Doudrop recalls how she went from Viper to Piper Niven.
Before ever stepping foot in a WWE ring, Doudrop competed on the independent circuit as Viper. When she came to North America to compete in the 2017 Mae Young Classic, she also debuted a new moniker; Piper Niven.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Doudrop shared how that name came to be and clarified that it had nothing to do with the late-great Rowdy Roddy Piper.
"No. What it actually was, so it kind of came about accidentally. Back when I was being scouted for the Mae Young Classic, they were like, 'Oh yeah, you'll be able to," because back then I was called Viper. They were like, 'Oh yeah, you'll be able to be called Viper.' I said, 'Okay. Are you sure? Are you definitely sure?' They're like, 'No, yeah, that's no problem.' Then three weeks before I was due to leave on the flight, they called me and were like, 'Hey, you can't be called Viper so you're going to have to think of a new name.' So I was like, 'Goddammit. Because all of my gear was either snake skinned or had the word Viper on it.' I was like, 'Okay, this is a problem.' I was actually sitting in the office of my mom and dad's business at the time and so my dad, typical dad, always used to have a, 'Oh, you should get a real job. You should do this and you should do that.' So I used to play bagpipes and my dad never quite got over that I stopped playing bagpipes. I'm sitting there and trying to think of a name and me and my mom are trying to come up with stuff and he just randomly calls out, 'You should have never given up the pipes, you should be a bagpiper.' I was like, [gasps] 'Piper!' It was a big eureka moment. I was like, 'Thanks dad,' and he had no idea what he just did," Doudrop shared.
Piper Niven would eventually sign with WWE in 2019, performing on the NXT UK brand along with the likes of Rhea Ripley and Toni Storm. She made her Raw debut in June 2021 as the protege of Eva Marie. She has since gone on to become one of the linchpins of Raw's women's division and is scheduled to challenge Becky Lynch for the Raw Women's Championship at the Royal Rumble.
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