The Name on the Marquee: History of the Intercontinental Championship 11 (WWEClassics.com)

Posted by Adam Nedeff on 11.12.2009

I freely admit it; I'm biased, and it affects this review.

-When last we left off, the WWF decided to give this Hit Man guy a shot at a singles run for a while and see how it worked out. And we’ll pick up our little tale there…

-Your host is Jack Korpela.

NON-TITLE: BRET “Hit Man” HART (Champion) vs. THE MOUNTIE (with Jimmy Hart)
-From Superstars of Wrestling, October 1991. The Mountie is a little annoyed that this isn’t a title match and before the match even begins, he demands an explanation. Your commentary team reasons that he doesn’t deserve the match, but Bret grabs the microphone and gives a more succinct explanation: He won’t give a title shot to a jailbird. (Mountie lost the Jailhouse Match at Summerslam ’91 at got taunted for months afterward for it.)

-Jimmy Hart throws a bucket of water onto Bret and the Mountie sneaks up and zaps him with the cattle prod. He walks away, leaving the Hitman laying. Bret’s sell of the cattle prod alone gets a point for this segment. 1 for 1 for a surprisingly realistic performance and angle.

1991 WRESTLER OF THE YEAR AWARD
-From December 1991. Bret accepts a trophy from Classy Freddy Blassie on Superstars of Wrestling. The Mountie offers a rebuttal on Wrestling Challenge, saying 1991 must have been a slow year for wrestling. 1 for 2. This didn’t really add anything.

-So Jack Korpela tells us the story of what happened on the way to the Royal Rumble. Bret caught the flu, agreed to wrestle the Mountie at a house show three days before the Rumble anyway, and got pinned immediately, losing the belt (and holy cow, we even get footage!). Roddy Piper suddenly showed up and punched the Mountie out, quite succinctly challenging him to a match.

THE MOUNTIE (Champion, with Jimmy Hart) vs. ROWDY RODDY PIPER
-I think I’ve established quite clearly what a gigantic fucking Piper mark I am, so yes, the rating for this match will be a point, and yes, I am covering my monitor in Saran Wrap in preparation for viewing.

-Piper wraps his kilt around the Mountie’s head to blind him and then just pounds on him. Mountie ducks out for a breather and Piper goes right after him with another right hand. Mountie hides behind Jimmy Hart and tosses his body into Piper, and that staggers Piper just enough that Mountie can capitalize and get some offense in.

-Back in the ring, Piper counters an attempted monkeyflip to take the advantage back. Bulldog follows and Piper declares “I am Rodddddyyyy!!!!” to taunt the Mountie. I never noticed that in the previous 800 times I’ve seen this match, funnily enough.

-Piper pokes the eyes, but then a slugfest erupts and Mountie dodges what would have been a horrible-looking dropkick for a two-count. Mountie chicken-wings Piper and rams him into the turnbuckle a few times. He bites Piper and hits an elbow off the ropes for two. He tosses Piper to the floor. Piper sunset flips back in for two. Another slugfest erupts and Piper can’t seem to win with punching, so he tries biting, and that does the trick. Backdrop and a shot to the gut by Piper. Atomic drop by Piper appears to send Mountie to the floor, but he skins the cat back in while Jimmy Hart distracts Piper…

-But Piper anticipates and gets out of the way, so Mountie knocks Jimmy off the apron, then walks right into the sleeper. He fades away, and the happiest moment of my three years as a fan up to that point is complete as the Mountie goes to sleep and Roddy Piper is YOUR new Intercontinental Champion. Piper zaps the Mountie post-match to celebrate, then javelin-tosses the cattle prod for a great visual. 2 for 3.

ROWDY RODDY PIPER (Champion) vs. THE MOUNTIE (with Jimmy Hart)
-From Saturday Night’s Main Event a few weeks later. Piper removes his kilt before the bell but keeps his shirt on for the entire match, and SPOILER ALERT, that’s going to get paid off.

-Jimmy Hart takes a cheap shot before the bell and Mountie capitalizes by tossing Piper to the floor. Piper comes right back inside and knocks both men down. He noggin-knocks them on the floor. Right hand by Piper, but Jimmy hooks his leg on the way back into the ring and the Mountie takes advantage with hard stomping. We get pre-taped words from Bret Hart, challenging the winner to a match at Wrestlemania VIII.

-Meanwhile, Mountie gets a two-count. He slams Piper down and goes for a splash, but Piper lifts his knees to take the wind out of him. He goes for a bulldog, but Mountie shoves him into the referee. With the referee out cold, Mountie piledrives Hot Rod and then dumps some water on Piper, then shocks him with the cattle prod. And then, gasp, Piper no-sells it, tosses Jimmy Hart to the floor, and just screwdrives the cattle prod into the Mountie’s chest as hard as he can. He pins The Mountie handily, then removes his shirt to reveal a vest with “SHOCK PROOF” helpfully printed across the front in giant letters. 2 for 4. Too short.

ROWDY RODDY PIPER (Champion) vs. SHAWN MICHAELS (with Sensational Sherri)
-From the March to Wrestlemania special. I remember watching this match when it aired, but what’s funny is typing out those particular names and realizing, “Wow, this match actually happened.” Sherri lifts Piper’s kilt before the match and laughs at what she sees down there. Piper slaps her on the ass to retaliate, and Shawn gets a little upset about that.

-Shoving match ensues from there, and Piper spits in Shawn’s face. They trade slaps until Shawn just decides to try an actual move. He hits a bodypress, but Piper reverses it for two. Shawn quickly gets a two-count of his own. Shawn goes for a dropkick and Piper hooks his legs and slingshots him into the post for another two count. Sherri tries to get involved, but Piper kisses her right on the mouth and she nearly passes out from the shock. We’ll see if she recovers when we return.

-It’s an instant return, where they fade in from commercial exactly where they faded out, and Shawn clotheslines Piper out to the floor. He plants Piper’s face into the steps and Sherri gets on all fours to taunt Piper as he crawls around the ring. Piper gets to his feet in time for Shawn to come off the apron with a double-axehandle. Fists are traded and Piper goes into the barricade. Shawn takes him back inside and lays into Piper with punches. Headlock is clamped on. Piper gets to his feet but walks into the not-yet-superkick. He tries to finish with a back suplex, but Piper hits a HARD right to get free as Wrestlemania 2 abruptly comes up on commentary and Gorilla calls Mr. T a “bum.”

-Shawn gets straddled on the top rope and Piper capitalizes. He sends Shawn into the turnbuckle and tries for a bulldog, but Shawn, having watched this episode on WWEClassics.com already, reverses by sending Piper crashing into the referee. Sherri takes off her boot and Shawn KOs Piper with it, but before Shawn can wake up the referee, Bret Hart shows up and gives Piper the boot. Piper takes a swing at Shawn, and, oh shit, the referee sees THAT one, so the referee calls for the bell and DQs Hot Rod. 3 for 5. Piper blames Bret for the loss and gets right into his face after the bell, telling him to stay out of his life. Bret retaliates by grabbing the title belt from the timekeeper and launching it at Piper from the floor.

ROWDY RODDY PIPER (Champion) vs. BRET “Hit Man” HART
-We’ve made it to Wrestlemania VIII at the Hoosier Dome. Piper is in unbelievable shape here, for whatever that’s worth.

-Piper armdrags Hart, showing that he came for a wrestling match, not his usual forte. Bret armdrags him right back and they have another staredown. Piper takes Bret down with amateur moves, but Hart grabs the ropes and uses the leverage to send Piper to the floor. Piper officially loses his temper and spits in Hart’s face.

-Test of strength goes Bret’s way and he works the arm. Piper tries to counter with chops, but Hart holds on. He sends Bret into the turnbuckle, but he still can’t break it. More chops and he still can’t break it. He tries circling the ring, but Bret just takes him down and makes it a hammerlock. Piper finally manages to launch Bret into the ropes, but Bret is able to dropkick him right down. He fakes an arm injury and Piper takes the bait, going in to check on him, and Bret rolls him up for two. Piper is PISSED about being tricked like that and gives Bret another hard slap. Bodypress takes both men over the top rope, with a little effort.

-Piper acts as a gentleman and holds the rope open for Bret to get back inside. There’s no chicanery. Bret gets back in with no trouble. He then suggests that Bret should check his bootlaces and immediately slugs him down and stomps him, and Bret blades. Hard punch by Piper and a bulldog gets two. Piper bites the wound and Irish whips Bret. Kneelift by Piper gets two. Piper tries for a backdrop but gets sunset flipped for two. Piper begins unloading his punches a little faster for another two-count. Heenan suggests that Piper should just take the easy road and grab a chair right now to finish this thing. Gorilla reacts accordingly.

-Hart hits a flying forearm to send Piper out to the floor. Piper staggers back inside and we get a double-clothesline. Piper lands on top of Bret, which should be a three-count for Piper to retain, but referee Jimmy McDicktard or whatever his name is doesn’t realize what the champion is doing and doesn’t exercise the count. There actually seems to be a whole cluster of fans at ringside who notice that Piper landed on top and they’re screaming for the referee to count, too. See, it’s not just me being a Piper mark. There is clear failure to properly enforce the rules here.

-Piper goes to the top rope, but Bret springs up and crotches him on the turnbuckle, then faceplants him. Inverted atomic drop by Bret, followed by a snap suplex for two. Russian legsweep gets two. Backbreaker by Bret. Elbow by Bret. Elbow from the second rope by Bret…is countered by a boot to the face. Slugfest. Bret goes for a bulldog but Piper…what the hell, Piper counters by sending him crashing into the referee.

-Piper goes to the floor and tosses Bret into the steps, then grabs the bell to finish Bret off for good. The crowd begs him not to do it, and after a lot of soul-searching and thinking, Piper does the right thing and puts the bell away. He applies the sleeper instead, but Bret climbs the ropes and shoves himself backward to roll on top of Piper and get the three-count to take his belt back. Believe it or not, there was a time when that finish had never been done before, and I was PISSED for weeks because I was convinced that Bret’s shoulders were down too. Piper does the sportsmanlike thing and presents the belt to him post-match, although hindsight is 20-20 and with absolute justification in the way things turned out (Piper does the right thing because the fans talked him into it, and he immediately loses his belt as a result), he could have turned heel post-match and had a hell of a run of rematches with Bret to follow. Oh well. Oh, and, uh, 4 for 6 while we’re at it. It's up to you to decide if this or the dog collar match with Greg Valentine was Piper's best match ever.

RODDY PIPER TALKS ABOUT WRESTLEMANIA VIII
-From Bret’s DVD collection. Hot Rod talks about what the match meant to him and his career. He puts over Bret as one of the best. Well, yeah. 5 for 7.

End of the show. Next installment coming eventually, but for now here's Game Show Utopia.

The 411: Obviously, the Piper marks need to have a look at this one. I realize that his easy-crowd-pleasing mayhem doesn't appeal to everyone though, so if cartoony brawls aren't your thing, take a pass and just find some other source to watch Piper-Hart.

Final Score:  7.1   [ Good ]