BOOKERT BRET_HART BRUCE_PRICHARD DIAMOND_DALLAS_PAGE DIAMON_DALLAS_PAGE DREW_GULAK DVON_DUDLEY EDGE ERIC_BISCHOFF FREDDIE_PRINZE_JR HULK_HOGAN JBL JIMMY_HART JOHN_BRADSHAW_LAYFIELD LEX_LUGER MR_T NATALYA SAM_ROBERTS STEPHANIE_MCMAHON TRIPLEH HULK HOGAN Now Piper, it's your turn to feel what Hulkamania feels like coming down heavy on you, brother BRUCE PRICHARD Hulk Hogan was the greatest protagonist you can have and Roddy Piper was the greatest antagonist you could possibly have HULK HOGAN Piper was the opposite of Hulk Hogan He was the bad boy EDGE I had no idea where it was gonna go when he was on my screen HULK HOGAN There was legitimate heat between me and Piper I think it was detrimental to us really moving forward Oh, my God I was ready to have a nervous breakdown It was always a war HULK HOGAN We haven't had our last dance FREDDIE PRINZE JR We're going way back in time on this one and we're going to the early eighties It was good guy and bad guy It was a simple story and it was the birth of a beautiful rivalry It was with Hulk Hogan, who everyone believed in And it was one of the greatest heels of all time Rowdy Roddy Piper BOOKERT Piper was an icon in the business Those two figures, you know, just bigger than life NATALYA They're so different but both of them had, you know, definitely crossed over into mainstream popularity FREDDIE PRINZE JR It was the birth of WrestleMania It was the birth of MTV It was the birth of pop culture sort of as we know it Everything's on the line TRIPLEH There was this unwritten sort of rule within the wrestling industry that people owned certain territories, and there was like this gentleman's sort of agreement, I guess, that you didn't go into the other guy's territory HULK HOGAN You could work six months in Florida, six months in California, six months in Portland, six months in Texas I Wrestled in the AWA for like three years and I had the Hulkamania thing figured out I was selling t shirts, merchandise, headbands Started to Hollywood it up a little bit Really just defining that character and really getting it dialed in it TRIPLEH In this time frame as cable TV is coming along, Vince sees that cable TV coming and he, he realizes national expansion in front of the world is happening STEPHANIE MCMAHON He saw advertising He saw Hollywood He saw everything that WWE could be and more HULK HOGAN As soon as Vince had that cable signal to infinity and beyond, there was nowhere that Vince couldn't go with his vision and what he wanted to do, he now had the vehicle to get there and do what needed to be done STEPHANIE MCMAHON My dad recognized that America needed a hero they could believe in, and he took one look at Hulk Hogan and knew that that was the hero that needed to be the beacon for fans all over the world HULK HOGAN And the next thing I knew, Vince McMahon came to my house and he pretty much laid his vision out of the WWE becoming an international phenomenon, you know, taking over the whole world with the WWE HULK HOGAN It took me about seconds to say I'm in HULK HOGAN When I came to work for the WWE and for the McMahons, I had no idea what kind of momentum we were going to get Vince wanted Hulkamania to run wild and the rest is history EDGE Hulk Hogan for me was, was comic book come to life I couldn't fully grasp it, you know, from from my, my little kid brain It was just everything awesome SAM ROBERTS Roddy Piper first made a name for himself outside of the WWE in the midAtlantic and Portland Territories But right around , Vince McMahon realized that Roddy Piper was the guy that he wanted to be his main antagonist HULK HOGAN Piper was the opposite of Hulk Hogan He was the bad boy EDGE To me Roddy felt dangerous, and that's why I couldn't take my eyes off him I had no idea where it was going to go when he was on my screen And there is something really, really exciting and also scary about that BRUCE PRICHARD Hulk was red, white and blue and doing everything right And Roddy Piper was a cynical, just really nasty, evil man that despised everything that Hulk Hogan stood for HULK HOGAN There was legitimate heat between me and Piper HULK HOGAN Piper wanted the Hulk Hogan spot That's the nature of this business is to be the number one guy and to be the champion It was very verbal that, you know, Piper didn't like me I mean, really didn't like me Wrestling was approaching a fever pitch at that time Piper and Hogan were the two hottest wrestlers in the WWE TRIPLEH Everywhere you go, everybody is talking about Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper SAM ROBERTS In , some of the WWE superstars started appearing on MTV while at the same time, some of the heaviest hitters in the music industry started appearing on WWE shows STEPHANIE MCMAHON Roddy Piper at the time, his character was very anti rock and roll, you know, anti fun FREDDIE PRINZE JR Vince was always looking for outside things to help bring in new eyes and MTV was one of them And we get the rock and wrestling, which will never be used again, that term, but it was so perfect for the eighties DREW GULAK The Rock and Wrestling Connection was a marketing tool utilized by WWE and MTV to promote each other stars TRIPLEH You're seeing your favorite wrestlers on TV, and you're seeing them with these rock stars, and you're seeing them with Cyndi Lauper All of a sudden, this became mainstream popular SAM ROBERTS MTV was so invested in the rock and wrestling connection that they put together their own WWE event It was the show that featured the first match between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper FREDDIE PRINZE JR This was the inception point, the psychology of these two men, and the ability to tell their story all started at this moment HULK HOGAN Whenever I went in there against Piper, it was always a war I used to beat the shit out of him and he'd give it right back to me You had to take what you could get in there EDGE The war to settle the score I just remember like it feeling like chaos and it really felt like New York was going to come over that barricaded at any second MR T When I first jumped in the ring it was wild That's the only thing I can say, it was just wild DREW GULAK Hogan getting a clean pinfall or submission would have been the most satisfying way to conclude the match but unfortunately, that didn't happen HULK HOGAN There were still that old school mentality to protect myself Back then, he didn't want to put me over and that's why the finish was screwed up DREW GULAK Typically a disqualification in a match in the form of storytelling leaves a very unclear, unsatisfying closure to that story HULK HOGAN Now we've got MTV on our side New demo, new kids, new audience, you know, plugged in It was just like throwing big tanks of gas on the fire We knew once MTV got on board, this thing was going to be a monster SAM ROBERTS In the mid eighties Mr T was a huge star, celebrity, actor, household name, and so the WWE brought him in to elevate the Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper rivalry NATALYA That's why the rock and wrestling connection was so cool, because it was like a blend of what was hot BOOKERT It was hot NATALYA Yeah BOOKERT That was the beginning of Hollywood transforming over to professional wrestling, opposed to professional wrestling wanting to, you know, be Hollywood FREDDIE PRINZE JR That brings us to WrestleMania number one, which was a spectacle to say the least MR T Vince, being the pioneer that he is, he said, Wow, we're going to broaden and bring it to the world You got Cyndi Lauper there, you got the MTV crowd You got Mr T from The ATeam, that audience said now, people said, Wow, Mr T, you're gonna be in wrestling, oh wow! So what now, you're bringing in the world to it JOHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD It was a roll of the dice by Vince McMahon I mean, this was, he's trying to take over the world at this point He mortgaged his home He got everything into this This had to be a success BRET HART Roddy was very protective of the business When it came to wrestling, he was a very serious guy and took his job very serious and that's why he was as good as he was SAM ROBERTS It was kind of left to Hulk Hogan to kind of be the go between, between Roddy Piper and Mr T, allowing this high stakes story to be told HULK HOGAN The wrestlers at the time didn't have the mindset to understand how big this was going to be and my focus was on trying to keep this thing together Please don't run this guy off Please don't hurt him EDGE These were the two guys that hooked me on this thing And now they're each other's greatest rival And now they're the pieces to putting this thing on a national map HULK HOGAN Everything was on the line that night at WrestleMania I knew that Vince had given everything he had his whole life, was betting on that one night And I knew we better put on the best show we could and tear the roof off the Garden NATALYA With the inception of WrestleMania I, it wasn't just wrestling fans that were watching, it was people that watched MTV, bring those two worlds together and it feels even cooler and more magnified than ever before And that really brought in a whole different demographic to WWE HULK HOGAN When you get in the Garden, brother, it's like the Roman Coliseum for wrestlers And I'd been there a million times already, but for WrestleMania? Whoa Goosebumps as big as pimples all over my arms What is going on in here? The people knew the wrestling business was changing, but that was the highest vibration I've ever felt EDGE It all hinges on Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper and yeah, Cindy and Mr T But without those two, quite possibly an entirely different conversation we're having or maybe we're not having this conversation HULK HOGAN I came up on the ring apron and I pointed right at him, soon as I get in there I knew he was lit, I knew he was ready I said, We're gonna have a war tonight boys HULK HOGAN I was still trying to protect Mr T, so that Orndorff and Piper wouldn't break him in half They were really having a problem with each other It was like, and I'm here in the middle trying to be like, you know, the mother goose between all these guys and I'm like Oh my God, I was ready to have a nervous breakdown MR T Piper, he wasn't overpowered with muscles and all this stuff, but he knew the game He could wrestle and he could be tough He was tough BRUCE PRICHARD Without a great antagonist, the protagonist means nothing And if Hulk didn't have Roddy Piper to play off of, I don't know how big it would have been TRIPLEH This place is sold out It's the hottest ticket in town Closed circuit television, mainstream media, everywhere FREDDIE PRINZE JR One of the unique things about this rivalry is the way Piper would lose He didn't want to The protection of his character was very, very important to the man DVON DUDLEY But of course, now this gives privilege for Piper to now blame Orton for the loss FREDDIE PRINZE JR It's never Piper's fault DVON DUDLEY No, it's never Piper's fault FREDDIE PRINZE JR It's never Piper's fault BRET HART Roddy was a guy that was pretty strong on his positions in the sense that he wasn't going to just lay down for Hogan He protected himself HULK HOGAN I'd hit him with the cast to get somebody to stay down That's a premiere event like WrestleMania you want a clear winner and a loser HULK HOGAN He's the man that never got pinned I think because we didn't have an outcome, it was detrimental to us really moving forward So many disqualifications, so many count outs I mean, it just, I think the fans get tired of seeing that Where do you go from there? SAM ROBERTS Coming off of WrestleMania, the rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper kind of simmered down, without Hulk Hogan ever beating Piper by pinfall or submission, which left so much on the table for fans HULK HOGAN All in all, WrestleMania was a perfect springboard for what we needed to launch the WWE into the stratosphere We created a huge amount of positive momentum that parlayed into different TV deals and expanding the horizons beyond anywhere we'd been HULK HOGAN But Vince and myself and the whole WWE, we were all sent in different directions and Vince was moving to younger wrestlers at the time And it just seemed like the perfect time for us to mutually part ways because I just wasn't finished yet So it made sense to dig in and try to reinvent myself HULK HOGAN WCW, they were basically the number two company, not even in the same universe as the WWE Figured, you know, there were so many good wrestlers there And if I went to work there, I saw huge potential ERIC BISCHOFF The deal was easy It was a good fit for him and it was a good fit for us because we needed that kind of flagship character to let everybody know that we were really serious about being a competitor in the space HULK HOGAN The first night on pay per view and won the belt from Ric Flair You know, Shaq was at ringside Right away, kind of like made everybody take a double, like whoa, what's going on over here? JIMMY HART This guy that every night would pose, you had the people that loved Hulkster JIMMY HART But all of a sudden, the act was getting a little stale HULK HOGAN I kept going to the buildings, so I didn't feel that same energy, you know, when the Hulkamania was on track I had discussions with Eric Bischoff about me turning into a bad guy I'd seen Scott come in I'd seen Kevin come in and I'd seen the edge they put on the bad guy HULK HOGAN If I could not be Hulk Hogan, but if I can do this thing as Hollywood Hulk Hogan, you know, and come in with a really nasty edge on, I'll do it HULK HOGAN All the stuff that was thrown in the ring, the trash and the bottles It pissed some people off, and I knew that we were off and running LEX LUGER It's a new era of wrestling and man, for him to flip the switch like that and go bad guy Oooh, who would've thought the red and yellow would go black? ERIC BISCHOFF Everybody was getting punked Everybody was being disrespected DREW GULAK While Hogan was becoming the new face of WCW, Piper continued to work for WWE, both in and out of the ring DREW GULAK But there was definitely some unfinished business between them ERIC BISCHOFF We still needed a nemesis, and it was time to give WCW a shot in the arm HULK HOGAN You know, Eric told me, You know, we got a chance to bring Piper in, what do you think? Well, we haven't had our last dance SAM ROBERTS Over ten years removed from WrestleMania, Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan finally met again to resolve unfinished business DVON DUDLEY Piper never lost legitimately, he never got pinned It was either always a disqualification or a countout BOOKERT Piper in WCW, that's going to be so many more eyes This thing could get really, really big It just goes to show you how smart a guy like Hogan is to say, man, let me just go back to the drawing board HULK HOGAN Trying to reverse roles at this point in history, whereas Piper is the good guy and I was the evil guy Hogan can't beat Piper by himself, he's got to have three or four people hurt Piper, it added another dimension to the Piper character, because now he was against insurmountable odds ERIC BISCHOFF And Roddy, being Roddy, he was such a phenomenal performer He knew what that history meant to those fans DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE He'll fight the whole NWO, like, there's never any question about that JOHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD These were just two old, great legends that you just want to see ERIC BISCHOFF The fact that you could have a rivalry between Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan in the eighties and have it again in the nineties, speaks to their respective talents and their relationship with the audience HULK HOGAN It was a test You know, the stand your ground with Roddy because, you know, he wasn't backing up HULK HOGAN It made for a good evening of fun filled entertainment for me whenever I had to wrestle him SAM ROBERTS After all these years of Hulk Hogan being the top dog in the industry, it was striking to realize when the two met and a definitive victor was finally announced, it was Piper who came out on top HULK HOGAN We made progress, you know, in WCW with the storylines FREDDIE PRINZE JR So with the nonTitle victory, Piper earns a shot at SuperBrawl for the WCW championship ERIC BISCHOFF Whatever their personal feelings are, whatever the baggage is, whatever their histories are, whatever issues there were, once they step inside of the ring, they put all of that to the side HULK HOGAN Moving into that match with Piper, fans from to years ago could argue about who was the greatest wrestler who was going to win HULK HOGAN Did the best I could to be the coward and be the bad guy HULK HOGAN You get a gut feeling you know, when you're out there, the fans are tired of seeing the count out after count out after disqualification FREDDIE PRINZE JR years in the making for Hulk Hogan to get this clean victory over Rowdy Roddy Piper And it still isn't clean He gets some brass knuckles and that's how he gets the victory Of course, Piper protects his character at all cost BOOKERT That was Piper You know, Piper definitely was unique in that fact as far as, you know, taking care of his character, making sure he was protected at all times, making sure that he stayed at that same level even bigger than a Hulk Hogan, and that that's what Piper was all about ERIC BISCHOFF I thought when Roddy came in, I thought, this is going to be so hard to manage these two because I've heard all the horror stories, but I never got the sense that there was anything but respect Partly because Roddy had matured I think Roddy knew coming to WCW was for the most part, the end of his run thinking, okay, this is my last ride, I wanna go out having fun JIMMY HART I think as you get older, you get wiser Piper realized that Hulkster was never there to really take his spot, and I think Hulk realized Piper was not there to take his spot DIAMON DALLAS PAGE The drama that happens, that all dissipates I think those guys had a mega amount of respect for each other, but they both wanted to be the man FREDDIE PRINZE JR This didn't end the rivalry because I honestly think the rivalry would still be going on if Piper was still with us But it ended that story SAM ROBERTS After WCW ceased to be, Hulk Hogan ended up returning to the WWE, and once he put that red and yellow back on all the Hulkamaniacs were right back there with them FREDDIE PRINZE JR We get one more little shot of them at WrestleMania when Hogan goes back to the WWE And Vince is a very mean Vince McMahon at this point FREDDIE PRINZE JR They're going to have a match The head of the company is going to wrestle the man who helped build the company FREDDIE PRINZE JR Piper gets a pipe and just goes to town on Hulk Hogan and you feel as a fan as if there was a little bit more than just story trying to be told in that moment HULK HOGAN There's two guys out there that'll will do anything, anything to keep this this art form alive And we're so much alike It's scary JBL You know, two old guys always want to get over on each other I mean, you put Jordan and Bird out there I don't care what, one of them is going to try to get over on the other one And I think that's what it is with Piper and Hogan DREW GULAK Over the years, it felt like a bond formed between these two legends And I think that was most evident in when they were both inducted into the Hall of Fame SAM ROBERTS Unfortunately, that sad day did come in for every wrestling fan in the world When we found out that Roddy Piper had passed away HULK HOGAN Two days after Piper died, all of the sudden I get this voice message Ding I looked and I saw it was from Piper HULK HOGAN Very strange I know there's been delays in Texas if it's raining here in Florida The weather's weird, it may take an hour or so to get there, but two days after he passed to get that? You know You know, it's crazy I still have it at home JBL I've always thought, I don't know who belongs on the Mount Rushmore of greatest heels, but I know it starts with Roddy Piper, and there's no one close JIMMY HART There's two sides of a coin A heads and a tails Piper and Hogan together, unstoppable BRUCE PRICHARD It just was always a natural rivalry that people could relate to EDGE I'm so thankful that those two guys came together at the same time and I was watching at the age that I was HULK HOGAN It'll go down in history There will always be a Piper Hogan connection till the end of time HULK HOGAN That was just huge to even have that opportunity to come up and work for the McMahon family But it was a very uneasy time I actually told Vince Sr who was still very prevalent You know, I got this call from Sylvester Stallone to to do a Rocky movie Was this part called Thunder Lips He says No, you're not going to do it You know, you're a wrestler You're not an actor If you go to the movie, you're fired You'll never work here again So led to me, not ever supposedly coming back to the WWE again Think as soon as they saw me with Sylvester Stallone, it kind of like not only put me on the map, but it put the whole business on the map HULK HOGAN I originally came back, and the plan was to have the brush with Bob Bartman because Bob Bartman was the allAmerican guy who lost the vault to the Sheik Vince wanted me to wrestle the Iron Sheik We're doing the deal LEX LUGER I think even though he's not with us anymore, he lives on his presence is still felt HULK HOGAN There are certain wrestlers that people actually love so much that they stand the test of time HULK HOGAN We're so etched in stone with our characters and left such an indelible mark on this wrestling business that we had life after life