Teal Piper Won’t Wear Her Father’s Gear To The Ring, Thinks It’s Cool Ronda Rousey Wants To Honor His Legacy

In an interview with Wrestling Inc, Teal Piper said that she has no plans of wearing any of her late father Roddy Piper’s old wrestling gear to the ring, but enjoys that Ronda Rousey does so to honor his legacy. Here are highlights:

On wearing her father’s gear and Rousey wearing his jacket: “I will not be wearing my dad’s gear if that’s what you’re wondering. As far as getting anything back, I promise our family will have everything of his at some point, so, I’m not worried about that… Me personally, that’s the same jacket my dad put on me as like a five year old, you know? So I have such a sentimental appreciation for all of his stuff; I would feel weird wearing it to the ring. And more than that, especially as his kid, it’s a bit in-your-face to be showing up in his gimmick. I want to be my own person. So while my costume will have nods to him, it’s definitely not going to be the same style you see Ronda Rousey in.”

On Rousey honoring his legacy: “Ronda, for me personally, I wasn’t a huge MMA fan until she came on the scene and I just fell in love with her. Regardless of training with Judo Gene LeBell and coming from the same fighting family that my father came from, I just loved what she was doing for MMA. So I was already on her team when she came into the light, and I was actually in the room when she was talking to my dad about using the name ‘Rowdy’ back for MMA years ago. As far as knowing her personally, I only met her for the first time at WrestleMania this year. But I’ve really been honored that she has wanted to pay such a tribute to my dad, and I think it’s really cool for her and it’s really neat to see the Rowdy name main-eventing but for the first time as women at Wrestlemania this past year.”

On her dad being proud of her: “I always say that my dad would have been so proud of me. I think that out of everywhere, he would have really loved me being with WOW, because he would always say he had three daughters and he’s a feminist at heart. I think he would have been really proud of everything WOW is doing and the way they represent all the young ladies there… My dad used to say, ‘You might not think wrestling is real but I can make you believe that I am.’ So, I don’t know, [wrestling] feels pretty real, so I’m just training as hard as I can and trying to bring aspects of my personality into WOW.”

On establishing her own name: “I would like to establish a brand separate from my father. I mean, most of my life I was doing that – I’ve always worked under his biological name, not his stage name. And it wasn’t until wrestling that it just felt weird not to use his name in wrestling and not embrace being his kid in wrestling. Like, you can’t just pretend that didn’t happen. But I hope that as people see me perform and stuff, they’ll – I don’t want my dad’s legacy to be forgotten and I want to build upon it, but I don’t want to [and] I can’t build upon his legacy, I can only add to the story of the Pipers in general. So, his legacy is built. There isn’t anything that’s going to change that. But I hope to start my own brand and to be recognized for my own creative things in the ring, and performances, and all of that. Like, I hope to expand and not just talk about what used to be.”