50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s
27. Roddy Piper Refused To Be Pinned By Mr. T
Richard Belzer wasn't the only guy who didn't like Mr. T much in the mid-80s. Roddy Piper was notoriously against the thought of seeing an actor waltz into the pro wrestling business, shoot straight to the top of cards and (worse) beat him in front of the cameras. Thus, Piper was frosty when it came to working with T. He wasn't the only one; some others in the WWF locker room also resented the A-Team star's special treatment and large payoffs whenever he was there.
Others surely reasoned that having celebrities on their side helped general interest in supershows like WrestleMania. If more people watched and bought tickets, then the roster would earn more money. That was logical, but real life logic sometimes had no place in the wild world of wrestling. In addition, Piper was known to be rather selective about doing the honours, so it's perhaps to shocker he refused to lay down for Mr. T.
We're talking about a heel who fought against doing clean jobs for Hulk Hogan, for crying out loud. If anyone thought Roddy was going to smile and stare at the lights for an outsider who wasn't part of the full time locker room, then they had another thing coming.
At 'Mania I, it was Paul Orndorff who ate the pin for his team. Later, during a worked boxing bout at 'Mania II, Piper only lost via disqualification. You've got to give something to riot-starter 'Hot Rod' - he was determined to adhere to his own rule about not jobbing for Mr. T!