(The above video clip is from 1995. It is my tag-team BODY COUNT. The clip shows myself, my partner "Bull" Buchanan, and our manager "The Boss" Chance Williams as we work over Ricky Rockett. The video was done as a demo for ECW Wrestling and Paul E. Dangerously.)
"I experienced what we in the profession call the "silent scream" of pain, drugs and loneliness," says wrestling legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, 49, who has been in the business more than 30 years. "You're in your hotel room. You're banged up, numb and alone. You don't want to go downstairs to the bar or restaurant. The walls are breathing. You don't want to talk. Panic sets in and you start weeping. It's something all of us go through."
I was a professional Wrestler for seven years. Seven years of severe abuse to my body which included three back surgeries, a left knee reconstruction, 3 concussions, several broken bones and countless stitches. Wrestling was my job, but it never defined who I was or who I am. I include these photos on the site as a way to remind myself of the good times I had in the ring, and the people I met. The above quote from "Rowdy" Roddy Piper sums up the rest. If you are a young person and you are thinking that being a Pro Wrestler looks like fun......think about it. Then don't do it.
1997 This is the last promotional photo I ever took. I am holding the kitchen sink. Ya' gotta' love it!
1995 My favorite pose! I hope I look mean!
1995 A headlock on Mark youngblood in West Virginia.
1994 THE HARD RIDERS
A photo taken in 1994 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated columnist Bill Needham.
1994 The Hard Riders. Myself and tag-team partner Frankee Lawless.
1992 After I won my first title, the IWA United States Heavyweight Championship.
1993 Posing with tag-team partner Tommy Gun(R) and wrestling legend and six-man tag-team partner Chief Wahoo McDaniels.
1993 Tommy Gunn and I with friend and trainer "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff, WWF Hall of Fame wrestler.
1993 Me and Handsome Jimmy "The Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant, my mentor and close friend. Jimmy taught me everything I needed to know about the wrestling business, and I still use some of what I learned today. Jimmy is also a WWF Hall of Fame wrestler.
1993 Me and WWF star Tatanka in the dressing room at a show in Concord, NC. This is when both of us were in South Atlantic Pro Wrestling.
1994 Hamming it up with friend and former boss, "Nature Boy" Buddy Landell.
1993 Posing with then sponsor Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of '80's heavy metal band QUIET RIOT.
1993 Striking a pose with six-man tag-team partner "White Lightning" Tim Horner, a former NWA and WCW star.
1991 Six-Man tag team action! Tommy Gunn is working the arm of the Wild Samoan as Wahoo McDaniels and I look on from the outside.
1992 The one and ONLY time I wore a feather boa. It just wasn't me.
1992 Pounding on The Executioner in the corner!
1991 I was 1/2 of the tag-team "The Exotics" with parner Tommy Gunn.
1991 Yep, thats me! I had to fill in for the Russian Executioner one night in Georgia. I felt more like a masochist.
1993 Promotional photo. Was I ever that young???
1993 My attempt at the stripper facial expression.
1994 Promotional photo of me after I won the Southern Heavyweight Championship.
1995 I was part of a tag-team called The Hard Riders. My partner Frankee Lawless(L)and I are posing in the dressing room with the late Hercules Hernandez, a WWF superstar in the 1980's.
1995 My next tag-team, Body Count, was with "Bull" Buchanan. We are seen here with our NCW World Tag-Team Championship belts. Bull later went to the WWE and was a part of a team called, "Right to Censor."
1996 I am standing at the grave of General J.E.B. Stuart at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
1995 PWI magazine cover after winning the NWA World Heavyweight Title.
1996 New tag-team partner David Young and I after winning the NCW World Tag-Team Titles. David wrestles in TNA Wrestling today.
1996 Promotional photo outside a prison in North Carolina.
1996 I became "Heavy Metal" as I changed my look to the popular grunge-rocker. It was my most successful look.
1996 Promotional photo with ECW star Kidd Kash.
1995 Goofing for the camera at a Wal-Mart autograph session in Tennessee.
1997 EXTREME MATCH!! I am being choked with an axe-handle by "The Bull" Scott Raines. This was one of my last matches before I retired in 1997.
1996 OFF THE TOP ROPE! I wasn't a high-flyer, but I could do it if I had to.
1996 Cutting an interview with my Manager, "The Boss" Chance Williams.
1996 I am not a smoker, but the photographer thought it made me look mean. Oh well.
Valets came and went in my career, but Asia was the best I ever had. She helped revive my then dying gimmick.
1996 Asia and I in our first photo shoot. She was scared to death, and I just wanted to go back to sleep.
1996 Posing on a pile of smashed VCR's.
1996 Passport photo. I had 8 earrings! Lord!
1994 The bodybuilder pose. These poses look so cheesy that I laugh every time I see the pictures.
1993 The bodybuilder pose Part II. I'm still laughing...
Ahh, to be young again! A dippy pose, but I'll never see THAT body again.
1993 At Myrtle Beach, SC after a big match the night before.
1993 This is my idea of wearing a suit!
1995 The cowboy pose. This was the look that Abdullah the Butcher wanted me to use touring Japan. John Wayne I am not.
1988 The one thing in my life I have done that gives me the greatest pride. My three years in the U.S. Army Field Artillery. This photo was taken at Fort Sill, OK.
2008 Hamming it with Matt Katula, long-snapper for the Baltimore Ravens, after a golf tournamant for his charity foundation.
2008 Posing with two Baltimore Raven cheerleaders at the first annual Matt Katula Foundation golf tournament in Havre De Grace, Maryland.
2006 This is me at my table at the Chantilly, Virginia Civil War relics show in April.
Posing with two good friends, and two mentors. Author and publisher Michael J. O Donnell (L), and Gary Williams, owner of the Hanover Brass Foundry (R). We had just finished a dig on the Cold Harbor battlefield.
With three good friends and ARH Fakes Forum members. From the left: Mark Owen, Dale Osef, Gary Williams, and ME! This is after a good dig on the Cold Harbor battlefield.
Me and Philadelphia's most listened to morning talk-radio host, Michael Smerconish. Michael can be heard on THE BIG TALKER 1210 AM between 5:30a and 9:00a. Visit his website at www.mastalk.com.
This is the definition of a sh*t-eating grin! In Toronto, Canada at a function in 2007.
A cozy pose with Monday Night Football's Melissa Stark. My wife HATES this picture!
The true love of my life, my wife Rita, or Mrs. Savage. She keeps me grounded and moving straight.......sort of.
My wife always thinks I look sad here. Women never understand hangovers.
My lovely bride and I together in 2003. I really love being married! (Minus the yardwork...)
Take me to Margaritaville ANY day!
Savage-Station.com Autograph Collection
You gotta' love Uncle Ted Nugent! HOO-RAA!
1960's Country Music Star Ronnie Dove. Still going strong at age 71. A real inspirational person to be around. Go to www.ronniedove.com for more information.
Rickey Medlocke is one of the founders of the legendary Southern Rock band Blackfoot, and currently plays lead guitar for Lynryd Skynrd. He is an old friend, and one of the most versatile musicians I have ever seen.
Late 1980's Heavy Metal band Firehouse. Just a bunch of out-of-control North Carolina country boys that knew how to write hits.
I have been listening to Jimmy Buffett since I was six years old. His songs chronicle my life.
Arcade was the band formed by the singer of Ratt, and the drummer of Cinderella. A few good songs, but the early '90's were the death of the hair-bands.
Kansas did one of the best concerts I have ever seen. They were the most sucessful of the late 1970's commercial rock bands.
I knew Hootie & the Blowfish before they got their big break. A greater bunch of guys you'll never find.
Night Ranger was one of the classic '80's bands.
Quiet Riot was one of my favorite bands in High School, so it was a thrill to work with them. "Bang your Head."
King Yellowman is a reggae legend from Jamaica. Ever ting gwon be IRIE mon!
Winger got a bad rap. They were a very good band.
Stetson was the drummer from Blackfoot, and then for hard rock band W.A.S.P. A good friend.
NASCAR Mobil 1 race-car driver Ryan Newman.
NASCAR racing legend Mario Andretti. Short guy, but a firm handshake.
I had a chance to hang out with Shannon Wiseman in Washington, D.C. Nice North Carolina gal! I like the TV show as well...
HBO and Saturday Night Live comedian Dave Reilly is hilarious!
Comic legend Scott Bruce, host of PBS's "The Pennsylvania Game," and author of IT HAPPENED IN PENNSYLVANIA. Can you tell he's a Yankee?
Melissa Stark was the sideline queen of ABC's Monday Night Football. She was niiiiice!!
Colonel Oliver North is a real American hero and patriot. It was an honor to shake his hand.
I met boxing legend Muhammed Ali in 1986. He will always be the champ.
Jimmy Valiant was a close friend and mentor for many years.
Vlad Koloff was part of the Ivan and Nikita family. A great guy to work with.
Tully Blanchard was my manager for a while, and a good spiritual counselor.
The Fantastic's were some of the first big names I worked with in my wrestling career.
Uncle Ivan Koloff was my trainer, and my first mentor in the business.
