Legendary wrestling personality Ken Resnick and legendary journalist Bill Apter spoke about the classic Mr. T and Roddy Roddy Piper feud on the latest edition of VOC Nation’s Wrestling With History show. The duo also discuss Tony Schiavone’s heat with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, as well as other highlights which can be found below.
Apter on the heat between Heenan and Schiavone:
“I think the main crux of (it) was that Tony wanted to get out of the business at that point. Things just weren’t palatable to him anymore in WCW. The people that were running it and (him) just didn’t see (eye to eye). He was fed up with everything (at that point). It wasn’t just Bobby Heenan. I think Tony at that point wanted to be (done) and wanted out. He was driven out of that business with politics and contractual things… now he’s back and stronger than ever.”
Apter talks how Gorilla Monsoon wanted to be portrayed on television:
“I didn’t know that he was going to be as good as he was in that role. When I was growing up, he was a scary bad guy. To shave that beard and come out as a broadcaster – he really shined in that role… He always wanted to show people his intelligence and how schooled he was. His intelligence bouncing off of Bobby Heenan’s sarcasm worked so well together.”
Resnick discusses Roddy Piper’s seriousness during promos:
“He was smart enough on his own to kind of paint the build up. A lot of great guys (that were) tremendous (at) interviews were pretty much the same kind of interview whether they were three weeks out (from the match) 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 (taping) before the match?… He’s the only performer that I can every remember consistently wanting to be aware in relation to when the match was going to take place in that market.”
Apter dissects the rivalry between Mr. T and Piper:
“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.”
Apter believes Piper was a major influence for wrestlers jumping into the movie business:
“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?’