Customer Reviews

WWE Legends of Wrestling 1 - Roddy Piper & Terry Funk

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For those who don't already know, the "Legends Of Wrestling" program is a program on WWE 24/7 On Demand channel that's a roundtable discussion featuring Dusty Rhodes, Jim Ross, Pat Patterson, Michael Hayes, and Mike Graham speaking on various subjects. Throughout each discussion, you'll hear various personal & behind the scenes stories of each individual mentioned along with rare video highlights & pictures to showcase the point being put across. On each disc, you'll get a set of bonus matches with most of them never released on DVD before & even rare ones never seen on national television either...with Jesse Ventura's commentry not removed from the matches.

Piper's discussion slightly makes up for the lack of NWA talk on his DVD but not much as they did discuss his role as a color commentator right besides Gordon Solie, his Starrcade '83 match, his promo ability, being able to cross over as a successful actor, and his wrestling ability. Funk's discussion started off with a typical "well, that's Terry Funk" story about the 4th of July & hand gernades along with Dusty telling a story about a recent match they had that was so crazy that Dusty didn't even want to say the town's name, his family history, and the politics behind his NWA reign amongst other things. Unfortunally, this is one of the flops discussion wise because they started getting off subject of Funk & discussing other wrestling related items & this was the shortest roundtable discussion throughout the whole DVD series.

Matches Include:
Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff - This match was exactly as you expected, it was just a street fight with ropes around it as you can count on one hand the number of actual wrestling moves they did. They went brawling onto the floor using weapons & tables all within' the first minute. Just a very intense brawl...don't know how else to describe it.
"Boston Garden" Aug. '85

Roddy Piper vs. Bob Orton - Piper going one on one against his one time best friend & former bodyguard. This is another match that was pretty short & was good for what it was.
"Saturday Night's Main Event" Nov. '86
("Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story")

Hair Match: Roddy Piper vs. Adrian Adonis - This was Roddy's "retirement" match that was very entertaining (with Jimmy Hart only adding to the match) and featured so many memorable moments such as Roddy's memorable walk to the ring, Adrian losing his hair, and the birth of Brutus "THE BARBER" Beefcake.
WrestleMania III
("Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story")

Roddy Piper vs. Haku - It was during this time that Piper was going through "Heenan Family" members in order to get to Rick Rude. As usual with Piper, this started off with a bang as he took the fight right to Haku in a match that was good for what it was in the short time.
"Saturday Night's Main Event" Oct. '89

Steel Cage Match vs. Rick Rude - This was one of those cage matches where you can win by either pinfall/submisson or leaving the cage. This wasn't a bloody massacre but was definately a good match that had the cage used as a weapon various time & also had some moves be more impactful like Rick Rude doing a flying forearm drop off the top at one point & also had some comedic moments like Piper "making an ass" out of Rick Rude.
"MSG" Dec. '89
("Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story")

Roddy Piper vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect - For those who saw Mr. Perfect's DVD, you'll remember a match that happened between Perfect & Tornado with Piper as the referee with Piper getting attacked by Perfect afterwards. This was a result of that match and by this time, Perfect had regained the Intercontinental Championship back. Piper was his usual brawling self to the point where when Perfect tried to walk away, Piper ended up ripping his singlet but Perfect stuck to wrestling Piper & brought out a real good match with Piper than you didn't normally get from him during this time.
"MSG" Dec. '90

Terry Funk vs. Junkyard Dog - Terry's #1 rival in WWE was Junkyard Dog and this was one of their matches during their feud as Funk always knew how to remain a hated heel yet still get people to be entertained by his antics as showcased here as Funk was so out of it at one point that he almost beat up Jimmy Hart. An good entertaining match overall.
"Saturday Night's Main Event" Nov. '85

"I Quit" Match: Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair - Ric Flair has his more "unique" series of matches in his career against Terry Funk & this match is no expection as Flair wrestled a more aggressive offensive style here while Funk was his usual self in being a hardcore brawl while able to do little things to make some comedic moments.
"NWA Clash Of The Champions" Nov. '89
("Ultimate Ric Flair Collection")

Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat - This was inbetween Flair's feuds with both men as Steamboat just lost the NWA Championship to Flair with Funk attacking Flair right afterwards. Steamboat brought the fight right to Funk from the opening & apapted to Funk's style as he was more aggressive than usual throughout the match including fighting on the floor various times. A real competitve match
"NWA Clash Of The Champions" June '89

Terry Funk vs. Tully Blanchard - For those who don't remember the original concept of Slamboree, it was nicknamed "A Legends Reunion" where they had matches featuring classic names from the past against each other and this was the battle of two Texas legends. It should also be noted for those hardcore ECW fans that Terry Funk acknowleged "Hat Guy" in the front row & Gordon Solie returned to commentary for this match. This was completely out of control from the start as they spend most of the opening moments brawling on the outside getting their hands on anything they can from a fans crutch to a piece of the ringside area. They finally settled the fight back in the ring but you still saw Funk be as "middle aged & crazy" as ever with Tully bleeding & Funk bringing in a chair & his branding iron. This was just absolutely insane from start to finish.
WCW Slamboree '94

Other extras include an amature wrestling exibition between Piper & Ric Flair, a Piper's Pit where Roddy interviews himself, and the prematch interviews between Flair & Funk before their "I Quit" match. This is one of those disc where the main attraction would be the bonus materials as the discussion was somewhat disappointing since it went past a half hour while the other ones range from the 45 to over an hour mark & they got off subject towards the end. For hardcore Piper/Funk fans, your going to get this anyways but everyone else...I would check it out for the bonus materials.

This DVD on "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Terry Funk was originally part of a regular series on WWE 24/7 called "Legends Of Wrestling" which had a panel consisting of Jim Ross, "Freebird" Michael 'P.S.' Hayes, Championship Wrestling From Florida legend Mike Graham, 1st ever I-C champion Pat Patterson and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes!

The roundtable discussion first goes to "Rowdy" Roddy Piper for the first 10 minutes or so and then switches to Terry Funk. Mainly, the conversations spoken of are about their influences on the genre of sports entertainment and funny/informative stories on both men (particularly the first time Piper met Ric Flair as Flair was in a VERY compromising position and the time Michael Hayes first met both Terry Funk and Dusty Rhodes/very FUNNY stories)!

As for the bonus features, they break down like this:

Roddy Piper interviews himself - Basically, Piper LITERALLY interviews himself in a very funny talk!

Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair (Amature "workout") - This starts out as a friendly workout but when Piper shows up Flair, Flair gets dirty and cheap shots him while he's down in an amature position. From there, Piper actually pins Flair, thus putting him in line for a future title shot!

Roddy Piper vs. Paul Orndorff - Though Orndorff was known for his scientific wrestling skills, this was a straight up fight! This came off the heels of Piper turning on Paul Orndorff shortly after the first WrestleMania so there was definitely heat here! Match ends in a double countout in a short but exciting match.

Roddy Piper vs. Bob Orton - At this point, Piper had turned fan favorite after "Cowboy" Bob Orton turned on him and joined the late Adrian Adonis and his manager Jimmy Hart. "The Magnificent" Don Muroco shows up at the beginning of this match but is later ejected from the bout. Nothing special here, just your basic brawl but it was on Saturday Night's Main Event!

Roddy Piper Vs. "Adorable" Adrian Adonis - This is their WrestleMania III encounter where they loser gets his head shaved! This was also the genesis of Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (Ed Leslie). Wild match to say the least! As for the haircutting at the end, well, Jimmy "Boogie Woogie Man" Valiant and Paul Jones were SORELY needed! LOL!

Roddy Piper vs. Haku - Another match from Saturday Night's Main Event as Piper was in the midst of feuding with the late, great "Ravishing" Rick Rude! Again, nothing special but it was a pretty good bout. Piper wins, surprisingly, with a wrestling hold (a belly to belly suplex of all things)!

Roddy Piper vs. "Ravishing" Rick Rude - Surprisingly good cage match! It was also one of the first in WWE that allowed pinfalls as well as escape to win the match!

Roddy Piper vs. "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig (WWE Intercontinental Title Match) - It was the brawling of Piper Vs. the brawling/wrestling mix of the late "Mr. Perfect"! The father of current WWE star Michael McGuillicutty (Joe Hennig) found himself on defense for most of this match but did make a strong comeback of his own! Still, the surprise of this match was Piper kicked out of the "Perfect"-plex! To my knowledge, only Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart has ever kicked out of that thing!

Anyway, it ends in a countout victory for Piper but Hennig retains the I-C strap. It would be almost 3 years later until Piper would hold that very title!

Terry Funk vs. Junkyard Dog - This one was a wild brawl that saw dirty wrestling from both men. JYD was super OVER at this point so the crowd was going to be on his side. Ends when Terry Funk uses his branding iron to knock out JYD for the win.

SIDENOTE: If you listen close to the beginning when the action starts, you can hear Another One Bites The Dust by Queen! AWESOME! Grab Them Cakes HAS NOTHING on Another One Bites The Dust!

Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair - This is their famous "I Quit" match. Both brawling and wrestling was used here. While I personally prefer their Great American Bash '89 encounter better, this one is classic too.

Terry Funk vs. Ricky Steamboat - A definite clash of styles! Steamboat, the consumate wrestler who can brawl Vs. Funk, the consumate brawler who could wrestle! This one ends in a DQ victory for Steamboat but Funk has his moments during this match!

Terry Funk vs. Tully Blanchard - This took place at Slamboree '94 as Flair's former Horseman mate (Tully) took on Flair's fiercest rival (Funk)! While do love and respect Tully, I definitely think Flair faired better than Blanchard against Funk! We would see Funk's attempt at a moonsault backfire as well as an attempt to piledrive Tully from the top rope! Ends in a double-DQ.

A very good volume to look at! I would recommend ALL of them!

i enjoy watching wrestling. this is a great look at these two legends. terry and roddy were two of the greatest bad guy of all time.

Great roundtable talk with lots of info. Great matches but are pretty common. I wish match selection was more eclectic/rare ones though