WWE Bring it Back!: The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection

Cyndi Lauper is a guest on Piper's Pit: Tuesday Night Titans, May 29, 1984

Chaos ensues when "Rowdy" Roddy Piper interviews Cyndi Lauper on Piper's Pit and Captain Lou Albano takes credit for all of her success.


In the `80s, the Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection (R.W.C.) – an alliance between MTV’s wild, pop star Cyndi Lauper and the outrageous Superstars of WWE – propelled the squared circle into the upper stratosphere of pop-culture phenomenon. WWE.com has been chomping at the bit to see the second coming of this movement ever since.

During the R.W.C. era, WWE Superstars appeared in numerous MTV videos, created two music albums of their own and even lent their personalities to an animated television series Hulk Hogan’s Rock 'n' Wresting. The impact of this unlikely partnership served as a catalyst to intense WWE ring rivalries and helped hurl the WWE Universe into mainstream popularity – adding to the media invasion that culminated with the very first WrestleMania from Madison Square Garden.

Cyndi Lauper fires back at Fabulous Moolah: Saturday Night's Main Event

Mean Gene Okerlund talks to Cyndi Lauper about being the manager for Wendi Richter and their problems with Fabulous Moolah.

Who wouldn’t see the entertainment value in it happening all over again? Just picture the anarchy that would ensue from asking Superstars like WWE Champion CM Punk, Kane, Daniel Bryan and AJ to come together in song – in the style of the `80s "Land of a Thousand Dances."

Who wouldn’t want to see Maroon 5 square-off with Gym Class Heroes in a No Holds Barred Celebrity Music Match to become the first-ever Rock 'n' Wrestling Celebrity Champions? We’re talking more guitar assaults than the classic days of The Honky Tonk Man. 

Perhaps the leader of the Cenation might even take a page from another WWE icon, once again embracing his freestyle roots for a new animated series: John Cena’s Rap 'n' Wrestling. 

The benefits would be, by no means, one-sided. Although MTV has greatly evolved since the days of the R.W.C., it is long overdue for a dose of WWE. Imagine the “Situation” that could occur if WrestleMania alumni Snookie brought the powerful beauty of the entire Divas locker room to Jersey Shore.

Dick Clark presents Cyndi Lauper with an award in Madison Square Garden

Legendary broadcaster Dick Clark gets in the ring with Hulk Hogan, Capt. Lou Albano and an uninvited Roddy Piper during the height of the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection

Could the excruciating hijinks of Ridiculousness measure up to the absolute hilarity of Santino's YouTube web series Foreign Exchange? Imagine if All World's A.W. and The Prime Time Players took on Michael Cole and Booker T on The Challenge.

Moreover, if the R.W.C. did return, MTV might just start making more videos again. In the '80s, Cyndi Lauper set music television ablaze by putting WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano into a wall. Imagine if Big Show and his ironclad contract had been setting the curfew. Pink or Katy Perry might think that “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” However, it would take more than an arm bar to stop "The World’s Largest Father."

Music videos already took a big hit from last year's return of MTV’s resident critics Beavis and Butthead. Wait ‘til they get a load of the Pipebomb microphone of CM Punk, unleashing his special brand of musical tastes on Taylor Swift’s latest release.

No one can say for sure what effect that the revival of Rock 'n' Wrestling would have as a whole. But, whatever happened, there is no denying that it would be entertaining.

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