Despite being one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper never won the WWE Championship.
He was one of the top heels all across the world. Inside the ring, nobody could evoke the crowd like Roddy Piper.
His rivalry with Hulk Hogan is legendary, with him famously never being pinned by the former WWE Champion.
Piper also dabbled in acting, appearing a number of Hollywood movies, including cult classic They Live.
However, the one thing that evaded him was the WWE Championship, and Hulk Hogan has revealed why he never held the coveted belt in his career.
Hulk Hogan On Why Roddy Piper Never Won The WWE Championship
Speaking on an episode of Talk Is Jericho, Hulk Hogan revealed that Roddy Piper never won the WWE Championship because Vince McMahon couldn’t trust him in the ring.
Piper was famous was never letting anybody lose to him, especially his archenemies Hulk Hogan.
Because of this, Vince McMahon couldn’t trust that Roddy Piper would ever lose the WWE Championship. He couldn’t risk him holding his title hostage, so put the title on the likes of Randy Savage and Ultimate Warrior instead.
Piper if he would have done a job – I would have loved to switch the title with Piper a hundred times, but he wouldn’t do a job!
And I told Piper a month ago ‘Can you imagine how much money you’d have made if you’d just done a job with me, Piper?, and then as soon as he’d done the job, I’d say Hey Vince, he’s cool, and then I’d drop the belt to you.
I don’t get it – he worked himself into a shoot. He actually thought he was a tough guy. Piper, it’s a work!
I tease Piper too, I say ‘can you imagine the millions and millions of dollars you’d have made if you’d have just done one job for me? Dude, I’d have flipped that belt to you four or five times when I was doing those low budget movies!’
Hulk Hogan on why Roddy Piper never won the WWE Championship
Roddy Piper passed away in 2015, having never held a world championship in wrestling.
Lanny Poffo, the brother of the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, also gave his view on why Piper never held the WWE Championship.
Poffo revealed that somebody like Randy Savage was happy to lose the championship when his time was up, but Roddy Piper was always hesitant on losing any matches.
There was a worry that, if WWE put their world title on Roddy Piper, that he would refuse to ever lose and the belt would neevr leave his waste.
Speaking exclusively to Inside The Ropes’ own Keith Elliot Greenberg for issue 8 of Inside The Ropes magazine, Poffo explained:
“Randy was a businessman. He had no problem losing the Intercontinental Title to Ricky Steamboat or the World Title to Hulk Hogan.”
“You know how much I loved Roddy Piper. I still miss Roddy Piper. But you couldn’t have given the belt to Piper because they might not be able to take it off of him. Piper would have done anything to hold onto the title, would have been unreasonable about it. Randy wasn’t like that.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please H/T to Atletifo for the transcription
