The Man Come to Shake Piper's Hand and Rob Him of His Farm. Hot Rod Shot 'em Dead and He Hung His Head, and Drove off in His Car

Roddy Piper v Jimmy Snuka (WWF, 8/25/84) - GREAT

The Piper/Snuka feud in MSG just hits different. I think this is actually the first time I've seen seen them match up in singles in the Garden, and while there's one match between them elsewhere that's better (the 7/15/84 Meadowlands match where Snuka goes berserk), this one has the HEAT behind it. People are all over Piper before the bell and we get a great shot of him being pelted in the back with a cup - maybe beer, maybe piss - while taking his shirt off, Roddy pausing briefly and sneering in disgust. Snuka is almost a wee bit disconcerting as he stares a hole through Piper, motionless, cold, unblinking, really the look of a man we know to be an actual murderer. The staredown when the bell rings is right from the Hashimoto/Tenryu playbook. They don't make a move, just stare across the ring at each other for a couple beats and they have that crowd completely where they want it. Of course Piper is a shitbag and as soon as Snuka backs him down grinning - a real humourless grin, one full of malice, which made him even more disconcerting - Piper quickly steps out to the floor to compose himself. As you can imagine the place was fully irate. Piper finally realising he needs to put up or shut up was an amazing moment as he just throws all caution to the wind and shouts "AAAGGHHH MOTHERFUCKER" before charging Snuka. There was some great Piper selling during the early Snuka flurry, like the slow timber bump onto his back, then falling neck-first into the middle rope after Snuka hits him with a big leaping headbutt. At one point Piper's dead on his feet and it looks like he's about to collapse again, but he pokes Snuka in the eye with an easy 9.2 on the Roddy Piper Eye Poke Scale. There's a flubbed Irish whip that wound up being the best flubbed Irish whip ever, as Piper's head snaps back off the looser-than-normal top rope and almost chokes himself with it, so Snuka just decides to keep choking him with the rope rather than go back to the originally planned Irish whip. Piper bleeds off a posting on the floor and this is really the Snuka revenge tour you wanted in MSG, the sort of thing you'd expect from Snuka after having a coconut smashed over his head. Then Jimmy goes for the top rope crossbody but Piper catches him and gives him an UGLY hotshot over the ropes, where Jimmy takes an uglier tumble out to the floor. Piper actually wins by count out but proceeds to smash the edge of a chair into Jimmy's neck, just the two times but according to Gorilla it was at least six or seven. This is the injury angle that had MSG absolutely MOLTEN for his return a few months later as the Tonga Kid's cornerman. I'd never actually seen the angle before but the heat for everything after it makes sense now because this was an awesome injury angle. Snuka is then lumped onto a stretcher and strapped to it while lying on his side and I'm pretty sure some medical professionals are losing their license for that. 

Complete & Accurate Hot Rod