A confession: I told my friends I knew about “Rowdy” Roddy Piper a few weeks before I really did. They were doing battling imitations of the pro wrestling legend in the offices of the college newspaper and trying to top each other with Piper’s catch phrases. It seemed so intriguing that I checked the newspaper listings and discovered the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), its Saturday morning program, and its midweek 11 pm program on the spanish language channel. The next time a “Battle of the Pipers” broke out, I was ready, if only with the most recent segment’s content.
Before long, I was a full-fledged fan of grappling and heels (bad guys) in particular. It would be another couple of years before I became aware there was a second major promotion (the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling, with its superior in-ring product and champion Ric Flair). The WWF explosion was in full swing, and although there were monthly house cards at Madison Square Garden, my friends were lured to buy tickets to the December 10, 1984 house card for one reason – a live Piper’s Pit.
Piper’s Pit was a weekly interview segment where Piper would speak with — and usually humiliate–a “jobber,” the inside term for someone who lost every match. With his henchman “Cowboy” Bob Orton by his side, Piper created some phenomenal television, whether it was cracking Superfly Jimmy Snuka in the head…
