no way to feed there families. I have heard, and watched how Russo turned on Hogan, leaving one of the greatest of all time humiliated and treated with no respect for a man like Hogan who we all, including myself, know has given tremendous contributions to our sport. I know I have said negative remarks about Hogan, however, I have wrestled him so many times I can get away with it. But Russo has not earned that right. I understand that I have offended the wrestling fans with an interview I did on NWA-TNA on December 4th. Please let me explain exactly what I was trying to do.

As I have gone through the United States over the last thirty days, I have seen the most wonderful fans coming up to me and begging for somebody to do something about the state of wrestling as they missed the days that they had spent with their father watching it and how they long for the day they could watch it with their child to see the magic in their eyes while they enjoy the sport that their father and their grandfather watched, creating a bond from father to son, second to none. The last two days of my tour I had to drop the bus off in Nashville, TN. Being in Nashville, a person brought me a tape of the NWA-TNA. I sat down and watched this tape only to see Vince Russo using language that would embarrass a sailor and daring anyone to try to stop him from changing professional wrestling/ sports entertainment “Vince Russo style”. I spoke with an NWA-TNA official who explained to me that their format was a total “shoot” format, with nothing written, and they also expressed a yearning for traditional professional wrestling that we all used to love. So I say to you fans, I will tell you my thought process and hope as you read it whether you agree or not you will understand at least that my intentions were pure. After watching the tape by myself, I sat on a couch and started to recall all of the people Vince Russo has destroyed. Why was this man after killing one of our greatest wrestling institutions, WCW, still being used in any kind of way in our sport? So, I thought that by all of your feelings that you had told me that somebody had to take the first step. As the sport of professional wrestling gave me not only a life but my family, I am eternally loyal to the business of my profession. So I decided to see how good Vince Russo was and where he was coming from. I asked permission to have a forum to express my feelings and the feelings of every wrestling fan I have run into about Vince Russo. This is exactly how it came down:

I was told that I would have approximately five minutes to air my feelings and I must first take responsibility for what I said as the NWA-TNA was completely innocent of any wrongdoing. I was supposed to be by myself at which time I was going to do a five minute interview trying to bring attention to the plague that follows the real-deal professional wrestler who is still working under contract and not allowed to speak freely. As the interview progressed, I turned around and there was Vince Russo, standing in the corner, legs crossed, as cocky as he could be. At this time, I didn’t know if I was being set up or not. It was explained to me that it was a shoot forum, so I got literally nose to nose with him and gave him a chance to my face to tell the world not only his side of where he is coming from for the betterment of our business, and giving him a chance as he was the writer in the WWF when Owen Hart tragically died to give not only me, but everyone watching, a chance to get to the bottom of what really happened. I asked him if he was responsible for Owen’s death. What I meant by this was, since he was writing at the time, was it his idea, and if it was his idea, was he aware that Owen was afraid of heights and was he aware that Owen was thinking of quitting as he did not want to do this stunt. If Russo had answered the question, which I gave him time to do, he could have cleared it up. However, he said nothing. Then I asked him and I quote, “I need to be a gentleman about this, what is it you are trying to accomplish?” No answer again, except Russo saying to me, “You’re a moron,” at which time, nose to nose, I slapped him upside his head and the man did not move. Then came the Harris twins. At this time, I had no idea what was going to come down. But interestingly enough, when the Harris twins got to the ring, Russo was pretending to be held back as he wanted to get to me. Wait a second folks! I was just nose to nose with him, slapped him upside the head, if he wanted to get to me I think that would have been the opportune time. That in itself speaks for what kind of man Vince Russo is. I understand that the wrestling internet is admonishing me thinking that I would use Owen as a tool to draw money and/or sell a book. This media had such a small audience that it would not be the forum that I would use to draw money nor after doing the Associated Press and 102 other interviews this month. I ask you a simple question: Why hasn’t somebody else stood up like a man and confronted this fellow, who is killing wrestling and will in turn kill all the internet wrestling websites as if he is allowed to go on, you people will have nothing else to write about. I refused any money in any way and I have no intentions of ever coming back as my life is going on past the wrestling world. I understand that the internet wrestling site run by Dave Meltzer and the site run by Wade Keller have been bashing me as hard as they can. However, Dave Meltzer when he allowed me to be on his show, called back to my tour manager Dave Penzer as it was the highest rating he had ever had. So that didn’t seem to bother Dave Meltzer, however, I must point out to the public, that now Dave Meltzer and Wade Keller have written in their newsletters, the same newsletters that they tease on the front of their website for you to buy, the account of last night’s interview. So, these fellows instead of just telling you fans straight up what’s going on, they make you buy it on their newsletter. Now, my point is, the ones that are bashing me are the only ones that are asking money to tell about the accounts of death and destruction in my business. What’s wrong with this picture? I know what I said may have offended you, but I needed to get everyone’s attention as there are a lot of people who talk about doing things, but very few people actually do. Knowing Owen, I did take some time to think of what he might have thought of what I was about to do, and I sincerely believe that he would have said not to let his life go in vain. My intention was to save the wrestling business, not to harm it. If you have any questions or opinions, address them to www.rowdyroddypiper.com ASAP and I will be more than happy to answer them or have a web chat, whatever it is you want. I do realize this also, that if it wasn’t for the very fans that are mad at me now, I would not have a life. So I care a lot more about you than you think I do, I guess I just go about things a little different, as you will see in the PiperView shoot interview. To sum it up, whether it was an angle or a shoot, “For those who believe no explanation is needed, and for those who don’t, no explanation will do.”

Ever Forward,
Roddy Piper