Piper DVD

[MSBNYY]

I recently got the Piper DVD. Very good stuff. Too much material to be done with, but I've gone through the first DVD, and 2 matches on the second.

The documentary was pretty good, though I would have liked more info on why they turned him good before WM3.

I just watched War to Settle the Score and the original WM main event.

They just don't get passionate storylines like that anymore. Even today, I still can feel the electricity on those angles.

The announcing was great in both matches as well. Some very funny stuff, like when you hear the first few notes of Eye of the Tiger, but suddenly the DVD plays Real American.

The Mr. T stuff was also great.

I definitely recommend the DVD, and I haven't even watched the Piper's Pits yet.

[$heriff Tom]

I am sure along the line I will end up with this, although Piper is a bit down on my pecking order. From all accounts I heard they did a good job with this one, although as you alluded to the turn was glossed over, and a lot of hardcores thought they could have picked a better spate of matches.

Piper really did conjure up emotion, thats for sure. One of my favorite Piper memories was his having Bruno in the pit at a televised arena event, and doing the whole "wop" routine, and getting "whopped" for it by Bruno. When the elderly Bruno started kicking his ass, the roof blew off the building, pretty much.

[MSBNYY]

I think that Pit is on the DVD. I'll double check. I may change how I'm going through this material. Instead of doing the DVDs in order, I'll mix in the Piper's Pits based on airdate. Piper's biggest gift is the talking.

Good to see Piper in a WWE ring after the cancer. I thought it was strange that the man gained so much weight though. If anything, I thought he would have LOST a ton of weight. He's definitely been up and down in recent years (though more up).

When Piper hit Snuka with the coconut, I'm assuming that led to a great feud, but I don't think there are any Piper/Snuka matches.

[4dogg]

my favorite "pipers pit" was with jobber frank williams

[grover]

I loved the Pit where the Heenen family had wrestling toys of various faces they planed to go through, making fun of them and tossing them in the trash as they went down the list.

I'm eventually going to get the best of Piper's pit DVD's from the traders. Those must be gold.

[MSBNYY]

I know for a fact that Frank Williams Pit is on there.

[$heriff Tom]

Grover, that was a cool way to do product placement. Cause at the same time, kids were watching and going, "I want those toys."

On the trading circles there is a tape going around of EVERY SINGLE PIPERS PIT that was apparently put to video. Its a few hours long, without anything else on there. It could be had for regular trading prices ($6 or so, I bet) but some of the PITS are probably not in the best quality. There are also tapes of nothing but Ric Flair promos, that sort of thing.

[MSBNYY]

I wonder how many Pipers Pits there were.

[$heriff Tom]

I think your disc has 25 or so, going up through the last, and weaker ones he did. There are at least 3 times that out there. I saw a thread here and there on wrestling boards going "what about this one" or "what about that one." On top of that, there was an extra bonus disc in the set sold at Best-Buy I believe that contained "6 more vintage Pits."

[MSBNYY]

I wonder what the 6 pits were. At least they were vintage. I'm not really pumped about watching the post 2003 Pits.

For me, Piper's last shining moment was beating Goldust in the street fight at WM. That was one of the funniest matches ever. I can't think of a wrestling match that made me laugh that much. The best was the OJ Simpson ripoff with the Bronco.

[MSBNYY]

Just watched several vintage pits. Wow. The first few were just a couple minutes long. They had the very first pit, a pit with Andre, Snuka, and one of the funnier ones, at a show in NJ where Piper ripped on the state, as well as Salvatore Bellomo and JYD.

Great stuff. I just wish they bought the rights to the real songs. I want to see footage of JYD coming in to Another One Bites the Dust and Hogan with Eye of the Tiger.

The crowds back then were great.

[thecaptain15]

my favorite "pipers pit" was with jobber frank williams

This was my favorite as well....from what I remember from memory...

FW:I come from Columbus, Ohio.....

RP:I've never lost a match in Columbus, Ohio in fact I've never lost a match .I've had some things happen etc but have you ever won a match?

FW.All I know is I am in that ring, I try real hard and I no afraid of nobody.....

RP: You make a no room for noobdy isn't that nice...

BAM!!!!

I remember it like yesterday..lol

[drock2006]

That pit with Williams was the pit that generated the immortal "Just when they think they have alll the answers, I change the questions"

The Pipers Pits with JYD, if they were done today, would have the WWF off TV and Al Sharpton picketing Stamford

[4dogg]

didnt williams also say "i pretty tough guy"?

[drock2006]

Yes, this pit is on You Tube..just pull up Pipers Pit Frankie Williams...its hysterical

[MSBNYY]

Still working my way through the Piper stuff. I'm trying to do this chronologically, mixing Piper's Pits with matches in order. One flaw on the DVD is that there are matches in the wrong order. For example, War To Settle the Score comes even after WM2. It's not a hard fix though, since you can play the matches one at a time, and select the match you want. But it is an inconvenience as you have to be a bit careful.

I don't know why they didn't just do it right. I'm up to a MSG Pit with guest Bruno Sammartino.

What I find amazing is how easy it is to get back into the angles of the day. They were VERY well done. The setups for feuds were incredible.

One thing I really liked about Piper was that no matter what, wrestlers never really got the upper hand with him. He was tough and cowardly at the same time. Most of what made him great was the frustration of no one kicking his ass.

Even his matches would somehow end up without him taking the true beating.

He had a match with Orndorff that was pretty cool. They just traded punches for about 5 minutes, and maybe one or two real moves. But they didn't need more than that because basically, it was a fight. The announcers would comment on how the wrestling moves were thrown away and they would just brawl.

You don't see that kind of hate today. The match ending was great too. No win for Orndorff. It was a double countout, that spilled into the back. The camera followed them. The two of them brawled until Piper went into a dressing room and just locked the door.

[$heriff Tom]

I have no idea why the Piper matches are out of order on the disc. Its stupid. I have seen it mentioned in a few places, a heap of people have the same gripe. I got the Hogan package, its over 30 matches, and they are all chronological. Its more fun watching that way, in the historical context. And people may snicker if they will, but part of the true lore of wrestling is its history. Not just the Hogan DVD is in chronological, all of the ones in my collection are.

Maybe its something dumb like a way to be different. Like my high school yearbook, having the class listed from Z-A, instead of the other way around. Why? Cause we were UNIQUE!

You are right in all those matches having a fever pitch.

[MSBNYY]

They really set a hell of a pace in those matches. The Orndorff match was similar to War to Settle the Score. I liked the shorter matches with a faster pace. Weird how I can watch the whole thing but can't do that on Raw or Smackdown.

Again, it's easy enough to watch the matches in order, but it's an extra step and an annoyance.

[thecaptain15]

When Mean Gene visits Piper and Orndorff at the gym and they are meditating is hysterical.not to mention when Piper hisses at him and then tells Mean Gene "We told you not to come"...They proceed to throw him out and an "innocent bystander" tries to help Gene and gets beaten to a pulp......Classic stuff....

[drock2006]

Do they have the Piper's Pit where he just lays into Bruno, running around calling him Brrruu-nose and just shredding his dignity?

[thecaptain15]

Is the tag match from MSG on the DVD when Piper and Doctor D laid a beating on Andre and Snuka and Andre had to be helped out to the back since he was a bloddy mess but then came running back with his head wrapped up like the "Spirit of 76" and made the save as Snuka was forced to carry on alone and was getting beaten to the pulp...

[MSBNYY]

The next Piper's Pit I have to watch does have Bruno as guest, at MSG.

[MSBNYY]

I watched the Bruno and Haiti Kid pits.

That Haiti Kid thing was funny as hell. Watching him scream, "help me" made me roll. When was the last time a heel did anything so dastardly as to beat up and maim a midget?

The Sammartino pit was pretty good too, but interestingly enough, while Sammartino was clearly the face, I thought at first, he came off like a prima donna. He wouldn't come out unless Piper called him, "the living legend."

What was cool to see was just how much the crowd loved Bruno in the Garden. It was a fun interview. Sammartino forced Piper to send Orton to the back.

The two went back and forth a bit in the interview. Piper was calling him washed up and mentioned how he wrestled 211 times in the Garden and asked why he didn't quit. Bruno responded by saying he won that 211th match, so he couldn't have been too washed up.

The inevitable fight between Bruno and Piper was VERY well done--better than most beatdowns that happen today.

Piper said something, and Bruno hit him, knocking him down. As Bruno exited the ring, Piper hit him with a chair, beginning a major beat down. All the while, you have McMahon and Ventura calling the action, with Ventura doing a great job of advocating Piper, noting that Bruno hit Piper first.

Bruno took a beating for a minute or so, and actually fought back. The crowd ate it up. Finally the two exchanged some blows and Piper hightailed it out of there.

Piper came off like a perfect heel. Bruno showed he was still the man. Bruno helped Piper looked good without damaging his own legacy.

It's really a shame Bruno and McMahon can't reconcile. I respect Bruno's reasoning, but I really hope that at some point he will accept an induction into the WWE HOF. It would be cool to reconnect him with the current generation of fans.

That was so much better than things today, when you would see some legend being squashed by some top heel, be it Orton with his legend killer gimmick, or more recently, Umaga no selling Piper and Dusty.

[$heriff Tom]

When was the last time a heel did anything so dastardly as to beat up and maim a midget?

Less than a week ago, when Finlay clubbed Little Boogeyman with his shillelege.

As to the Bruno thing, he was only demanding Piper call him "The Living Legend" to burn Piper's ass - Piper was the most hated guy in the fed. Bruno was just showing him up, making him humble. He would not have done that if Monsoon had called him to the ring.

And dont even start with Umaga "no-selling" for Dusty and Piper. OF COURSE they should. Umaga is the one in the high-profile Mania match. They're not simply "doing a bit at a house show" like Bruno and Piper were.

All my bluster aside, you have been making some well-thought out posts in the wrestling section, and keep them coming. Good reads.

[MSBNYY]

Umaga is in the high profile match, but that's just such a lousy use of legends. Let Umaga no sell someone else. It's not just Umaga. They did that with Orton. Seeing legends get squashed only annoys me. It doesn't make the wrestler doing the squashing look good because the legend being squashed is old.

Something like what happened with Piper and Bruno (which actually did start a mini-feud) worked very well. Obviously, the two angles are very different.

Umaga IS established. I don't think Umaga gained anything with that incident. I think stuff like that hurts the legend far more than it helps the guy attacking the legend.

[thecaptain15]

When was the last time a heel did anything so dastardly as to beat up and maim a midget?

Less than a week ago, when Finlay clubbed Little Boogeyman with his shillelege.


Now that was funny!!!

;D ;D ;D

[grover]

Yeah but Balls that's not good business sense. You can't have a fed full of young guys who can't beat up th old guys who aren't competing on a regular basis, at least not for the main players.

When they had the legends beat up Rob Conway, that was fine, and funny. If they did that to Umaga and Orton it hurts their creditability.

[drock2006]

Piper was just tryng to help the haiti Kid look like Mr T.

[thecaptain15]

It was outright hysterical when Orton and Piper were carrying him each holding an arm and his legs and feet were going full speed dangling in air yelling "Someone please help me"!!!! Also when he still defiantly said "Mr. T will win" after they shaved him..Ah the good old days...

[MSBNYY]

Don't get me wrong--I just wouldn't have had Umaga in the same ring as Piper and Rhodes. Umaga didn't gain anything.

Back to the Piper DVD. I just watched 2 more matches--Piper v. T at WM2 and Piper v. Iron Sheik.

I was talking about WM1 earlier and how I liked that main event. Not nearly as much with WM2. It was like they were simply trying to do an encore and recapture what they had.

Mr. T was not in as good shape. The boxing was ok at best, and that's being generous. The crowd was actually fairly mixed, and there was a clear "RODDY" chant in the middle of the match. Back then, I don't remember heels EVER getting cheered. Maybe that played a small role in turning Piper face.

I have to check again, but I don't think the Flower Shop Piper return is on the DVD.

I also watched the Iron Sheik match on Main Event.

Short match, but pretty cool. They only showed the match, not the setup. Somehow I guess Piper was hurt and replaced. Then he came down with a crutch and smacked Iron Sheik with it. Sheik is very funny to watch. I don't remember too many examples of a shot like what Piper gave Sheik, back in the WWF in that time period.