Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Terrible Documentary...EXCELLENT Extras!, November 14, 2006
First, I want to say that Roddy Piper is the reason why I'm a wrestling fan today.
With that said, I'm very disappointed with this DVD set. The extras, which I'll get to
in a minute, are tremendous and it's worth buying this DVD set for them alone, but
the documentary is easily the WORST ever produced by WWE. This documentary makes the
Dusty Rhodes documentary look like pure truth. I was hoping to learn a great deal about Piper,
his days in Portland Wrestling, his legendary feud with Ric Flair over the NWA United States
Title and the truth surrounding his most controversial moments in wrestling. Instead, I get
a documentary that offers no new info that I haven't already heard or read about, and it's almost
entirely presented in kayfabe!?
It's insulting as a fan that Piper and his opponents expect us to believe that they never really
knew how the angles and matches were going to turn out and that they just unfolded. Come on!
For example, both Piper and Snuka talk about their famous Piper's Pit segment as if it were a shoot.
Most WWE documentaries do this from one degree to another, but this is the first that has done it
for nearly the entire feature. Very disappointing. Also, Piper was at his BEST during his stint in Portland
Wrestling and the NWA, but if you blink you'll miss the part about Portland and they only talk about
Piper's Dog Collar match with Greg Valentine from the first Starrcade when talking about his time in
the NWA. Piper came into the NWA and was so hot at the time that he quickly feuded with
Ric Flair and they traded the NWA United States Title! No clips of these matches are even shown or
talked about. Also, speaking of Portland Wrestling, they didn't even show Piper's infamous beer bottle
promo, where he slammed a real and sealed beer bottle into his forehead. The bottle explodes sending
beer and glass everywhere, as he proceeds to cut a promo on the Sheepherders, blood pours out of his head.
THAT is the "Rowdy" Roddy Piper I remember, but all we get here is the watered down kids version of Piper
that we saw in the WWF.
However, with that said, I must say that the extras save this DVD set and the extras are tremendous!
I would have loved to see more Portland and Mid-Atlantic matches, but they did include some
classic moments here. Plus, they included some rare Piper matches from Saturday Night's Main Event
which was a show were Piper really shined during his WWF stint. If that wasn't enough, the WWE has
devoted the third DVD in this set to Piper's Pit! That's right, disc 3 is nothing but the BEST of Piper's
Pit from the WWF and later the WWE. Here's the full rundown of the DVD and the extras...
Disc One:
1. The Documentary
2. Piper Stories - 12 in all!
3. Roddy Piper & Mike Popovich vs. Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver - Portland Wrestling
4. Roddy Piper vs. Buddy Rose Northwest Heavyweight Title - Portland Wrestling
5. Roddy Piper vs. Jack Brisco - Mid - Atlantic Heavyweight Title (Piper's promo after
this match is classic!!!!)
6. Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine - Dog Collar match for the NWA US Title Starrcade '83
Disc Two:
1. Roddy Piper & Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff vs. Hulk Hogan & Mr.T - WrestleMania I
2. Roddy Piper vs. Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndorff - Saturday Night's Main Event (this was a
great brawl for the time)
3. Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T - Boxing Match from WrestleMania II, easily one of the worst
blunders in WWE history, they even admit it on the DVD. Why it's on here is a mystery.
4. Roddy Piper vs. The Iron Shiek - Saturday Night's Main Event. This is Piper's babyface
turn in WWF
5. Roddy Piper vs. "Cowboy" Bob Orton - Saturday Night's Main Event
6. Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis - WrestleMania III
7. Roddy piper vs. Hulk Hogan - MTV's "War to Settle the Score"
8. Roddy Piper vs. Rick Rude - Steel Cage Match from Madison Square Garden
I'm so pleased to see this match here, it's surprisingly good.
9. Roddy piper vs. Bad News Brown - WrestleMania VI
10. Roddy Piper vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart - IC Title match from WrestleMania VIII
Bret carried Piper to his best wrestling match ever
11. Roddy Piper vs. The Mountie - IC Title Match from the Royal Rumble '92
12. Roddy Piper vs. Goldust - Hollywood Back Lot Brawl from WrestleMania XII
13. Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan - Starrcade '96
Disc Three:
Piper's Pit, the guests are...
1. Robert Debord
2. Andre the Giant
3. Frank Williams
4. The Haiti Kid
5. Jesse Ventura, Hulk Hogan & Andre the Giant
6. Jimmy Snuka
7. Mr. T, Hulk Hogan & Jimmy Snuka
8. Salvatore Bellomo & Junkyard Dog
9. Paul Orndorff
10. Bruno Sammartino
11. Jimmy Hart
12. Harley Race & Bobby Heenan
13. Hulk Hogan & WWF Executives
14. Hulk Hogan
15. Piper's last Pit before WrestleMania III (one of the best)
16. Brother Love & Morton Downey - WrestleMania V
17. Vince McMahon & Rikishi
18. Jimmy Snuka - 2003
19. Mr.America
20. Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri
21. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin - WrestleMania XXI
22. Shawn Michaels
23. Mick Foley, Randy & Bob Orton
24. The Great Khali
Not a bad selection of Pits, my only gripes are that they didn't show the rest of
TNT after the Snuka Pit where Piper slapped the hell out of Lord Alfred Hayes and
there are no Pits involving the Pit vs. The Flower Shop feud. Otherwise, these were
the best Pits.
There you have it, like I said, the extras really make this release. If the documentary
had been better, this would easily be a 5 star release, but any "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
fan, like myself, will still love this release regardless.
One more comment... fans will be glad to know that Jesse Ventura's commentary
during the Saturday Night's Main Event matches is intact and has not been edited out.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing DVD set for an I.C.O.N., November 15, 2006
Without a doubt, one of the biggest icons in this business and one of the biggest originators in the business. Before Jake Roberts' Snake Pit, Carlito's Cabana, Jericho's Highlight Reel, The Brother Love Show...the original was Piper's Pit. Before wrestlers did movies...he starred in "They Live". I could go into more but I think you get the point. Roddy Piper was an innovator in this business and one of the men who just knew how to hold the crowd into the palm of his hand. With new comments from Piper along with some old clips (ala Wrestlers Of 80's DVD) along with comments from such performers as Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Jim Ross, Cowboy Bob & Randy Orton amongst others. Bottom line, "The Boss Is Back"...on DVD. And I just also happened to get the special 4 disc set from Circuit City with extra Piper's Pits as well.
The documentry stars out with Roddy growing up in different cities all over the world & leaving home at the age of 13 and breaking into wrestling with his first match with Larry Hennig (Mr. Perfect's dad) that set a record that Roddy still brags about to this day. His travel from different wrestling territories including a territory in Mexico that saw a fued he had with Chavo Guerrero Sr. (Chavo Classic) that resulted in his first major wrestling fued is shown. Roddy Piper's first big break in Portland Wrestling is covered. Piper & others talk about his time in NWA Mid-Alantic wrestling that started his relationship with Ric Flair and the brutial Starrcade '83 Dog Collar match against Greg Valentine which resulted in 50% of his hearing damaged. Piper's venture into the WWF and the story behind him being a manager for a while is talked about next along complete with stories of his relationship with Cowboy Bob Orton, Mr. T, WrestleMania, and his greatest contribution to professional wrestling...Piper's Pit.. The story behind his retirement match at WrestleMania III and his acting role in "They Live" are talked about before his return to WWF two years later. The main fued talked about here was his fued with Bad News Brown and the discussion turned into Roddy Piper painting himself half black...which was never really answered. His run as a color commentator & the Intercontinental title run and his WrestleMania VIII match with Bret Hart are discussed before Piper's family talks about him being a family man. Piper's return at WrestleMania X, his fued against Jerry Lawler that resulted in a bad match to the point where Lawler or Piper didn't want to discuss it, and what O.J. Simpson had to do with the Roddy Piper vs. Goldust fued. His 3 year run in WCW was reduced to just the "icon vs. icon" fued between himself & Hogan in the Starrcade '96 match. His return to WWE (for the 3rd time now) in 2003 was discussed & how he really felt about his run & how Piper's Pit was being treated. The controversal HBO interview with Piper that resulted in his release is heavily talked. Piper's induction into the Hall Of Fame and talk his guest appearences in WWE with Piper's Pit close out this documentry. The only negative I can say about this part was that they tried to mix reality with "kayfaye" so it hurts it like it did with previous DVD's like Rey Mysterio's years ago.
DVD extras include interview outtakes from Piper talking about such things as him sharing on-camera moments with his son Colt, his feelings about the "coconut" angle with Rikishi, more talk about Mr. T, how a rib involving two other wrestlers resulted in Harley Race almost shooting one of them, and how WM21 showed he was a man of his word. Other interview outtakes include Bruce Prichard (Brother Love) talking about his first meeting with Roddy Piper and both Mick Foley & Randy Orton talked about Piper giving back to the business.
Along with the documentry includes 17 matches such as him against Buddy Rose in both a singles & tag match from Portland Wrestling, Jack Brisco, Paul Orndorff, Bob Orton, Iron Sheik, Bad News Brown, and Rick Rude in a steel cage. Other matches include him against Greg Valentine in the Dog Collar match from Starrcade '83, "The War To Settle The Score" match vs. Hulk Hogan, the WrestleMania I tag match, Mr. T in the WrestleMania II boxing match, his hair vs. hair retirement match against Adrian Adonis at WrestleMania III, his Intercontinental Title victory against The Mountie & his title defense against Bret Hart at WrestleMania VIII, the Hollywood Backlot Brawl against Goldust, and his "Icon vs. Icon" match against Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade '96 round out his matches.
The last disc is completely full of Piper's Pit. This was really the biggest negative about the DVD because it ends the DVD set on a bad note because eventhough the Pit's start off great & were classics in comedy & drama...all the ones from his return in '03 & afterwards (8 total) were just horrible to the point to where Piper said that he thought they were tryin' to bury & kill it on purpose during the documentry. It wasn't the same type of Piper's Pit that they were back in the 80's as they all end with Piper getting either beat down or putting over a wrestler/storyline that didn't last long or that fans to this day want to forget. Anyways, these Pit segments include such moments as the Haiti Kid recieving a haircut, the infamous Frank Williams episode, the coconut episode with Jimmy Snuka, Andre The Giant challenging Hogan to the WM3 match, the Mr. T confrontation at MSG, his WM5 return with Brother Love & Morton Downey Jr. (this segment is clipped), and his goodbye speech before WM3. Other Pit's include such guest as Jimmy Hart, King Harley Race & Bobby Heenan, Vince McMahon & Rikishi, Mr. America (starting the Zack Gowen angle), Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri, Stone Cold & Carlito from WM21, Shawn Michaels, The Great Khali, and the RAW Homecoming episode with Randy & Bob Orton along with Mick Foley close out the Piper's Pit disc. If they just had to include some Pit episodes from his last two runs in WWE then I would have included WrestleMania 21, the McMahon episode but eliminate the Rikishi garbage afterwards, and the episode from early 2006 with J.B.L. & the Boogeyman since that was the funniest & most entertaining one since his 2003 return. And also, it wouldn't have been bad if they included the segments from the Flower Shop/Piper's Pit fued as well.
The Circuit City bonus disc isn't much as it only last 10 mins. with 6 extra Piper's Pits featuring Kamala & Kimchee & Wizard, Hillbilly Jim & Uncle Elmer & Jesse Ventura, Mr. Fuji, Boxing Bob Orton & Hulk Hogan, and the debut of Adorable Adrian Adonis.
Overall, the documentry didn't really go into the heavy details of Roddy Piper's career as other DVD's on other wrestlers did (Bret, ECW, Dusty) as they mostly just covered his most memorable moments. The overall match selection was great but they needed a Ric Flair match. And for Roddy Piper to be praised for being such a talker...they don't have any of Piper's promos outside of Piper's Pit. I mean, none of his mic work from the NWA is worthy of a DVD extra? And the extras at the end really knocked it down and seemed like they were just trying to full up space instead of doing his legacy justice like they did with Jake Roberts' DVD. For that alone, I wouldn't call this a five star classic such as I did with DVD sets like Bret Hart & Hulk Hogan but overall, I recommend for any professional wrestling fan but don't get it with high hopes.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great footage. Somewhat sanitized story., November 18, 2006
I was a huge Roddy Piper fan in the 1980s and I'm glad to have this set. It's great to watch outrageous moments like the "Piper's Pit" interviews with Frank Williams ("maybe you should be making pizzas") and Superfly Snuka (the infamous coconut attack). I even enjoyed the more recent Pits.
The biography is also an entertaining 95 minutes. But the bio and the bonus matches (mostly excellent, full of action and great story-telling) leave a gap in the story. At WrestleMania I and II, Piper is the WWF's number-one heel. At WM III he's a retiring hero. It would have been great to see the switch, but it's left out. In truth the storyline would be somewhat crass by 2006 standards. The WWF gave Piper a few months off and replaced Piper's Pit with The Flower Shop, hosted by a flamboyant "gay" character, Adorable Adrian Adonis. Due to his great popularity, Piper returned as the defender of family values (and of his Pit vs. the Flower Shop). It's a glaring gap in the story of Piper's peak-popularity years.
Some minor censorship: A slur that Piper uses against Italian wrestler Salvatore Bellomo (and vs. Italian-American Bruno Sammartino) is bleeped out. It's crude but I think we viewers can handle it. (Both scenes are classic Piper--intense and funny.)
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