How Good Was Roddy Piper Actually?

5. Rivalries

WWE WrestleMania 1 Mr. T Hulk Hogan Jimmy Snuka Roddy Piper Paul Orndorff
WWE

Piper’s super-intense feud with Jimmy Snuka was white-hot sell-out business. Its most iconic heat angle gets endlessly replayed on every WWE retrospective ever. 

Piper Vs. Hogan was so captivating that it turned the WWF into an unstoppable national juggernaut and, over a decade later, a reprise of it at WCW Starrcade performed better, with a 14.6 increase in buys, than WWF WrestleMania 12.  

Piper belongs to a very select club, having stolen the show at both WWF WrestleMania (1) and NWA/WCW Starrcade (1983). Piper’s Dog Collar match against Greg Valentine at the latter show was a sickening war. Everything that people often imagine 1980s wrestling to be, this actually was an very realistic portrayal of a bar fight taken too far, and Piper’s promo work in the build was absolutely sensational do-or-die conviction. 

(Only two other wrestlers have achieved this feat, you could argue. Ricky Steamboat worked the best match at WrestleMania 3 and Starrcade 1984. Ric Flair worked the best match at WrestleMania 8 and several Starrcade shows.)

Piper’s feud with Bad News Brown was regrettable in the extreme. He traversed similarly uneasy terrain when feuding with Adrian Adonis, although the WrestleMania 3 match, bad finish aside, was a good bit of business. 

Piper Vs. Flair was hypnotic from 1981 all that to 1997. Historians positively gush over Piper’s Portland series with Buddy Rose. Of significantly less money-drawing importance and emotional intensity, but loaded with entertainment value, was Piper’s longstanding spat with Bobby Heenan. 

Piper’s epic saga with Hogan was as uneven as it gets, ranging from the most important rivalry in the history of U.S. wrestling to one of the very worst. In WCW, Piper’s attempts to depict himself as a badass madman, by fighting several no-marks in a row and training at Alcaraz, were goofy and pitiful. 

For a man who could convincingly hate just about anybody, Piper’s form in rivalries was more uneven than you’d expect, tarnished by his signature weirdness.

8/10

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!