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Piper Beats Rick McGraw To Within An Inch Of His Life (Literally!)

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So to follow up on the Macho Man post, here's Rick McGraw's final match, as he lips off to Roddy Piper on TV the week before and gets DESTROYED in one of the stiffest and most vicious beatings I've ever seen someone take on a WWF TV show, with Piper no-selling everything and just laying into him in return with everything.  Piper doesn't even pin the poor guy, it's a ref stoppage.   This is of course awesome because Piper never wrestled on TV, and this was something special when he did.

Comments

  1. Justin HenryDecember 29, 2012 at 9:57 PM

    McGraw was a real bad ass. He worked this match the day after he died, you know. The alternate version is that Piper went back in time 24 hours and killed him.

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  2. zanadudeDecember 29, 2012 at 10:08 PM

    4:49 Vintage Roddy Piper!

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  3. zanadudeDecember 29, 2012 at 10:08 PM

    So that's why McGraw was working stiff!

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  4. AmericanWolves02December 29, 2012 at 10:10 PM

    "He's waiting for a bus!"

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  5. WaylonMercy24December 29, 2012 at 10:41 PM

    This aired very shortly after McGraw died. Got to say, no wrestling promotion could ever get away with pulling that off today. The backlash would be bigger than the Benoit scandal five years ago.

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  6. Scream09December 29, 2012 at 10:46 PM

    These days a guy finishes a match with a torn quad and we're supposed to treat him like Christ himself for 10 years.

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  7. Jef VinsonDecember 29, 2012 at 10:54 PM

    Piper's finisher was the backdrop suplex (when he wasn't using the sleeper) I wonder why the announcers made a bigger deal of it than that.

    Also. is this the first time the DDT was used in the WWE? (the 6:54 mark)

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  8. WaylonMercy24December 29, 2012 at 10:55 PM

    Have to admit, the big name heel who never wrestles on TV is a concept that is definitely way past overdue for a return.

    Jimmy Garvin's initial run in Dallas is the best example of this where he would only wrestle if the cameras were turned off. So he wrestled but viewers never got to see it, thereby meaning you had to buy a ticket to see him wrestle.

    Personally, I think they should have done that with Alberto Del Rio when he debuted. Have him booked for a match every week but when it's time for him to compete, have him cut a promo and say he's only going to compete when the time is right and only for the right amount of money.

    Also could have made his first PPV match a big deal by having it take place six months after his debut instead of right away and in the interim shoot some vignettes of him watching the PPV's inside his limo. That would have been a lot better than what we got.

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  9. WaylonMercy24December 29, 2012 at 11:02 PM

    Adrian Adonis was using the DDT as his finisher until Jake Roberts joined the company so no it's not the first time but I'm pretty sure Piper learned it from Adonis considering they were good friends outside of the ring.

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  10. Matt StablerDecember 29, 2012 at 11:06 PM

    I was just about to type that Piper was using the DDT as a mid-match move, but then I realized that it was not even named that yet. Crazy shit.

    And hot damn is that stiff. Those chops are taking of layers of skin I think. I think Scott put it best in one of his rants where he compared another match to fighting the Undertaker om hard in WM 2000. This too is similar methinks.

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  11. MadDogJoeDeCursoDecember 29, 2012 at 11:12 PM

    oh boy..

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  12. MadDogJoeDeCursoDecember 29, 2012 at 11:14 PM

    @ 9:00, Bruno: "I'm glad that the referee stopped the bout and saved McGraw for another day."

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  13. Jef VinsonDecember 29, 2012 at 11:16 PM

    Another Piper squash I liked. He beats this jabroni with one hand: http://youtu.be/r1N5Ycg-xEQ

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  14. GrailspiralDecember 29, 2012 at 11:23 PM

    You put more thought into character development in that one posting than.the company.in 10 years. Good job

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  15. GrailspiralDecember 29, 2012 at 11:24 PM

    Haha bravo.

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  16. Charlie OwensDecember 30, 2012 at 1:00 AM

    A.J. PETRUCCI! Ah, the good ol days when even the jobbers had reasonably cool names.

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  17. Jason AntoniewiczDecember 30, 2012 at 1:38 AM

    This wasn't near as vicious as Scott made it out to be, but still cool. Notice how PIper kept putting the mic in McGraw's face whenever he wanted to talk, no matter how little McGraw had to actually say each time. A gutsy and generous move on Piper's part, akin to Heenan or Jesse praising babyfaces on commentary.

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  18. ATL2012December 30, 2012 at 4:32 AM

    I love Hot Rod. "He's waiting for a bus". lol

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  19. ATL2012December 30, 2012 at 4:34 AM

    Hollywood Hogan never defending the WCW title made sense and added an allure to the shows when he did defend it. Plus, it suited him at that point because he sucked in the ring at that point

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  20. Dougie2876December 30, 2012 at 7:32 AM

    Yet morons complain that the title isn't being defended.

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  21. Matt JohnsonDecember 30, 2012 at 7:57 AM

    I wish I could like this a billion times. Kudos.

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  22. Jef VinsonDecember 30, 2012 at 8:20 AM

    I miss jobber shows. TNA should really do something like that.,

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  23. tzunsetDecember 30, 2012 at 8:44 AM

    Piper doesn't drop him on his face or the top of his head though. I think it's more of a front-facelock and roll, which was a popular takedown in the 50s and 60s. Nitpicking, I know.

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  24. dirtyearsbillDecember 30, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    That match was Vader vs. Flair from Starrcade 1993, for those wondering. I always loved that comparison.

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  25. Adam FosterDecember 30, 2012 at 12:09 PM

    That was Bruno? He really sucked. . .

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  26. The_BoDecember 30, 2012 at 1:47 PM

    I thought that was Pat Patterson

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  27. zanadudeDecember 30, 2012 at 5:52 PM

    There's WWE Superstars.

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  28. ReinEngelDecember 30, 2012 at 7:41 PM

    If WWE did this type of angle today, they wouldn't run through their wrestlers and overexpose the shit out of them on TV, then maybe when they put a match on PPV people wouldn't automatically think to themselves "how many times have I seen this on TV already?"

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  29. brocoreDecember 30, 2012 at 11:15 PM

    Rick McGraw would be a former three-time Intercontinental Champion if this angle happened today.

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  30. YJ2310December 31, 2012 at 12:24 AM

    Michael Cole screaming into Vince's headset...

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  31. zanadudeDecember 31, 2012 at 6:10 AM

    And, seeing how thin the talent roster has become, two of those reigns would have happened after he died.

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