DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu – ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper DVD Review (Part-1)
Submitted by DaveyBoy on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 12:25 AM EST






THE WRESTLING MENU #227

Welcome one and all to the 227th edition of The Wrestling Menu, the column that is sure to satisfy your taste buds when it comes to discussing all things wrestling.

Oh man, what a week! Trust me when I say that my weekly posting streak almost came to an end this week. Between a couple of heavy drinking nights, practically no sleep on a separate couple of nights, being busy at work & busy at home, I was scrambling like a Quarterback in front of a weak offensive line. I only ended up watching what I am reviewing today in the past 24 hours. And heaven knows when I will get a chance to sit down & view discs 2 & 3. Hopefully, the weekend is as cruisy as can be.

My ‘What Is Next For …’ column last week received tremendous feedback & went over very well. I had a few other noteworthy ideas sent to me, but nothing really stood out as unanimous enough to mention here. In fact, the sentence I received the most was “You forgot about Mark Henry!”. Hmmm, I wonder why!

One thing I do want to state before I begin this column is what a very good episode of SmackDown we saw last week. 3 long quality matches were included & it almost felt like I was watching a pay-per-view. Kudos to all involved both in the ring & behind the scenes for that episode & if that is anything to go by, then SmackDown will be able to overcome the odds once more over the next few months.

With my DVD Review, I will purely review Disc-1 of Roddy Piper’s 3 disc set today. Following some feedback over the past couple of months, I have decided that I will (hopefully) integrate my reviews of discs 2 & 3 with other topics over the next fortnight. Those other topics will be both my predictions & review of the Backlash ppv event, which is now just around the corner.

On with the ‘rowdy’ show.....


’Rowdy' Roddy Piper DVD REVIEW

This is a 3 disc set & its full title is ‘Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story’. As per usual with most WWE DVDs, it has a documentary portion which lasts 98 minutes (containing 20 chapters), some non-match extras, as well as many matches. There are also some Easter Eggs thrown in for good measure.


APPETIZERS - Documentary

We begin with Roddy (real name Roderick Toombs) talking about his childhood & how he moved around a lot (including a stint living in my hometown of Melbourne – Australia apparently). Piper explains how he ran away from home at the age of 13 & basically lived on the streets. Roddy talks about his first ever match against Larry ‘The Ax’ Hennig in Winnipeg & how he got the Piper surname, all at age 15. Roddy wrestled around the U.S & Canada, before heading to L.A where he got his big break when promoter Leo Garibaldi gave him a microphone as a manager & allowed him to say whatever he wanted! Piper then tells a great story about driving Mexican fans angry with his bagpipe rendition of their national anthem!

Roddy then moved to the Portland region where he settled down & began to make his name on a national basis. Piper is still actually based in Oregon because he loved it so much at that time. After predominantly playing a heel during his formative years, Piper turned face in Portland & it took off better than anyone could have imagined. This got him noticed on the east coast & he was soon brought over to the better known Mid-Atlantic Wrestling promotion. Piper’s star began to really shine bright here as his charisma (as well as his trademark kilt) had him pushed up the card, even being associated with World Champion Ric Flair.

Piper’s Starrcade ’83 U.S Title Dog-Collar Match against Greg Valentine is featured next as we see many of the brutal highlights of the bout & many stories about individual moments throughout that classic match. Most notably, Roddy claims that he lost almost 50% of the hearing from one ear during the bout! It was this ear injury that meant, when Piper was hired by Vince McMahon Sr for the World Wrestling Federation, he couldn’t wrestle. But the WWF knew he was great on the microphone & made him the heel manager of Paul Orndorff & Dave Schultz. They also knew that in that role, it wouldn’t be long before the crowds wanted to see his a$$ kicked from pillar to post!

But before the a$$-kicking, there was ‘Pipers Pit’, which was actually an experiment of sorts by Vince McMahon (Jr). But man, did the experiment work! Piper even took an interview with a jobber & turned it entertaining. That edition of the Pit from early 1984 is practically shown in full here, with Piper commenting in the background. Soon after, Roddy was interviewing genuine superstars like Andre The Giant & Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka, both of which are shown in edited format here. We especially hear a lot from Snuka about the infamous coconut incident. To close this deservedly long chapter, we see very brief clips of later notable episodes of Pipers Pit, including the one where Andre turned heel on Hulk Hogan.

The next chapter looks at Roddy’s great friendship with ‘Cowboy’ Bob Orton. These 2 travelled together when they were both in the WWF & ended up being put together on screen as well. Piper, Bob & son Randy Orton reminisce about some of their times together both on & off screen.

We then see the incident that took Piper to the mainstream as he kicked singer Cyndi Lauper during an in-ring segment. Piper’s star was rising huge now & the WWF decided to capitalize & hold an event called ‘The War To Settle The Score’, which was headlined by Hulk Hogan vs Rowdy Roddy Piper. The atmosphere was tremendous during this bout & it is fair to state that Piper got massive heel heat that night! Cyndi Lauper was also there, but so was Mr T, who was huge on network television at the time! When he jumped in the ring & practically traded punches with Piper, it was arguably one of the most important moments in the history of professional wrestling.

Of course, this all resulted in the very first WrestleMania, which was headlined by Hogan & Mr T vs Piper & Orndorff. Highlights of that bout are shown, as we head into Piper’s general thoughts (& disrespect) for Mr T. It seemed that neither man really liked each other in real life & it all eventually resulted in a boxing match between the 2 at WrestleMania 2. Piper despised that match & still wishes that he took out Mr T for real that day! We next take a brief’ish look at Piper’s feud with Adrian Adonis that resulted in his so-called ‘Retirement Match’ against him at WrestleMania 3.

The reason for the “retirement” was because Piper wanted to refresh himself & do something other than wrestling. So he became an actor & starred in the John Carpenter movie “They Live”. We hear from both Piper & Carpenter about Roddy’s acting experience here. But it wasn’t long until Roddy was back in the WWF & Vince had the great idea of having Piper, Brother Love & Morton Downey appear in an in-ring segment at WrestleMania 5. This practically took Piper’s face character to new heights in the WWF.

His next major feud was against Bad News Brown. Of course, the most notable part of this feud was that Roddy often appeared painted half black! He even wrestled that way on occasions & it is fair to state that it created a tremendous amount of controversy. This chapter finishes with a funny story about how Piper was ribbed (by Andre & Arnold Skaaland) once which resulted in him having to travel around for a few days in the black paint.

The next chapter of this documentary looks at Piper’s role as a color commentator for the WWF in the early 90’s. Roddy never really wanted to do this & it didn’t last long as the WWF went overboard & put Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage in there with Vince & Piper. It just got a bit too much & it was back to the wrestling ring for Roddy as he went straight for the InterContinental Title that was being held by The Mountie. Piper won that title & an interesting discussion is held at this stage about how he didn’t need a title to get over. However, it still does bug Roddy that he never was WWE Champion! We then look at his WrestleMania 8 IC Title match against Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart in what was a great face vs face bout that many call Piper’s best match ever!

Not long later, Piper took another break from the WWF & this is an opportune time for the documentary to take a look at Piper’s family life. It is clear that Piper very much loves his family, that’s for certain. When Roddy once more returned to the WWF, he was the special guest referee in the WrestleMania 10 main-event between Bret Hart & Yokozuna. But that was just a preview of sorts for Piper’s next feud against Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler. Some classic interview segments are shown here as was part of their average bout (that neither liked) at King Of The Ring ’94.

Piper’s next role on WWF programming was as general Manager. We hear an interesting story here of how the WWF actually considered approaching OJ Simpson to take part in a match at WrestleMania 12, but instead chose to replace him with Goldust! And so we had the ‘Backlot Brawl’, footage of which is shown (including the OJ Bronco chase).

After another short layoff, Piper emerged in WCW towards the end of 1996. Why? Piper simply answers “money”. Although, many others feel that Piper also had something to prove & much of that was that he was as big, if not bigger, than Hulk Hogan. And, of course, WCW would have been silly not to have them feud, so they did so immediately. Hogan, Piper & others speak here about the 2 men’s real life thoughts about each other, but nothing is really answered in all honesty. Roddy’s WCW tenure did not come to a pleasant end soon after, as backstage politics got the better of him & it was all settled in court in a lawsuit that Piper won & had his contract paid out.

We next view Piper’s surprise appearance at WrestleMania 19 & his subsequent appearances in the WWE, including a short feud against the masked Hulk Hogan character of Mr America! But this time the pairing of Piper & the WWE was not going to last long at all & the major reason why was a controversial interview that Piper had done with HBO (some of which is shown here). A clearly aggrieved Vince McMahon was interviewed on the same show not long later & was very much put on the spot about a lot of what Piper had said. The next thing Roddy knew (although no-one ever actually told him), was that he had been fired!

We end this documentary portion of the DVD by looking at Roddy being inducted into the Hall Of Fame & some subsequent cameos that he had in the WWE. Finally, we get closing comments from a number of Piper’s peers (both past & present) set over a number of Roddy’s most infamous segments throughout his career. Look out for a spot on impersonation of Piper by Matt Striker during all of this!


MAIN

Disc-1 Non-Match Extras

STORIES

- Roddy & Colt:Roddy speaks for 1 minute about why he took his son Colt to the ring during his WCW tenure.

- Bruce Prichard on Meeting Roddy For The First Time: The man behind Brother Love speaks on meeting Piper before the 2 had an on-screen meeting in the ring. We learn that Roddy doesn’t like to be impersonated in public. 3 minutes in length.

- Hitting Rikishi With A Coconut: Piper speaks for 1 minute about how hitting Rikishi with a coconut wasn’t quite the same as the Snuka incident.

- Mr. T: Piper speaks about 2 separate press conferences that he & Mr T had, both of which resulted in some unplanned physicality. 2 minutes in length.

- The Mexican Bullring: Roddy speaks for just over a minute concerning wrestling in a bullring & some wet pillows!

- Freddie Blassie & The Toilet Paper: Piper tells a story about how Blassie basically ruined one of Roddy’s first ever big Madison Square Garden appearances with the WWF by stuffing toilet paper into his bagpipes. 2 minutes in length & I’m certain I’ve seen this footage on a previous WWE DVD.

- Living On The Streets: Roddy speaks for 2 minutes on how he used to busk as a bagpipe player when he was young. He goes on to state that he got in with the wrong crowd while he was living on the street & how that definitely wasn’t a good thing.

- Those Guys & Their Ribs: A crazy story about a running rib competition between Johnny Valentine & Jay York, that almost resulted in Harley Race shooting one of them when they tried to turn the rib onto the entire locker-room! Over 4 minutes in length.

- Bruce Prichard on Burt Reynolds at WrestleMania 10: Useless & almost irrelevant story about Reynolds turning on him a little before the WrestleMania 10 main-event that Piper officiated on. 2 minutes in length.

- Bill Cunningham on Piper in Kentucky: Good story from radio personality Cunningham, who was also a part-time lawyer. He represented Piper on a DUI charge in Kentucky & tells us how Roddy had researched the judge & came dressed to please… eventually! 3 minutes in length.

- Trust In The Business: Piper speaks about how he gave his word… & only his word (he never signed a contract)… before his WrestleMania 21 appearance. 2 minutes in length.

RAW HOMECOMING

- Giving Back To The Business: Randy Orton, Mick Foley, Jim Ross & others speak about Piper’s 2005 appearance on the Raw Homecoming show. Some footage is shown of the in-ring segment that they all took part in, but it’s not the whole segment as we only see 3 minutes worth all up.


DESSERT – Disc-1 Matches

PIPER & MIKE POPOVICH vs BUDDY ROSE & RIP OLIVER (Portland Wrestling. No Date Given): The match is joined in progress just before Piper gets a hot tag in. But the heel team quickly roll him up (with the aid of some cheating) & pin Piper for the victory. We see all of about 30 seconds of the bout!!! However, there is an aftermath where a masked Buddy Rose challenges anyone to take off his mask… So Piper comes down & does so rather promptly! All up, this lasts 4 minutes & its rather grainy footage at that. Put here on this DVD purely to set up the next match. Match Rating… Not Rated, but Thumbs Down as a DVD Extra

vs BUDDY ROSE (Portland Wrestling. No Date Given): This bout was for Piper’s NorthWest HeavyWeight Title & is a ‘Best Of 3 Falls’ Match. Rose stalls for seemingly an eternity to begin the bout as he draws big heel heat from the live crowd. When the action finally does get moving, Rose controls the opening minutes with strikes & then a headlock. But Piper bounces back with a flurry of offense & then locks on his version of the sleeper-hold to win the first fall at the 5 minute mark.

Roddy is busted open at the beginning of the 2nd fall & Rose takes advantage of the wound with strikes & bites! The match then goes back & forth for a couple of minutes as the champ attempts to fight back. He eventually wins the 2nd fall (& match) at the 3 minute mark with a nice roll-up. A hectic aftermath sees Piper withstand a chair attack & continue laying into Rose. All up, we see 15 minutes of footage, even though only 8 of them were in-ring action. Average bout, but it had enough involved to make it a good DVD Extra. A nice early look at Roddy & I will be nice & pass it. Match Rating…5

vs JACK BRISCO (Mid-Atlantic Wrestling. July-7, 1982): This match was for Piper’s Mid-Atlantic HeavyWeight Championship & Brisco put up $10,000 to gain this title shot. Both men look to gain the opening advantage with many opening lock-ups & technical mat-wrestling moves. It actually comes off quite well, despite it not being Roddy’s forte. Piper, playing the heel here, tries everything to gain the momentum, but Brisco seems to have an answer for everything, whether it is through strength, quickness or technical ability. As strange as it sounds, Brisco holds Piper in a headlock for minutes on end, yet it is very entertaining!

Roddy eventually breaks the headlock with a turnbuckle assisted back suplex. He then goes to work with chops & a headlock variation of his own, before locking in his much-feared sleeper-hold. A back suplex this time works for Brisco as an escape mechanism & he puts on a sleeper of his own. A wary battle of fists follows, until Piper hits Brisco with a roll of coins for the pinfall victory at the 15 minute mark. Very solid match that doesn’t appear much on paper as there actually wasn’t very many moves. But it all played into the story of the bout very well & came off as really entertaining & quite natural. Both men showed something & it was also very competitive. Match Rating…7.5

vs GREG VALENTINE (NWA Starrcade. November-24, 1983): This is the infamous Dog-Collar match which is apparently a non-title bout over (the heel) Valentine’s US Title. I’m unsure if this was the first match of its kind, but I really liked the way the gimmick was used here. It was a heated feud, as Valentine had previously injured Piper’s ear. Both wrestlers showed initial reluctance to let their emotions get the better of them due to the danger of the steel chain that separated the 2. Very naturally booked & performed, both men were busted open by the 7 minute mark. Great back & forth match which had a decent mix of wrestling & brawling, plus some innovative uses of the chain. But above all, the natural flow & realism factor won out here. Piper wins this superb match at the 16 minute mark after a succession of chain shots. The aftermath sees The Hammer choking Rowdy Roddy with the chain. Match Rating...9


Ok, so that ends Part-1 of my ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper DVD review. As I said at the top of this column, I am hoping to have my review of Disc-2 posted next Wednesday along with my predictions for the Backlash pay-per-view. It may be best to hold back feedback or questions regarding this DVD until I have totally completed it, but if you feel now would be a better time, you may email me at DaveyBoy123@bigpond.com. Alternately, if you are an LOP Forums member, it would be much appreciated if you could leave feedback on my thread at http://www.lopforums.com/showthread.php?t=217&page=5.

So look out for that column same Wednesday time on the same LOP channel. Until then, this is DaveyBoy signing off & asking you to remember that dinner is best served in 3 courses.


DaveyBoy’s Wrestling Menu. 2002-2007

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