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[1991-09-28-WWF-Superstars] Ric Flair and Roddy Piper


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  • 3 months later...

One of my favorite angles ever. Flair approaches Piper at the broadcast booth and starts pushing him around after Piper has just vowed not to go after Flair in his capacity as an announcer. They end up in a shouting match and Flair decks Piper with the belt. Weird to see him doing this attack in the robe. WWF! Piper picks up a chair and swings it without looking and ends up knocking out Vince McMahon! Flair jumps back in and hits Piper with the chair. Fantastic.

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Flair was on his way to the ring for a match when he decided to harass the announce booth, so this is one of the few times where Flair wearing the robe actually makes sense.

 

Piper decking Vince with the chair was one of those moments that was burned into my brain when I first saw this, and I didn't even know that Vince was the boss at the time. That wooden chair made a great THWACK sound.

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Piper decking Vince with the chair was one of those moments that was burned into my brain when I first saw this, and I didn't even know that Vince was the boss at the time. That wooden chair made a great THWACK sound.

Agreed, Vince rarely got involved physically so this was pretty stunning at the time

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  • 1 month later...

Another great angle in the middle of a WWF hot streak. It's great to see a WWF heel back up what he says. Flair cheapshots Piper with the belt and goes to town on him, and they make sure to mention that Savage can't intervene as he's on probation for trashing Tunney's office. Then the big moment as Vince McMahon eats an accidental chairshot and takes the first bump most fans had ever seen him take. I never get tired of scenes of chaos with no commentary. Hardcore angles and storylines intersecting with one another--this period is possibly the most Southern in WWF history, at least pre-1997.

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Flair is right up in Piper’s face about their issues. He attacks Piper and nails him with the belt. Savage can only stand in the background. Vince taking the chair shot was awesome. Patterson blocks a chair shot of his own. He was wearing Danny Davis’ prison stripes.

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  • 10 months later...
  • 1 year later...

This was unbelievable, so good and different from the WWF norm that I wonder if Flair suggested it himself. If so, kudos to Vince for listening to him.

 

The small touches in this are legion: Piper repeating his vow not to go after Flair while he's commentating, thus ensuring that Flair has to throw the first punch; Savage being clearly sympathetic, but still so consumed by his own issue with Jake that he respects his probation and stays out of it, knowing that if he touches Flair he's fired and thus loses his possible chance to avenge Liz; Vince being so outraged at Flair attacking a basically defenseless Piper that he jumps down from the booth to confront Flair himself, which he's done less than a handful of times over twenty years as an announcer; Piper being so consumed with rage that he grabs the chair and hits the first person he sees, who happens to be Vince; and Flair winning the day by attacking Piper again and laying him out with the same chair, objections of the various officials be damned, then leaving on his own triumphant terms.

 

The above is so different from the usual WWF pull-apart that it almost belongs in a different universe. As I said, kudos to Vince for permitting the angle to take place in the way it did. This is exactly what Flair needed to establish himself as the dirtiest player in the game once more. The only thing the segment might have been able to use was a Hogan appearance, but if Hogan runs Flair off, this isn't nearly as memorable as the chaotic scene we saw. This is one of the last angles I saw as it unfolded in real time, and I couldn't believe it then. I'm honestly not sure that I believe it now.

 

I think we're missing something, because I clearly remember Vince doing a stretcher job to end the show. Maybe my mind's playing tricks on me after so many years, but that was the most shocking thing about the whole segment; I'd never seen an announcer do a stretcher job before.

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  • 2 years later...

What a great, great segment. Piper playing nice only to get the cheapshot by Flair is absolutely perfect. Vince taking the chairshot from Piper is...I'm still shocked that it happened. It's just so out of place in the best way possible. Then Flair takes advantage of the confusion to put Piper down with the chair and it has ot be pried form his hands before he does more damage. Amazing stuff and I'll agree the lack of announcing really puts this over the top.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1991-09-28-WWF-Superstars] Ric Flair and Roddy Piper
  • 5 years later...

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