Spicy's Triple Topic- The Bryant Gumbel Show, HBO

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Originally, this Triple Topic was supposed to be about the new US Title. But since I just saw that Bryant Gumbel show on HBO, I will be discussing him and his segment he had with McMahon and Roddy Piper.

1. Roddy Piper didn't seem his crazy self. For once in his life I think he was being serious about something. It was really weird to see him open up the way he did. What do you think would have been the propper way for the WWE to release the Piper?

2. Vince McMahon had a little hissy fit with the interviewer, but I can't blame him. The guy was a dick with these questions about something he obviously didn't understand. But honestly, should McMahon be blamed for the deaths of wrestlers that had worked under him in WWF and have recently died?

3. And finally, umm, let's see...hold on I had it...OH! I got it!!!.....wait, nope, lost it....well, I guess this will only be a double topic. Fill in any topic you want to here, I guess. Sorry to dissapoint.

"It's the greatest discovery since I found a meal between Breakfast and Brunch!"

[walking joint]

i can only really respond to one of these right now:

3. i haven't seen this yet...when is it on again. i want to watch it.

[Heather 8]

1. I think if WWe simply said, ''Roddy Piper and WWE have parted ways'' without going into details (much like they did with Jeff Hardy, for example), it would have at least seemed more professional. Instead, in their statement on WWE.com, they make Piper sound like the new (?) Scott Hall (''...he used drugs for many years while working in professional wrestling...'' ''...assist Piper from engaging in any self destructive behavior''). By taking these digs at him, they came across as petty and bitter as Piper seems himself.

2. When it comes to the drug deaths over the years, the wrestlers lose their lives because of their own choices, not because of Vince McMahon. Considering a lot of these deaths happen when the wrestlers in question are no longer employed by WWF/E, it's pretty hard to claim that Vince is the reason so-and-so popped that last pill or snorted that last line of coke.

3. Boy, that Triple H sure is a dick, isn't he?

(sorry, have to go with the old standby ;) )



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[Se7en]

1. Roddy Piper didn't seem his crazy self. For once in his life I think he was being serious about something. It was really weird to see him open up the way he did. What do you think would have been the propper way for the WWE to release the Piper?

Regardless of what he's done in his life and his career, I genuinely believe that Piper cares about the younger people in this business, which is why he gave that interview. He had to have known that the interview would not play well with the WWE, or, as Dave Meltzer put it, he had to have known he was cutting the throat on his career.

I think he did it anyway, because he felt that it was necessary to draw attention to THE most serious problem facing the wrestling industry today. How many wrestlers have died in the past 5 years due to drug-related infirmities? More than I can count. There's been a few this year alone. From painkillers to the harder stuff, it's a major problem in the business, and I think that Piper, given his history of abuse, felt that he needed to be open and honest because he's afraid that this cycle will continue and that there will be dozens more wrestlers being put in the ground by the time they reach 40.

There was no proper way for them to release him. It was damage control. In typical Vince fashion, though, they canned him with a press release making it seem as if he was both a) a major drug addict currentlt and b) suicidal.


2. Vince McMahon had a little hissy fit with the interviewer, but I can't blame him. The guy was a dick with these questions about something he obviously didn't understand.

I disagree. I thought Vince acted like a total ass, and was an embarassment to every single one of us who considers themselves a wrestling fan.

I said it in another thread in this forum: Vince, arguably, has done more for the business than anyone. But he had damn well done more AGAINST what this business was about / is supposed to be about than any other soul on this planet.


But honestly, should McMahon be blamed for the deaths of wrestlers that had worked under him in WWF and have recently died?


He bares some of the blame, yes.

Not total blame. People like Davey Boy Smith and Curt Henning had been gone from the WWE for at least a year or more before their death.

But Vince is KNOWN to look the other way at the drug abuse of his workers (unless it gets so egregious that it cannot be ignored - like with Eddie Guerrero, who was fired and then eventually rehired, and most recently with Jeff Hardy). He's done this a great deal in the 80s or 90s. The shit that he let Pillman get away with - and no one will convince me that he didn't know the shit Pillman was doing, as it was common knowledge how fucked up Brian was in the last months of his life - is a good, horrifying example.

Drug tests in the WWE are a joke. Steroids are probably common (unless you really think HHH got that physique by saying his prayers and eating his vitamins), as are painkillers, and harder drugs are not out of the question. Vince tests only selectively.

So is he responsible? Partly. He certainly allows this culture to exist. At the least, he turns a blind eye towards it (until it becomes too noticeable, such as with Hardy). And that's enough guilt in my eyes.

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Is the Captain a member of the proud <b>2%</b>?

[SpicyMcHaggis]

Thank you Se7en for your reply. It was well thought out and certainly made a great point. Looking back on the part where Vince hit the interviewers papers, I now understand where you are coming from. And from what I had read, the only reason he did that was because he had been asked the same question many times that day, and that interviewer just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Vince certainly had no excuse for acting the way he did.

"It's the greatest discovery since I found a meal between Breakfast and Brunch!"

[Hosp]

unless you really think HHH got that physique by saying his prayers and eating his vitamins


No silly, Ico Pro.

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<center>I've given up on wit for abject hostility.</center>

[SpicyMcHaggis]

I seriously thought it was from those seven months of straight lifting he did while out on the leg injury.

"It's the greatest discovery since I found a meal between Breakfast and Brunch!"

[FatTony]

I actually thought it was common knowledge that Triple H and Mark McGwire both used that Andro stuff that supposedly isn't really a steroid. Even for Trips to make that statement would bring up the question as to why his arms look nothing like McGwires. McGwires arms look halfway normal whereas Trips and also Steiners don't. They look too veiny and it is a well known fact that steroids cause Veins to pop out.

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"They always