Roddy Piper

[DR Ackermann]

I don't hold it against someone, I just compare them to their peers. Plenty of wrestlers had similar physical limitations and performed wonderfully. I don't count it against Piper, but he doesn't get any points whereas a guy like Terry Funk does.

[DR Ackermann]

If misawa was able to somehow adjust and perform really well, then its just another thing in his favor in comparison to his peers. It doesn't take away that he didn't. Piper's lack of quality output at that age just shows that he pales in comparison to so many others who have a better resume.

[Jingus]

One problem with Piper's later career is that he really made no effort to change his style at all. In 1999, he was still trying to wrestle the exact same matches he had in 1985. It looked silly for this middle-aged guy to be acting like he was still the hot young firebrand of the industry; and unlike Shawn Michaels in the re-formed DX, it didn't come off like a hipster inside joke. Piper seemed to really still believe that he was just as big a star in WCW as he had been in the early Hulkamania days, when everyone else knew otherwise.

 

And the various injuries and whatever else he'd done to his body had really taken their toll on him, too. It wasn't just a lack of effort, because at the Wrestlemania where he teamed with Snuka & Steamboat against Jericho, we saw Roddy giving absolutely everything and trying every trick he had left. He even tried to throw a dropkick, for god'z sake. It all looked horrible, of course, but the effort was clearly right there. His body simply refused to perform the tasks that Piper was begging it to do.

[Loss]

I always enjoyed the way Piper took his shirt off. Someone must have really messed up his shit once when he was taking his shirt off before a match, because he was terrified of a sneak attack for years.

[Danish Dynamite]

Actually... A minor positive for Piper's WCW run... I wasn't watching during those years, so even though I've seen the PPV's a couple of times now, the last time I saw WCW 94-98, I was so sick and tired of the NWO by the time Piper arrived (love the origin and Hogan turn, but damn it made for some shitty shows in the time after...), so when he arrived it was a huge breath of fresh air for me... Was it good? Not really. Some of it awful, and it's still the part of Piper's career I least wanna revisit. And in ring, holy hell a lot of it stunk. But still, after dragging my way through "all this crap in the ring", to quote the big man, Piper at least made me excited to see the next show. And I feel like that was always part of his greatness: Selling the drama, the story and the next chapter.

[PhilTLL]

The Canadian vs Mando Guerrero, steel cage match, Olympic Auditorium 11/30/77:

Piper is okay when feeding and selling for Mando, but actively bad for the most part on offense here. His execution is very weak and his brawling rarely rises above okay. Finish comes at about 9:00 when Piper goes face first to the steel on a cross body attempt and Mando pins him with a top rope Thesz press, then exits over the top for the win. Afterwards someone who I think is Black Gordman tries to attack Mando, but they go back up the cage wall together and Mando beats them both in the cage for awhile longer. *1/2

Roddy Piper vs Chavo Guerrero, 2/22/78:

Piper is back in LA without the mask. We get a nice promo on Hector, as Roddy points out he's fought Hector's brothers, father, and mother, and plainly rips off the "laughing and joking" line from Dusty, subbing in "smoking and poking" for the 2nd part.

Piper is accompanied by Hiro Ota. Piper tries to play the bagpipes but Chavo stops him--surprisingly no bagpipe destruction. Piper looks much better as himself, stalking Chavo and popping him with headlock punches, elbows, and knees to the face to start. He has also learned the art of the staggering sell.

Chavo heads outside and Ota tries to nail him, but that just stokes Chavo's ire and he tosses Ota in...where Piper immediately bails and assigns Ota the match! Ota is wrestling in jeans and a t shirt. Chavo beats him down but we get camera shots of a load in Piper's hand. It's powder that he hands to Ota, but Ota hits the ref instead. Piper goes to Plan B and starts wailing on Chavo with a bagpipe pipe! They quickly get him in 2 on 1 and Piper really goes to town, nailing him over and over in the face, throat, and torso. He counts a fake pin for Ota, and eventually a new ref comes in, gets tossed by Piper, watches Piper beat Chavo with the pipe some more...and then counts the pin for him. I guess this was no DQ all along?

Hector hits the ring! Piper gets him down with the pipe, but he's too fresh, and quickly wrestles the pipe away. Hector absolutely smashes Piper a few times in the face, and he blades quick and hard, then takes a crazy back drop over the top! Hector su grito de guerra! He beats Piper into the seats and the chapter ends. ***1/4 for the whole thing.

All the commentary on these was in Spanish.

[elliott]

There's no way I could make a list without Roddy Piper. Incredible babyface. The Valentine matches are all timers, there's some awesome Portland stuff, and he's fantastic in WWF. I went through a ton of his early 90s WWF run and I was shocked by how entertaining the matches were. Was 83rd in 2016 and I'll be delighted if he makes the overall top 100 again. Someone voted him #3 in 2016. I hope they vote again! 

[Matt D]

Piper will be helped by some more distance from the very end of his career and some new or more easily available footage.

Off the top of my head, we have the new Valentine match, the Kuwait tag, some more easily accessible west coast footage, 77 NJPW TV matches, an 86 HH vs Savage, and the new 89 Superstars taping match vs Rude.

Part of this is that he looks GREAT in all the new footage.

[elliott]

Omfg a Savage handheld?

[Matt D]

21 minutes ago, elliott said:

Omfg a Savage handheld?

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/04/new-footage-friday-fuchi-liger-bock.html

Yes, and I'm sure SOMEONE captured it and it'll show back up sometime in the next five years, right?

[elliott]

And it's from 86? Man that is a dream match and a half

[Shrike02]

25 minutes ago, Matt D said:

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/04/new-footage-friday-fuchi-liger-bock.html

Yes, and I'm sure SOMEONE captured it and it'll show back up sometime in the next five years, right?

I live in hope. Can't wait to see it, if indeed it shows back up.

[Ricky Jackson]

It's from the same Hamilton show where DK hurt his back and was never the same again. I've seen it. Just crazy heat from what I remember 

[conker8]

 

[Ricky Jackson]

Great! 

[strobogo]

I'm willing to be open to someone changing my mind on Piper, but there are few dudes that have just flat out annoyed me my entire life like Piper. Even as a kid in his face period in WWF where his bullshit should have appealed to me the most, he consistently annoyed the shit out of me on color, and I always thought his matches sucked even if I didn't really realize why. His WCW run was flat out unbearable. I would say that dips into his WWF return in 1994 where he had seemingly aged 15 years and just could not have been cornier if he tried. And then of course the match with Lawler was awful on top of that. 

Then I got older and saw the real grimy shit of 1984-1986 and man...of course he's getting insane heat. It's not hard to get insane heat when you're saying crazy racist shit constantly. That's the absolute cheapest of cheap heat. I've seen a lot of Mid Atlantic TV now and it has slightly changed my opinion of him, but I'm still left with a guy who has maybe 5 matches I'd ever say were good (but a couple are great) and the rest is a career of this dude with the most annoying face promos possible, the cheapest heel promos possible, and looks like he was never even trained in the ring. I get that the less is more/get most out of the least is a big thing in these circles, but Piper did almost nothing and 9 times out of 10 everything he did looked like shit. Dude looked like he never even learned how to bump. 

Now, I think the dog collar match with Valentine (another guy who I'm frequently not enamored with but there are a handful of matches I like) and WM match with Bret are great, and the MSG match with Flair in 1991 is a lot of fun. There's the Flair/Piper/Greene vs NWO match in 1997 but that's the Flair show and Greene being a great celebrity wrestler and Piper's contributions are minimal. I would believe there are some other good matches with Valentine from around Starrcade 1983 period. The above Macho match did absolutely nothing for me. But if people have recs that prove to me Piper actually wasn't the shits outside of a couple of matches over 30 years, I'll check them out.

[elliott]

My recs would be to watch and think about other wrestlers because Piper isn't for you. 

[Ricky Jackson]

Yep, if 80s Piper and Valentine dont interest you yet, a deep dive would be a waste of time 

[strobogo]

I feel like I could much more easily get into Valentine stuff I haven't seen than I could Piper, but they do have an overlap of two guys I don't care for producing a match I think is really great.

[KB8]

I guess I could say check out the Piper stuff in Portland, but I love that stuff with Brooks and Rose and Wiskowski and Martel and the Sheepherders there for much the same reasons I love all the other Piper stuff. You're not likely to find anything that changes your mind on the guy at this point so there are probably better ways for you to be spending your time.

[elliott]

Growing up we'd always hear about Piper as this awesome heel against Hogan in WWF. But I've always found him to be a tremendous babyface worker. The Valentine matches are transcendent. His babyface run in Portland stands out as one of Buddy Rose' best rivalries (and ROse had like 100 great rivalries). I love the mid 80s WWF heel run. Then I love the WWF babyface run in late 80s early 90s. There's a good like 10-12 year stretch where Piper is consistently awesome. Would've loved to see him in PR going against Invader or Memphis against Lawler. 

[Ricky Jackson]

Regarding Piper as a babyface, one of the things that really impressed me with him new footage wise since the last GWE was his match with Jose Estrada from 8/79, taped for WWF All Star Wrestling. This was Piper's first match in Hamburg, where they taped All Star, and literally within a minute after the bell rang he's over like crazy as a face with the crowd, due to his fire and charisma. I was also surprised because when I read about Piper's cup of coffee with WWF in 79 I always assumed he worked heel, but it makes sense, though, as he was a face in Portland at the time. Anyway, yeah, Roddy was a great face, instantly able to get a new crowd behind him.

Just realized this is kinda a tease to those with Peacock and not the Network if you haven't seen it before lol 

[TheDuke]

Is there any babyface Piper matches where he goes against a bigger opponent or a monster heel? Or maybe a babyface I Quit match? I feel like that would have been a great role for him, as a babyface that would refuse to stay down even if he had no chance of winning but I dont remember any specific matches like that.

[Ricky Jackson]

Well, there was the Boston Garden match where he's under a hood as "Piper Machine" going up against Studd and Bundy. IIRC he wrestles more like a superhero in that one though (even bodyslamming Studd!)

[elliott]

I ranked Piper 72nd in 2016 and I fucking blew it with that one. Piper is an awesome wrestler and belongs in the top 50. Great heel and one of the all time babyfaces. Excels in the violent brawls that I love. Awesome in PDX, JCP & WWF. I've even enjoyed the little bit of stuff from Japan.