How Good Was Roddy Piper Actually?
4. Moments
Roddy Piper was so phenomenal at talking that the WWF got him to do it at every available opportunity. The legendary Piper’s Pit talk show was Roddy Piper’s vehicle to be Roddy Piper. He took it.
The infamous Jimmy Snuka angle was as effective as WWE has insisted it was ever since the promotion began to recap their own history. Even the beginning is great; Vince McMahon builds the suspense and the extent of the transgression by placing an advisory warning before airing it on Tuesday Night Titans. Piper is a complete arsehole, casually insulting the women of Fiji by comparing them to a pineapple, before offering Snuka some bananas and coconuts. Like the best heels, Piper is a pure hypocrite. He acts like Snuka is a savage, but it’s Piper who never lets him talk before sneakily cracking him in the face with a coconut - which Piper is clever enough to first drop onto the table to demonstrate how hard it is.
A pioneer, it’s very fitting that Piper was the first person to make a special entrance at WrestleMania. Backed by a pipe band, his sh*t-eating grin was majestic. He looked like the most cocky world-beater in the history of the medium.
While footage of the legendary troll-job does not exist, Piper was always fond of telling a certain story in which he incited a riot. After doing his usual bigot schtick when working in California, Piper apologised to the Hispanic fans and said that he would honour them by playing the Mexican national anthem on his bagpipes - before instead playing ‘La Cucaracha’.
Conversely, Piper’s worst stuff was the sh*ts. There are people who insist that the WWF wasn’t just finding form in 1997, but that it was significantly better than the height of WCW Nitro and the New World Order. Watching Piper test the mettle of some weird boxers and a Power Plant trainee when recruiting for his ‘Family’ faction, they make a great point.
8/10