"Rowdy" Roddy Piper
The Piper Vs Flair Feud
"Showdown you want?! Showdown you bet! 'Cause I ain't even saddled my ponies yet!"
Walking the Aisle: The Ric Flair Story
The first thing that you noticed about Rowdy Roddy Piper was the kilt. The second thing was that he never seemed to shut up. Arriving in Charlotte in the fall of 1980, Piper was the first wrestler that Jim Crockett Promotions had ever had who could actually give Ric Flair a run for his money when it came to doing interviews.
Born Roderick Toombs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Piper ran away from home at the age of thirteen, hitchhiking across Canada with his ever-present bagpipes in hand. You see, contrary to popular belief, the best wrestling gimmicks aren't really gimmicks at all. The best gimmicks are the ones rooted in the real lives of the wrestlers themselves.
For example, Dory Funk Sr. really was a cowboy. Dr. Bill Miller really did have
a medical degree. And Rowdy Roddy Piper ... well, let's just say that he really
did live up to his name in more ways than one.
Residing in Garbles, Scotland at the age of five, Piper had learned how to play several musical instruments including his trademark pipes, and by the age of fourteen, had placed fifth in international bagpipe competition. But a career in piping didn't look promising, so Piper, handy with his fists from years of living on the streets, decided to put his instinctive survival skills to good use. He turned to boxing and quickly won Gold Glove honors in the Provence of Manitoba, before having his fight career end due to a badly broken hand.
With that road now blocked, Piper, by this point living in a youth hostel, switched to amateur wrestling, winning honors in the 167 pound weight division in Winnipeg, and earning the respect of the entire Manitoba grappling community. In fact, it just so happened that one of the coaches at the Police Athletic League where he trained was also a pro wrestling referee for Verne Gagne's AWA and offered Piper a shot on a card when a scheduled wrestler no-showed.
Piper, still only sixteen, jumped at the opportunity, getting paid twenty-five bucks for less than one minute's work. Of course that minute of work involved getting the snot kicked out of him by a legendary wrestler named Larry "the Ax" Hennig (the father of "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig), so it wasn't exactly the typical first day on the job.
In those days, promoters and wrestlers often times didn't "smarten up" a newcomer to the business until they had been around for a few weeks or even months. This was a harsh practice, no doubt, but it weeded out the guys who had no business being in the ring in the first place and toughened up the ones who did.
Leaving Winnipeg, Piper made the NWA territory rounds, paying his dues in such areas as Kansas City, Dallas, and Montreal. By 1974, he made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the following year would get his first opportunity to prove himself as a headliner in the entertainment capital of the world.
Taking Los Angeles by storm, Piper became the hottest draw since the days of Freddie Blassie, John Tolos, and Mil Mascaras, selling out the Olympic Auditorium and feuding with the legendary Guerrero family.
Winning such titles as the Americas championship; the Americas tag straps with Crusher Verdu, Adrian Adonis (Keith Franke), Outlaw Ron Bass, Pak Choo, and Chavo Guerrero Sr. (while wrestling under a mask as "The Canadian"); and the NWA World lightheavyweight title, Piper quickly established himself as a player in the industry.
He even landed his first Hollywood role, playing a wrestler in the Carl Reiner-directed film, "The One and Only," starring Henry Winkler as a Gorgeous George-type character.
After Los Angeles, Piper moved on to Portland, Vancouver, and San Francisco, feuding with the likes of Playboy Buddy Rose (Paul Pershmann), The Sheepherders (later known in the WWF as The Bushwackers), and Moondog Lonnie Mayne.
He would hold such titles as the Pacific Northwest heavyweight belt; the Pacific Northwest tag title with Killer Tim Brooks, Rick Martel (Richard Vignault), and Iron Mike Popovich; and the San Francisco versions of both the "NWA" United States title and the "NWA" World tag title (along with Ed Wisowski, who would later gain infamy as "Colonel DeBeers").
By 1979, Piper's reputation had become well known back east and he was offered several try-outs with the WWF. However, thanks to a backstage "practical joke" by Freddie Blassie, Piper's pre-match schtick was sabotaged when the legendary wrestler and manager stuffed toilet paper in his bagpipes so that the noise was muffled. Piper was embarrassed in front of 20,000 fans at Madison Square Garden and the WWF passed on signing him.
But as it turned out, by 1980, Jim Crockett Promotions came calling and Piper made the trek from Portland to Charlotte to join what at the time was the busiest circuit in the U.S. In fact, no other promotion in the world, outside of Mexico, ran as many shows or booked as many wrestlers as Crockett, and countless workers from around North America were practically begging for a spot on the JCP roster.
As Piper got the knod to join JCP, rumblings had begun to circulate that longtime NWA champion Harley Race would soon pass the torch, and that the man who would be king was none other than Ric Flair.
Piper was generally regarded as one of the best talkers in the business, rivaled
only by Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Superstar Billy Graham, and Jerry "The King"
Lawler, and had no trouble getting over immediately in JCP as a heel. In fact,
he played his part so well, that like those aforementioned performers, he gradually
built a cult fan following.
Piper was soon pushed to the forefront, beating Paul Jones in the finals of a tournament for the "NWA" television title on November 1, 1980 at the Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. He then formed a combo known as "The Dream Team" with Valentine and began to publicly bad-mouth Flair in a series of classic TV interviews (in real-life, Flair and Piper quickly became the best of friends).
Then, on January 27, 1981, Piper pinned Flair in Raleigh's Dorton Arena to capture the JCP version of the "NWA" U.S. title (which was, by this point, the last remaining version of that title left). Unbeknownst to referee Stu Schwartz, Piper used a foreign object to knock Flair out for the pinfall and then tossed the object into the aisleway.
The following night at the regular Wednesday TV tapings, Piper entered WRAL studios wearing a tuxedo (albeit without the pants of course) and carrying a gift-wrapped box. As Bob Caudle and David Crockett kicked off Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Piper strolled to the interview set, opened his jacket and revealed that he was the new owner of the United States belt.
"King Richard is dead! Long live the king!" proclaimed Piper, mocking Flair's famous "whoooo!" When Flair came out to confront Piper about the controversial match from the night before, Piper presented him with the box, which as it turned out, contained his "NWA" television belt. Naturally, Flair declined to accept it, saying that he doesn't wear any belt that he doesn't earn in he ring.
Flair then pulled Piper's foreign object out of his own pocket, saying that a young fan had picked it up at Dorton Arena and had given it to promoter Joe Murnick. Piper then denied ever seeing the object at which point a classic shouting match between the two ensued, with a possessed Flair ripping up his own expensive sports coat.
To respond, Piper started to tear up his tuxedo jacket as well, but then stopped, realizing that it was a rental. Thus, the first shot in a two-decade-long feud had been fired. Little did anyone know.