Everybody Pays the Piper

Roddy Piper v Mr Perfect (WWF, 12/28/90) - GREAT

This was a total blast. For two guys with such profiles who were around for as long as they were I don't think I've ever seen a singles match between them before. Though I guess they were only in the same place together for relatively short periods of time, and even then you had situations like Piper being active while Hennig was in temporary retirement ('92 WWF) or Hennig practically being a rookie while Piper was in Portland. But this is the first in a series that ran into 1991, and even if the matches are all largely the same with a few wrinkles thrown in, it was a ton of fun. I liked this one the most. It starts out with Perfect spitting and slapping his gum away, Piper responding by spitting his right in Perfect's face, Piper then blocking a punch and spending the next few minutes beating Perfect up and down the place. He flings Perfect about by the hair, unloads some awesome punch flurries, rips his singlet, bonks him with a chair and casually jabs him with his five star finger poke to the eye. It was almost beyond the pale and if the face-heel dynamic was switched he probably could've worked the exact same stretch to big time heat. Perfect takes over by throwing Piper's head into an exposed turnbuckle and we even get some chair shot payback with a nasty jab to the throat, all while Hebnar runs around screaming like an irate supermarket employee trying to stop Perfect from purchasing one too many toilet rolls. Finish is whatever, but the last few minutes were hot and we got some huge nearfalls. Quite the rarity, but as much fun as a match-up like this promises.


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