This was always going to rule as before the match even started you had Lanza outside raving about whatever like a headcase. Piper was really fucking fun, guys. He tries his hardest to make this a scrap, usually by throwing nasty little punches to the side or elbows to the neck, while Inoki tries to keep it on the level. There was one bit where it looked like Inoki was down for a fist fight, but then he dropped to the mat and booted Piper's legs away from him instead. They work a key lock in the middle and I like how Piper stays active in it, always trying to at least shake the arm out. You don't really think of him as a great worker of holds or whatever but he's always scrappy and makes everything feel like a struggle, and there's a sense of realism to things because of it, which is more than I'd say for lots of wrestlers who're supposed to be good mat workers. There's another few matches with Piper in Japan from around this period, one with Choshu which sounds interesting, so I'll give those a look in time.
Some of the other Piper matches I've written up here over the years (just to keep them all in roughly the same place, because I'm weird like that):
Ric Flair & Dewey Robertson v Roddy Piper & Jimmy Snuka (Maple Leaf Wrestling, 5/4/81) - GOOD
Man this was fun. It's about as pure babyface as I've ever seen Flair work. I guess he was already Slick Ric by mid-'81, but it wasn't the same babyface Slick Ric as we'd see later. A lot of babyface Flair felt like a guy who was naturally a prick taking time off from being a prick because he had issue with an even bigger prick. Old man babyface Flair was easy to root for because he was two hundred years old and being brutalised by people seventy years his junior. His biggest hope spots were still low blows or biting someone in the face. Sympathy was easy to come by and he was beloved, but there wasn't much difference between babyface Flair and heel Flair. He was wooing and strutting here, but he did it with a real babyface energy, like he figured he had to work for his reactions rather than taking for granted that he'd get them regardless. He was throwing dropkicks, super fast body punches in place of the chops, working much quicker than usual. No measured knee drops, no flopping, instead we got small packages and house o' fire. Even the figure four was applied quicker than I've ever seen him do it before, and he went into it as a reversal off a Piper knee drop so there was no methodical leg work beforehand. He just did everything at babyface speed and it was super refreshing. The stuff with Piper also ruled and Piper was an awesome shit head with the early stalling, the cheapshots, choking Flair with the tag rope, etc. Snuka didn't exude the same charisma, but he was a fine lieutenant and I liked how he was always trying to cut the ring off, keeping Flair in that heel corner and dragging him back whenever he tried to scoot away. I don't know who Dewey Robertson is but he was fine and played his part in the finish, so I guess he did what he needed to do. Flair even celebrated with him afterwards like he meant it, rather than patting him on the back because he's the Nature Boy and the plebs should be privileged to share in his victory glow. I've somehow seen hardly anything from this Flair/Piper feud, but based on this I'm hyped to check out more.
Greg Valentine v Roddy Piper (Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, 3/12/83) - GOOD
Every minute of these two matching up is worth watching. Valentine is one of the surliest bastards ever and Piper had that wildness about him where it always felt like a riot was ready to break out. Against Valentine, it usually did. This was about eight minutes long and ended with a run-in to close the show, but it had the same foundation as their best stuff together. The roughness, the ugly strikes, someone getting slapped really hard across the ear, an elbow to the clavicle, the meanest collar-and-elbow tie-up you ever saw. They'd kind of stop for brief little periods and look at each other with total disgust, then they'd go at it again and much clobbering would commence. They captured a real sense of violence that very few others could match. What a pairing.
Roddy Piper v Adrian Adonis (Wrestlemania III, 3/29/87) - GREAT
I've got a lot of time for Piper dropping Springsteen lines in his pre-match promo. "No retreat, baby, no surrender!" Tell'm, Hot Rod! I loved every second of this madness. The crowd are red hot for the whole thing and I loved Piper flinging Jimmy Hart all around the ring early on. He flung him into then onto then damn near through Adonis, whipped them both with a strap, people were going ballistic. Then Adonis took over and I'm a fan of him playing to the exotico gimmick by raking Piper's back and chest. Piper's punch drunk selling ruled and he managed to throw in his GOAT-level eye poke. Adonis and Hart celebrating prematurely after Goodnight Irene, Beefcake morphing into The Barber right before our very eyes (don't know why he was actually out there, don't really care), Adonis smashing himself in the face with a big fuck off pair of shears, the old carny trick of smacking a guy on the neck to wake him up from a sleeper hold, the post-match head shaving, Adonis audibly shouting "WHAT THE FUCK?!" when he sees his reaction in the mirror, I loved all of it. One of the most fun sub-ten minute spectacles in WWF history.
Jerry Lawler v Roddy Piper (King of the Ring, 6/19/94) - FUN
Piper's promo earlier in the show was spectacular. He just goes off on one and makes no sense at all. It was seriously fucking great. Lawler comes out to the ring staring at people with complete disdain. There's this one lady with a sign that says "Piper for President" and Lawler notices it, bursts out laughing, then shoots her a look of pure disgust. If this match happened ten years earlier it probably would've been tremendous. By '94 that ship had sailed, but it's not because either guy sucks (shit, Lawler is STILL awesome in 2011, never mind 1994). Lawler is my personal pick for greatest puncher in pro-wrestling history, and it's unsurprising that he throws a bunch of GREAT looking punches. Piper's punches aren't nearly as good, but what he has is a GREAT eye poke. He casually pokes Lawler in the eye after a flurry of punches and I honestly rewound it about 4 times. Best moment of the match (which is as good as any moment on the entire show) is Lawler peppering Piper with first class punches while Piper is propped up against the ropes. Piper is belligerent to the end, telling him to bring it, spitting on him, using the ropes to drag himself back to his feet. When he throws a big haymaker, Lawler goes down like a ton of bricks and the arena pops like it should. Not a great match, but it's something a fan of either guy can enjoy.
Complete & Accurate Hot Rod
Complete & Accurate Hot Rod
No comments:
Post a Comment