This contribution proposes a new rheology-based model for water-hammer wave propagation in visco-elastic pipes. Using a long wavelength analysis and a generalized frequency-dependent Hooke-law for the stress/strain relation, the pressure/longitudinal stress coupled wave system is derived. In this general framework, a visco-elastic Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) four equations model is derived by having four visco-elastic kernels associated with the nonlocal time response of the visco-elastic solid. The explicit dependence of these kernels with the material creep function and the pipe dimension is found. Considering a general linear visco-elastic rheology, the four visco-elastic kernels, and the corresponding creep function are explicitly derived in frequency and time-domain versus four visco-elastic parameters. For a given set of boundary conditions, a general analytical solution for the pressure/stress water hammer wave is obtained in frequency domain. The model's predictions are successfully compared with experimental measurements as well as with other models adjusted to the same experimental data set by calibrating the model's parameter. The proposed model can be used in many other contexts with the specific ability to distinguish the intrinsic visco-elastic rheology from the considered pipe geometry and boundary conditions.