[1985-02-18-WWF-The War to Settle the Score] Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper

[TonyPulis'Cap]

Hulk Hogan defends the WWF World Heavyweight Title

This is just pure spectacle, and pro wrestling when it is at its best - when it can capture the 'big fight feel' or real sports but fuses it perfectly with entertainment and theatrics. Its got the setting, the venue, the crowd that enhances the two guys perfectly, and both Hogan and Piper come across as megastars. Both have the big special entrance - Piper with the marching band, Hogan with Cyndi Lauper. You get the extra celebrity tie in with Mr T at ringside (and Bob Costas as ring announcer). Is the match a 'technical classic'? No, but it doesn't need to be - its pure emotion and intensity and has a terrific pace throughout. Piper in particular is fantastic here, managing to balance right on the line of being underhand enough to preserve heel status and show that Hogan is superman, without straying into being a chickenshit that wouldn't be able to live with the champ. On the one hand, you would want it to go longer, but on the other, it didn't need rest holds and padding out time - it works for being an intense sprint that never lets up, with the brawling fitting the frantic nature of the occasion and the hatred going in. It doesn't have a finish, but ultimately it sets up the first Wrestlemania main event and it wants you leaving more. Just great stuff (*** 1/2).