In this article:
TALKIN' SHOP: Players' fave movies, CDs, books and how to buy them
Tales of the tape: Vital stats on The Rock and Mike Piazza
Baseball vs. Wresting: what do athletes think?
Listen to outtakes from the interview
Quick Poll: Baseball vs. Wrestling -- which do YOU pick?
Photo Gallery: The Rock + Mike Piazza mug

What is America's favorite national pastime -- right now? Well, to settle the issue once and for all, USA WEEKEND brought together for their first meeting ever two sports titans, wrestling's The Rock and baseball's Mike Piazza. At this once-in-a-lifetime smackdown, no chairs were thrown; no rhubarbs erupted. Instead, these two champs were surprised to discover they had so much in common, including an appreciation of fans, fame and -- yes, folks -- Fabio.

By Dennis McCafferty

USA WEEKEND: Mike, you were a wrestling fan as a kid. Who were your favorites?

Piazza: I used to watch two shows a day on Saturday. I couldn't wait for wrestling. One of my favorites was Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. He was one of the more acrobatic-type guys. He jumped off the top rope, just to smack somebody. It started a trend.

USA WEEKEND: Did it teach you any moves that you use on your fellow Mets?

Piazza: No. Someone could get hurt.

USA WEEKEND: Rock, were you a fan of baseball growing up?

Rock: Absolutely. I remember watching the World Series in 1981. The Dodgers and Yankees. I remember being glued to the whole series. That was awesome. I played baseball as a kid, until I got whacked in the head.

USA WEEKEND: OK, on to the main topic. What's the nation's real pastime: baseball or wrestling?

Rock: Baseball's been around for years and years, before the turn of the century. But wrestling has been around since the Greek days, way back when.

USA WEEKEND: Ahh. So wrestling is more of a tradition.

Rock: Definitely. It's been around a lot longer.

USA WEEKEND: Mike, The Rock makes a strong case.

Piazza: With all due respect to wrestling, it's brute force. We're artists in a way. We encompass the whole realm of athletics: artistry, gracefulness ...

Rock: I have to interject. We're essentially artists. You can hold 40,000 screaming fans in the palm of your hand, and with a simple eyebrow movement have them go crazy. Then you shut them off. Just like that. Silence. There's something magical about that.

Piazza: You're right. I can strike out with bases loaded, and I don't have anybody in the palm of my hand. But the unpredictability of baseball is the beauty of it.

Rock: Obviously. Baseball is a legitimate sport, and we do entertainment. We put on a two-hour movie every week. But we have the largest athlete in the world: 7-foot, 2-inch, 500-pound Big Show. He's gifted.

Piazza: But he couldn't hit a 95-mph fastball.

USA WEEKEND: You could, Mike. But what sort of wrestler would you be?

Piazza: I could be Bo Jackson and do the two-sport thing. I'd be the Italian Stallion. Kind of a Rocky type of guy. But a bad guy.

Rock: The Italian Stallion? I can see that. Nice-looking guy. He's got the 'stache going.

Piazza: That would be my trademark.

USA WEEKEND: Go with that, Rock. Plan Mike's career as the New York Mets' only wrestler.

Rock: How great would it be if Mike Piazza had music? Shea Stadium would go crazy. He'd come up to bat, grab a microphone ...

Piazza: ... and "lay the smack down."

USA WEEKEND: That's WWF lingo for talkin' trash, readers. So what smack would you lay down to, say, Roger Clemens?

Piazza: I'd say, "Can you smell what I'm cookin' ''?

USA WEEKEND: Quoting The Rock, eh? Help him out, Rock. He needs a little more advice.

Rock: I can see storylines in the dugout. One player's girlfriend is caught on a date with another player. Typical drama. You get a mike on the players. Say, Mike's up to bat and he's gotten beaned. Then he throws the bat down, goes for the pitcher, and the pitcher turns around and jets for center field with Mike chasing him around.

Piazza: That just happened, by the way.

Rock: Or Mike comes charging, the pitcher takes a swing. Mike ducks, hooks and "Rock Bottoms" him. Wham! Right in the middle of the field.

Piazza: I feel like doing that many times.

USA WEEKEND: So baseball and wrestling both have their dramas?

Rock: The beauty of our industry is that we control everything that happens. Now, Mike isn't going to be dropping "The People's Elbow" on [Mets manager] Bobby Valentine in the middle of Shea in front of 70,000 people. But the Rock can do that and still keep his job. Baseball players have to remain politically correct.

USA WEEKEND: Well, with the trouble John Rocker of the Atlanta Braves got into after making racist remarks ...

Rock: That was just stupidity.

Piazza: It's unfortunate, because it puts us in a bad light. He can get his point across without crossing the line. Like these wrestlers do. You can bust on someone. But when you hit personal issues, that's ridiculous.

USA WEEKEND: Mike, Rock has the eyebrow thing. What can you do to whip crowds into a frenzy?

Piazza: When I roll up my sleeve. I've got 18-inch guns. They're not Mark McGwire guns, but they're pretty good. One time, I was running laps in Wrigley Field and all the bleacher bums started getting on me, throwing things at me. So I started rolling up my sleeves and posing for them. They went nuts. They were throwing beer at me. And I'm like, "You want some of this?" It was hilarious. I'm going to do it again this year.

Rock: In our industry, we work for that. I worked for 30,000 people chanting, "Rocky stinks!"

USA WEEKEND: Now drop some names. Which celebrities are your fans?

Rock: Jack Nicholson. I was at the Emmys, in my dressing room. Somebody says, "Hey, Jack Nicholson was just looking for you." I went right out, knocked on his door, and he's there. He says, "Rock, you're doing a great job, kid. Keep up the good work."

Piazza: Charlie Sheen. Jerry Seinfeld. What's funny is that Fabio is a good friend of mine. He's a great guy. One time, we went out for breakfast. We're sitting at a place on Sunset Boulevard [in Los Angeles]. All of a sudden, this tour bus comes up and they start taking pictures, and the tour guide is saying, "There's Mike Piazza and Fabio having breakfast!" It was surreal.

USA WEEKEND: The female-fan thing can get crazy, right? Mike, you have some woman in Washington state screening your mail.

Piazza: Yeah, that's a funny story. My minor-league roommate's mom started doing mail as a favor to me. She screens out some of the more, umm, graphic letters. It's better not to be tempted, you know? But she's a married retired mother of four grown children. So it is funny.

Rock: With me, at least, I'm married. But you still get female fans who don't care. Our company screens all the mail.

Piazza: Nothing surprises me anymore. I could see a girl hanging outside my window on a window-washer stand ...

Rock: ... naked ...

Piazza: ... yeah, and I'd be just like, "Whatever."

USA WEEKEND: OK, let's get a little serious. A lot of people have concerns about violence -- kids getting hurt because someone's doing "The Rock Bottom" in the schoolyard.

Rock: As a responsible parent, it's important that you monitor what your kids are watching. At times, our show is edgy. At times, it's sexual. But we're G-rated compared to what you can see on other television shows. Nobody gets killed or raped on our shows. For a parent to blame what their kids have done on me is ridiculous. That's like kids playing baseball out on the street and getting hit, then saying it happened because they watch Mike Piazza on TV.

Piazza: The real problem in society is the breakdown of the family structure. I loved wrestling as a kid. But my parents talked to me about it, so I enjoyed it as entertainment. If a kid feels this is real life, then the kid has other issues. Unfortunately, with society today, parents are not as apt to talk to their kids.

USA WEEKEND: Would you feel comfortable if your 8-year-old nephew went to a WWF show?

Piazza: I'd go with him.

Rock: I have no problem with kids at our show. But is our entire show for kids? No. Our weekend shows are produced specifically for kids. RAW, when it's on from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., it's time to put the kids to bed.

USA WEEKEND: The Rock was No. 5 on Entertainment Weekly's list of top entertainers -- ahead of Julia Roberts -- and one of People magazine's "sexiest" men of 1999. That's a lot of clout. How do you compare, Mike?

Rock: He was on the cover of GQ.

Piazza: Yeah. I wore a Ralph Lauren suit. It was a killer. I went after the Clark Gable look and I pulled it off.

USA WEEKEND: Rock, you were on Martha Stewart's show. Details?

Rock: I baked cookies. My wife came out and I gave her a big Valentine's Day cookie and it said, "I love you.''

USA WEEKEND: Could Martha Stewart cut it in wrestling?

Rock: There's a spot for everybody in the WWF. She'd be hitting people over the head with cookies that have steel plates inside them.

USA WEEKEND: What's the weirdest thing you see written about you on the Internet?

Piazza: There's this rumor going around I'm gay. There are too many outlets for information and not enough information.

Rock: Perception becomes reality. I get it all the time [on the Web]: I was arrested when I wasn't. The Rock isn't winning a title because he's hard to deal with and, for the next six months, he's on probation.

USA WEEKEND: OK, in the end, what's the national pastime?

Piazza: Baseball will always be America's pastime.

Rock: That's what Mike Piazza says. Wrestling was around before baseball and will be around after baseball's over and done with. The WWF will always be "The People's Sport."

USA WEEKEND: Can Mike at least be "The People's Ballplayer"?

Rock: The Rock has already granted him that status.

Piazza: All right!

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Want to find out lots more about The Rock, Mike Piazza and their WWF and baseball buddies -- like what music they listen to before a big event, what movies they watch to relax, and even what books they read? Fabio tells us he likes Peter Benchley's Jaws ("It's much better than the movie"), but, hey, @ Talkin' Shop, we've got lots more faves from the field and the ring (and how you can order them from Amazon.com).

Sound bites from the interview: Excerpt A Excerpt B Excerpt C

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America's Pastime

Baseball or Wrestling?

San Francisco Giants catcher Bobby Estalella: "It's always been baseball, but at the rate wrestling is going, it's going to be right up there."

World Championship Wrestling star Goldberg: "In the crazy world we live in, pro wrestling, of course, is America's favorite pastime."

Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra: "Baseball. Baseball has the nostalgia and history behind it."

World Wrestling Federation's Kurt Angle: "[In the] new millennium, wrestling has taken over because people enjoy the excitement. We are always in action -- no off-season -- and there are never any 0-0 games."

Anaheim Angels first baseman Mo Vaughn: "Honestly, I think it's wrestling. When I heard that a WWF event I attended sold out in 20 minutes, I couldn't believe it. The place was crazy."

WWF wrestler Eddie Guerrero: "Wrestling, for one simple reason: You can never strike out."

New York Mets pitcher Rick Reed: "I love baseball. But when I'm not playing, I make it my business to find out when the WWF is on and be in front of the TV. Nothing's more entertaining."

WWF wrestler Big Bossman: "Wrestling. You have excitement each and every second, while in baseball, you have to wait for each and every pitch."

Colorado Rockies second baseman Mike Lansing: "Baseball is America's game, but away from the ballpark I enjoy professional wrestling."

WCW's Ric Flair: "Wrestling. Just look at the ratings ... WOOOOO!"

-- By Jennifer Mendelsohn

Photographs by Uli Rose/Stockland Martel for USA WEEKEND