• “Roddy wanted him to know that the business was a shoot” – Bill Apter On Roddy Piper’s Real-Life Heat With WWE Hall Of Famer
Professional Wrestling Historian & Journalist Bill Apter recently appeared on the ‘Wrestling With History’ podcast, where he spoke about the late great ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, who is featured on the newest A&E Biography episode.
Below are the highlights from this interview:
On Roddy Piper’s mic skills:
“He was smart enough on his own to kind of paint the build up. A lot of great guys tremendous at interviews were pretty much the same kind of interview whether they were three weeks out or whether it was happening tonight.
Roddy was smart enough to kind of build his intensity up as we got closer to the match. He was the only guy I worked with that did that consistently.
Roddy would always ask ‘when will this air?’ and ‘so there’s going to be another TV before the match?’
He’s the only performer that I can ever remember consistently wanting to be aware in relation to when the match was going to take place in that market.”
On Piper’s heat with Mr. T:
“Roddy was very protective of the business and a lot of people don’t know that, back then everybody was.
Roddy Piper was so intense that way that when Mr. T came in, and they were telling him that the business was a work, Roddy wanted him to know that the business was a shoot as far as he was concerned.
There was a lot of tension between he and Mr. T, because T was coming in as an actor and Piper was a professional wrestler.
There was a lot of heat between the two of them.”
On Piper influencing Vince McMahon to make movies:
“I think because of him making the successful jump from wrestling to movies, it inspired a lot of people like Vince McMahon to say ‘why aren’t we doing this?’”
Roddy Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, while Mr. T was inducted into the Celebrity Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2014.
WATCH: Miss Kitty Exposes Herself At WWF Armageddon 1999:
• ON THIS DAY IN WCW HISTORY (April 27, 1996) – WCW Pro
On this day in 1996, World Championship Wrestling aired an episode of their weekly TV show ‘WCW PRO Wrestling’.
This episode featured pre-taped matches, interviews & segments, building storylines on the road to the upcoming ‘WCW Slamboree 1996’ PPV.
Here’s the card:
Harlem Heat vs. Barrio Brothers
Jim Duggan vs. Frankie Lancaster
Big Bubba Rogers & V.K. Wallstreet vs. Billy Payne & Buck Quartermaine
Craig Pittman vs. Max Muscle
Video of a homeless DDP begging on the street
Slamboree Control Center
Ric Flair vs. Bobby Walker
