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Joe Babinsack Talks Piper Vs. Valentine Feud

Posted: Aug 13th 2009 By: CMBurnham

Great Moments

Roddy Piper vs. Greg Valentine

April 30, 1983

Valentine regains US Title

Researching this match was a difficult chore. The infamous Dog Collar match at Starrcade ?83 is always the more remembered match, but quite frankly, not the more notable. History clouds details, and the feud between Piper and Valentine in the Mid-Atlantic area is one of those where it?s very easy to see everyone missing the point.

The Dog Collar match was brutal, violent and bloody. It was also, as most feuds go, the culmination of the feud. In other words, it was the blow-off match.

Back then, there was no conceivable reason to do such a crazed and violent match just to do it.

Feuds grow and build. Wherever the feud between Piper and Valentine started, it was already underway in the middle of April, 1983, when Piper defeated Valentine, earning the United States Title. Was that match important? Certainly. But the crafting of the feud played out masterfully a dozen or so days later.

Valentine, now the challenger, and Piper, the Champion; roles reversed, but not exactly setting up a series of back and forth exchanges of a worthless belt.

The promo by Valentine in the post match was priceless. And I don?t mean two young third-generation guys looking goofy in tights. It was the sort of thing that makes wrestling belts meaningful, makes competition between professional wrestlers real, and makes it wonderful to be a fan.

I watched this match, the lead up and the post match interviews on WWE?s Wrestling Classic option on InDemand. Of course my question remains, why isn?t the WWE Creative watching these matches?

The key moment is what made the match, what made the feud and what set up the more memorable Dog Collar match some eight months later.

Now, we live in an era where belt shots are pass?, and violence is so overblown that we ignore sledge-hammers and DDT?s, moves and foreign objects that would have been sold like death even twenty years ago.. Twenty-six years ago, it was one shot with a title belt that unleashed one of the hottest feuds in history.

Too bad we?ve forgotten how it played out.

The match up until that point was certainly heated. Piper, over the past two decades, degenerated along with his bad hip in terms of physicality, and really never was the kind of dominating figure or physique, but was always the tough guy who never gave up.

That?s important as anything else in this match.

Piper and Valentine were going at it, and those who don?t remember Valentine should realize that he was at the top of his game at this point, not at the point where he became a perennial tag team champ, and still in the peak of his Carolinas reputation. Valentine was a solid technical wrestler, befitting his old man, but without that touch of madness/connection/pure believability that could have made him a true superstar.

The match went outside the ring. Not like the insanity that is routine these days, but the atypical breather, and opportunity to change up the pace. But outside, Valentine happened upon the Time Keeper?s desk, and found himself with the US Title Belt. Opportunity knocked, and Piper was at the wrong place.

While today we would expect the smash to the head, the roll in, the quick 1-2 and kickout, and then the match continuing, we?re not revisiting the inability of the present to reflect the greatness of the past ? we?re looking back at the past, reminiscing how things used to be.

The blow wasn?t spectacular, but back then, smacking your opponent with a piece of metal MEANT SOMETHING.

It was readily apparent inside the ring.

The announcers noticed it. Valentine noticed it. And Piper sold it like a Hall of Famer.

Selling? Selling a belt shot? Who would have thunk it!?!

But this wasn?t an ?ouch my ear? spot, or some superhuman Hulking up or even a bad sell by a poorly trained WWE Superstar (TM) ? this was masterful.

The blood was there, but the whole equilibrium thing played out. The whole Piper as relentless force played out. The whole notion that you could destroy the man?s ear, but the man would still try to destroy you played out.

For a while, the cat and mouse game played out. Valentine as the professional, in the immortal words of Gordon Solie, playing the true role of the professional, picking a body part and (not controlling it like an amateur but) destroying it. Of course, the body part was Roddy Piper?s ear, and the destruction was well underway by the brutal belt shot.

But the match didn?t stop there. It didn?t stop with a cheap pin, or a score of pin attempts, or even with anything quick about it.

Piper kept coming, even though you could clearly see he was off. He kept coming, even though Valentine could readily out distance him as if he was Forrest Griffin ineffectually swinging at Anderson Silva. He kept coming, kept coming, kept coming.

What?s more important, Piper got his licks in. While Valentine picked his spots and knocked him down afterwards, Piper would come back, swinging wildly, until eventually, Valentine side-stepped and cracked him in the ear.

Again.

The crescendo of the crowd was palpable, and the announcers were great in framing the issue.

Here?s the champ: injured, damaged and clearly incapable of standing up straight for any length of time. And here?s the challenger, who took one liberty and sat back and capitalized on it, riding it to victory.

By the time an ?NWA Official? hit the ring, and it was some name of note, the emotion of the crowd was waning. Piper had no business being in there, and that was apparent. Valentine cheated like a dastardly heel, but he was holding back just enough to let the crowd into the situation. By the time the Officials went from one to five, and Piper fought them off, recklessly, hopelessly, and with an obvious understanding of the ramifications, the fans had seen enough of the story to comprehend.

Piper lost. He lost the belt because he was unable to continue. And the better man, even if because of a wildly illegal blow, was standing in the ring, truly the winner of the contest.

The depths of the story resonated for months. Piper played the injured warrior. Wronged by still fighting. Desperate but disarmed by the injury.. With the crowd behind him, but wanting him to not be destroyed.

And clearly set up for the return fight.

Sure, the Dog Collar in the cake, the weeks of buildup, the awesome promos by both men, all these and the visuals and the hatred built it higher. But take away the moment, and what do you have?

Just another feud?

That?s not what wrestling was all about.

And then, to seal the match, the moment and the storyline, Greg Valentine delivered one of the best promo?s I?ve seen.

?That, is what a professional wrestler does.?

He doesn?t scream, he doesn?t overhype it. His delivery, as anyone who watched The Hammer knows, is a little soft of voice, but distinctly determined in demeanor. Valentine here was awesome. He played off his role like few can do these days, by simply reinforcing his character, and establishing that he, as a professional wrestler, would do what it took to win a match.

And especially a match for a title as prestigious as the United States Championship.

You can?t watch that match, that promo, and realized how serious it all was, and how one simple blow by The Hammer laid it out.

Think about that after you see 40 concussive blows in the next main event match, and then realize why one blow, properly defined in (or outside) of a professional wrestling ring, is worth ten times the money.

Tags: Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, WWE, NWA