To recap:
Tux jacket + kilt = HEEL.
***t-eating grin oozing with condescension = HEEL.
Grandstand stunt designed to embarrass = HEEL. But Flair doesn’t sell.
Stammering and stuttering when confronted by truth = HEEL.
Add it all up, you got LEGIT HEAT. Not some goofy coffeepot match. Not rancid residue “created” by a heel GM. There was a framework, but it wasn’t scripted: Two legendary pros reading the crowd, situation and each other.
Watch that video, and then watch a typical opening segment from Raw. Raw will seem ***king stupid.
That video from 1981 is a primer on how to do pro wrestling. It made you forget wrestling was fake. We never get a chance to forget that anymore.
I worked with Piper in WCW. He was on my radio show many times and we always managed to run into each other, most recently at a collectibles convention in Pittsburgh a couple years ago. I loved Roddy. Since I’m Flair’s friend, he accepted me upon introduction and was always great to me.
I will miss Roddy Piper terribly. He was my friend. Larger than life 24/7.
He was one of the best performers ever. You couldn’t teach somebody to be like him. You’d be daft to try. Piper showed up ready to be legendary. And he was.
Piper overcame a rough childhood to build a good life and a tremendous family. Like most wrestlers, he had his anxious moments. But Roddy’s heart was huge.
One of my favorite Piper affectations: He almost never used the term “match.” He always referred to it as a “fight.” I like that. It legitimized.
Tears come at odd times. The day Piper died, I saw Rod Stewart at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Another great Scot. Stewart’s opening theme is “The Bonnie Banks O’ Loch Lomond,” which is quite the Scottish fanfare.
When those bagpipes hit, I lost it. Absolutely lost it.
But then I thought of Piper calling Flair “the Slim Whitman of wrestling,” accentuating the barb with a few sharply clipped “whooos”…and I started to laugh.
Roddy Piper always did have a way of changing the questions.
Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkMaddenX
