WCW was lobbying hard to bring Piper in in ‘89 and it looks like he was at least strongly considering it.
From my notes: WWF refused Piper's request to plug They Live. NWA/JCP agreed to plug it however.
Flair badly wants Piper in NWA.
At the above show that was tweeted/pictured, Piper shook hands with both Sting and Flair before the main event.
Piper's wife was pregnant at this point and he wasn't interested in being too far from home.
Feb 89ish: Linda McMahon tells New Jersey State Senate that wrestling is fake so WWF shouldn't have to worry about the athletic commission. "A Current Affair" did a story on this and Piper is interviewed. He calls McMahon "a liar".
Feb 89: Roddy Piper, who had been out of wrestling since 1987 due to a lawsuit involving him being electrocuted, where he claimed that injuries suffered as a result left him unable to wrestle ever again. The lawsuit was just settled, so Piper is suddenly fine and ready to wrestle again.
"Apparently the NWA agreed to Roddy Piper's request for a $500,000 one-year wrestling deal and NWA folks even claim Piper gave a verbal ok to the deal. However Piper's agent, David Wolfe is a lot tighter with Titan and McMahon was able to convince Piper to work the Wrestlemania shot. Officially, Piper is only committed to the one non-wrestling appearance for Titan, and supposedly, NWA head honcho Jim Herd actually flew to New York on Monday (skipping the PPV event in Chicago) to meet with Piper about signing the one-year wrestling deal, but I'd say it is 98% certain that if Piper is appearing at Wrestlemania that he isn't going to be wrestling in the NWA." - Mar 1, 89 Observer
– Dave thinks that there’s going to be a major name jumping soon as the logical escalation of the war, and Vince desperately wants it to be Sting but his contract doesn’t expire until May. Turner desperately wants Hulk Hogan but that would be out of the financial realm of possibility for even WCW. FOR NOW. Both sides are talking to Piper, and the wild card is Barry Windham. \
July 89 - Mando Guerrerro attempting to get Mil Mascaras and Roddy Piper for a promotion in California and surrounding states
The AWA Team Challenge Series Roddy Piper to captain one team. Verne tried to sell the concept to other channels including TBS – With the impending debut of the American Gladiators show in syndication, Verne Gagne is now pitching his own version in what would become the Team Challenge Series. The idea is to do a 52 week series with three teams of wrestlers competing for points, captained by Larry Zbyszko, Sgt. Slaughter and Roddy Piper (?!). The show would basically run exclusively on PPV and home video
Teams announced as Team USA (Slaughter) West Coast Waves (Piper) Larry’s Legends Each team was to have 3 men a lady and a midget . Fans were to vote on a 1900 number for stips Piper wanted to book Portland, so this may have been his back up plan instead of WWF 6 VHS videos planned (including Fitness and healty eating)
Piper continued to book Portland after going back on the road with WWF
