Paul Andrew Hawthorne/WireImage"Rowdy" Roddy Piper's gonna teach that pain is a four-letter-word all right—in the N-E-C-K.
The wrestling icon and sometime film actor is in a world of hurt after an MRI recently revealed he had a broken neck.
Piper checked into the UCLA Medical Center and will undergo surgery today to fix the problem, which was discovered after he experienced some neck pain—nothing unusual really in his line of work...until doctors looked at the X-rays.
"Well Tweets. In 5 hours I'm being taken on a hard battle. I'll be 10 days in hospital, Doctors told me," he wrote on his Twitter page. "So I figure give me a day!"
Hot Rod explained that the injury apparently occurred when he was doing Fantasy Factor and WWE Access, but he never knew what hit him.
"I hurt all the time. I just thought the neck injury will go away. But after couple months my neck is hurting worse. No sleep from pain," he tweeted, before adding, "So I got to best Doctors in Country. When Doc saw the MRI's he went into 911 attitude fast. So now at 10 a.m. there cutting me open!"
Piper took the news of the operation in typical stride.
"So just for the record, I beat, The Miz, Terry Funk, and 2 other guys with a brikrn neck!! And the Raws and WM where I broke it!" he noted.
Despite the seriousness of the surgery, leave it to the They Live star to chew bubble gum, kick ass and crack jokes at the same time.
"There's a bright side of geeting neck cut off," he told his devoted fans. "You get to wear bumless house coats. Great jello...help me out here!"
And just before heading into the OR, the 57-year-old Piper held his head high like the indefatigable Scottish warrior he's known to be.
"GOT TO GO AND GET CUT NOW! THERE USING ALL THE SMARTS THEY HAVE AT UCLA. I SAY, BRING IT ON!! CUT DEEP!! I'M NOT AFRAID ONE BIT!!! he tweeted.
Get well, Roddy, and hope to see you back in the ring soon.