Piper Said it Ain't that Hard Singing 'Bout a Bar; Jukebox, Jack, Jim and Broken Hearts

Roddy Piper v Mr Perfect (WWF, 2/18/91) - GREAT

Back a few years ago I watched a handful of Piper v Mr Perfect matches from this period. They wrestled a bunch around the horn from late 1990 to early 1991 and basically every match I watched was a blast. They were all very similar. But a few years is a long time to yer old man here and I pretty much do not remember anything about those matches now, so this felt fresh and awesome as a standalone thing. Piper was sensational in this. Perfect slaps him and pie-faces him before the bell and Piper remains unflinching, taking his shirt off with the quick whip over the head lest Perfect tries to waylay him. When Piper does retaliate he hits Perfect with the jab combo and lands the finishing blow by spitting his gum in Perfect's face. Perfect is sort of an obnoxious bumper at times in the WWF, getting hit with a left hand and taking his inside-out bump to his own right, a wanton mockery of physics, but Piper is such a huge personality that you roll with it. Piper's presence and charisma almost trump the fact that he's a relatively normal-sized human being in a land of muscled up mutants, so when he levels someone I don't even question that the outcome is similar to when Hogan or Warrior does it. There was a stretch here where Piper literally beat Perfect out of his singlet, little by little, first by one strap, then a second, then the whole thing was off. At one point Piper had hold of the front of it, both straps down, using it to keep Perfect upright after every punch. When Piper grabbed the back of it and Perfect's bare arse was exposed for a second you can absolutely imagine the lightbulb going off in the head of an up-and-coming Shawn Michaels for how he wants a future heel run to go. I think the finish to every match in this series was a Piper win by either count out or DQ so there maybe isn't a ton of suspense in the end, but Piper goes on the rampage after the bell and that's always a good time. Heenan also took himself a bump from his 10-years-younger self and that too is always a good time.

Complete & Accurate Hot Rod