According to Wikipedia, Rick McGraw died of a heart attack the day before fighting in this match. It's not a big deal, but maybe figure out the correct date and edit the video title. Or if you can't just put 1985.
He did of a heart attack the day before the airing of this match, that's actually right. It's a fact that some fans back then took this as a kayfabe sign that Roddy actually killed Rick in this match! However, in reality, Rick had three more matches after this one before his death.
The production, the graphics - and I think this was at Ag Hall in Allentown, PA... This really takes me back. I'm watching this right now on an overcast Sunday morning, and it reminds me of how it felt back when I was a pre-teen watching this on a Saturday.
The WWF (before becoming WWE) did tape at Ag Hall for a while but this was actually from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY where WWF would tape their weekly syndicated "Championship Wrestling" shows from late 1984 to August 1986 before they took the show on the road from various locations throughout the US and Canada with "Superstars of Wrestling"
The show that aired the week before featured the Piper’s Pit that set up this match. McGraw came out, pointed to Cowboy Bob Orton, and asked “What’s he doing here?” And Piper responded, “He’s waiting for a bus. What do you think he’s doing here? He’s my bodyguard.” Great line by Piper.
Rick McGraw stood five feet seven inches tall, he faced the biggest, largest and the toughest wrestlers in his career and brought excitement to all wrestling fans in the WWF, R.I.P. Rick McGraw!!
I was 13 at the time when I watched the Piper's Pit that lead up to this match. This matched scared me because Rick Mcgraw looked like he was really getting a beating from Piper. After the match I wondered what happened to this guy because I never saw him in any other matches after this. Just read the comments and was surprised to find out today after about 37 years he had passed shortly after this match. Wow, my condolences. Thank you for this All Out of Bubblegum.
To show you the kind of guy Piper was outside the ring, upon Rick McGraw's passing, Roddy Piper put together a benefit match to raise money for Rick's family. Back then, heels were heels and faces were faces and kayfabe was kept up even in public(until Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik blew the cover on it) so you didn't hear much about this but Roddy Piper was a good hearted man and it showed when Rick McGraw died.
The card was held in Charlotte, NC, McGraw's home and also the home of Jim Crockett Promotions. Though JCP and Vince were involved in a territorial dispute (Vince was wanting to run cards in Richmond, VA), the Crocketts allowed him to come in that one time.
Studa Baker bc he knows he beat the shit out of McGraw. Probably felt responsible since McGraw dies afterwards. Might have been the suplex. That moves killed a Japanese wrestler. That ddt was vicious and he was hurt. The ref actually stopped the match which was never done back then even when people did die. I hate to say it but I think roddy killed him.
Piper never got the credit he deserved for being a Technical Wrestler..He was a true tough guy in real life....As told by a lot of the Wrestlers back the...He really dogged Rick here!
Roddy was a terrible technical wrestler. No clever moves and never flew off the ropes like Macho Man. With that said, Rowdy was a spectacular entertainer. Pro wrestling died when Roddy died.
These two were actually good friends. For years Piper wore a t-shirt with names of his friends in pro wrestling who had died, and Rick Mcgraw's name was on the shirt.
I was 12 years old when this match happened. After it came out that McGraw died I was convinced it was because of the beating piper gave him in this match
@Paulie If that's true, then it confirms what I myself, and possibly many other people worldwide, have thought all along, concerning injuries such as this, and also concussion issues & Steroid abuse from decades past. Seems that there have been many times that a cover story was put out by the owner(s),concerning somebody that died, rather than the owner being honest. Man, that makes me glad I'm not involved in junk like this!
Growing up my friend and I always said his name for fun. As an adult the name always stuck with me but thought it was a baseball player until now 40 years later you reminded of that match and the segment on Piper's Pit. Shame he died so young.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7] Personal lifeEdit McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky. DeathEdit McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
A few weeks after this match, some kids and I were talking on the playground about McGraw's death. Some of them actually thought that this beating actually led to his death.
Piper was a mans man, tough as nails, father, husband and fantastic entertainer. Watched this match with my dad. Remember like it was yesterday. Miss ya dad
At around 4:30 it looks like it’s borderline becoming a real fight when piper grabs his legs then mounts him. McGraw had started hitting back with more power just prior .
This was the first wrestling thing I ever saw on tv. I remember to this day Vince and Bruno calling for the ref to stop the match before McGraw was seriously injured or worse.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7] Personal lifeEdit McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky. DeathEdit McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
bearpaw72 He did but he was being an obnoxious heel when he said it, he wasn't being serious. That's why he got back on the apron and demanded that McGraw stand up.
Ian Reeve post Jake DDT.. It's just that the WWF never saw that move prior to this match. Jake had been doing the DDT in Georgia Championship Wrestling...
Many WWF tapings happened in the Northeast area ,upstate New York, Scranton Pennsylvania. The WWF fans would attend these tapings that would be aired on Saturday morning and know who was the next champion or newest wrestler in the WWF. The Dark Side Of The Ring did a story about Jimmy”Superfly”Snuka and mentioned how the WWF was taping Saturday shows at a local arena outside of Scranton Pennsylvania.
The match was taped in October and shown on TV on November 2nd the Day after McGraw died. It was in poor taste for wwf to show it plus it made people (myself included back then) think that Piper had killed Mcgraw...which was not the case. The Drugs McGraw was taking led to his death of a Heart Attack. On a side note this was Piper using the DDT (That Bruno called some kinda Piledriver) on TV before Jake "the Snake" joined the WWF. Bruno didn't know alot of the newer moves in wrestling and would often say "Oh What a Maneuver".
He died November 1, 1985...he left way too young and a promising career. He was also in the first Wrestlemania. It's so sad to see this knowing he will pass away 10 days later. One of the First pro wrestlers to die in the early days, before it became a pro wrestler death epidemic. But Rick McGraw wasn't with WWF/WWE when he died, he was having matches and storyline with Roudy Piper in a territory.
McGraw was not in WrestleMania. The only unidentified wrestler at the first one was The Executioner, who was Tito Santana's opponent in the first match. It was later revealed that it was Buddy Rose.
@@mkl62 Oh mybad I totally thought he was at the first Wrestlemania. He was actually was having a Feud with Piper and had some matches with Roudy Roddy Piper on some house shows and was on Pipers Pit once. Tim McGraw last match was with Roudy Roddy Piper. The match against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was taped Oct. 22and aired on TV on Nov. 2. The timeline was confusing and concerning to fans, who assumed that Piper had inflicted a fatal beating. In truth, Piper may have hurt McGraw, who died on Nov. 1, 1985. So fans actually thought Piper somehow killed him. He had a small little feud with him on some house shows, which started on Pipers Pit.
+j.d. Hogg I remember watching this broadcast, and the Piper's Pit from the week before. I'd never seen them do a "Referee stopping the match" bit before. I had no idea he passed away in between the taping and actual viewing. Sad.
Also back then, there wasn't the internet so the public (and perhaps even the WWE or local TV affiliates) didn't know he had died thus the match was shown. You only found out about these things in wrestling magazines when they did their next publication.
They must have said it somewhere, because I was a kid then and knew he died before watching the match. Like others have said, I thought the two things were connected
Had McGraw not passed away days after this taping, were there any plans going forward to continue this program or was this a one-off to get over how ruthlessly dangerous Piper is in preparation for his title match against Hulk Hogan at the Wrestling Classic?
According to the title, this aired November 2 '85. According to Wikipedia, McGraw died the day before. I know WWF/WWE wasn't aired live back then; did they not know of his death when they aired it? When was it taped?
I believe Rick had a good deal going for him until we lost against Roddy Piper and I think Vince liked the match but the crowd later on forgot about it.
IDK... they credit Jake the Snake with inventing the DDT.... but it looks like Roddy was using it before Jake.... Bruno didn't even know what to call it... great match... I remember seeing this when it originally aired... Roddy's Heel run in the WWF (in the mid 80's) was the greatest ever..... Him and Ric Flair are my two all-time favorite wresters... RIP Hot Rod
Nooooooooo--Jake had been using the DDT as his finisher for around 2-3 years at this point. At this point in time, the move was so over in Mid-South, the fans were chanting for it & Bill Watts was forced to turn Jake face. Vince was ripping off the move with Piper here & also with Adorable Adrian Adonis, calling it the "reverse bulldog", but it never got over with those guys like Jake got it over. Vince signed Jake about 3 months after this match
The intriguing thing about this match -- however kayfabe the set-up and however kayfabe the fight itself -- was the nature of the set-up. Usually the big "square off" matches were between a major heel and a major face or two major heels each using his own dirty tactics. (Who's tactics will triumph?) In this case, Piper used his Piper's Pit interview segment to taunt and humiliate McGraw, the chunkiest, hunkiest jobber ("enhancement talent") of his era just before Dale Veasey and Mike Richards surfaced. McGraw, who by all accounts, was "enhanced" himself, went into the den of one of wrestling's hunkiest heels and unexpectedly succumbed (as the story would have it) momentarily to the Piper's bullying before slapping Piper. OK, the ring match is on. But the oddity is that when this happened in - say - the movies, the abused guy (Jimmy Stewart as often as anyone) and triumph against odds against the bully Lee Marvin or whoever. But in this match, after the strange set-up of the bully picking on the most formidable of jobbers, Piper keeps McGraw cooling his heels in the ring for an extra minute or two and then beats the crap out of him. When have you ever seen a trusty jobber provoked into fighting and then getting the puss kicked out of him? And how often in the latter part of the 20th Century did a ref stop a match and award the bully the victory? I wonder seriously if McGraw did signal the ref that (McGraw) could not continue? Given that he died less than a week later, it's possible he landed really badly and/or that Piper landed a seriously over-played blow. We've seen thousands of matches in which a jobber was taunted repeatedly to stand back up - or get back in the ring - to absorb a lot more punishment, which then would happen. But the savage beating never began weeks earlier with verbal abuse -- not against enhancement talent. Please challenge this point if I'm wrong. I liked Piper and McGraw a lot, which makes this whole scenario that much more interesting to me. I'm just sorry McGraw pushed his body so far so young that we lost him damn near the beginning of his career. He was just too short to be a headliner. RIP, both of you stalwarts.
Boots Hartman McGraw wrestled 3 times after this match including against Randy Savage. This had nothing to do with his death. Considering his rumored condition through the years his heart was probably ready to go any day.
I wonder if it wasn't going to be a simlar angle to what Piper did in la when he first started out where the jobber gets beat so bad that he would have come back and join up with Piper in "can't beat em join em" angle.
The start seems kayfabe enough with the t-shirt gimmick, McGraw wears a Piper shirt then attacks Piper while he is taking off his own shirt, Piper sells for McGraw's blows backing him into the corner, then Piper starts working stiff. Perhaps one of McGraw's blows potatoed him a bit, but I think actually that was the script. That is the match was supposed to be the agreed start with the t-shirt gimmick, a bit of offence from McGraw, then go at it, like a controlled shoot, lay the blows in hard but safe, hard throws, some stretching, and then an agreed finish, maybe Piper gets a pin with a foot on the ropes or does something vicious enough for a dramatic dq. But McGraw wasn't up to it, likely because his drug use had already wrecked his body. Piper, full of adrenaline kept going with a hard almost shoot style such as would go over big in Japan if he had someone tough enough to go with him, McGraw seemed to wilt Bruno and Vince carry on about what a tough match it's going to be, Piper with his statement about not being allowed to wrestle on TV has a point to prove, it was set up for a violent hard style match, not a squash. Vince and Bruno keep talking up how much of a fight McGraw will put up, then Vince realises that Piper is beating the snot out of him and eventually Bruno accepts the fact. Then Vince says that the ref might want to stop it, not long after that the ref does stop it There is a good example of this sort of controlled shoot on RUclips with Les Thornton v David Sammartino. Thornton playing the Piper role. Thornton gives David Sammartino a more thorough stretching and beating than Piper gives McGraw, but when LT gives DS a chance to respond he has some strong moves and counter attack. LT and DS go to a ten minute draw, and get a big pop from the TV studio crowd because it was very intense and substantially real in terms of an actual wrestling contest. Sammartino copped a genuine beating and stretching but was tough enough to take it, Thornton let him show enough to keep the crowd invested, and kayfabe was strengthened because it was a very good shoot style work. Piper v McGraw should have been the same, but McGraw couldn't go with Piper. Given that he looked in very poor shape at the end, and the fact that his heart gave out a few weeks later, how was he allowed to wrestle in the meantime? Was he checked medically? If it was common knowledge that he was on very high doses of whatever, and the ref had to ring the bell because he could not continue, shouldn't that have been a red flag? (Yes I know red flags everywhere, not just Nikolai Volkoff) When Piper says that they need some help at the end there it is genuine I think, he can't break character/kayfabe so he says it like a heel boasting of the beating he gave, but he knew something was wrong with the guy. Not his fault, it was meant to be hard style but McGraw was not a well man, and the help he needed was a lot more than being assisted from the ring
As much as Vince loved his giants and his musclemen I think he still had a place in his so-called heart for the little guys like Rick McGraw, Terry Daniels, etc...he liked to see them try valiantly and then just get stepped on...
It was extremely rare back then for Roddy Piper to face a jobber. Hogan, Andre, and Piper were so big, they didn’t wrestle jobbers in the WWE back then.
Maybe Mc Graw was considered for an at least minor push in those days, that´s why Vince put im in a high profile program on TV. But sadly, he died a few days after.
They booked him like they did with Backlund and Sammartino. Rarely actually wrestle on TV, just do interviews, and then make people want to pay to see them in arenas. Very smart booking on Vince's part with Piper.
Hulk Hogan for the WWF title. That particular Thursday was The Wrestling Classic, the WWF's first full-fledged pay-per-view (WrestleMania was primarily held on large screen closed-circuit television).
I have zero sympathy for Rick McGraw in this one. The week before when he was a guess on Piper's Pit all he did was disrespect the Hot Rod & then he opened his big mouth & challenged Piper to wrestle on TV & Piper accepted the challenge & as you can see from this video, whooped his ass. As for McGraw, I'm reminded of a famous line by the late great John Wayne} "A big mouth don't make you a big man." And McGraw learned that, the hard way. Simple but fact.
What a difference there was between 80s Piper, who looked fairly impressive, not a huge guy but a fairly big guy that looked like he could back it up. The mid 90s -2000s Piper was a much different wrestler...most of that mass was gone, a leaner physique, and he looked like he lost about 3 inches in height... definitely a bigger difference than how Hogan looked later in his own career
funny thing is, vince had nothing to do with the richness of character, work or charisma of any of the performers that put him on the map. roddy: los angeles, san francisco, portland. hogan, minneapolis, etc
According to You Tube contributor All Out Of Bubblegum, the Piper's Pit episode was taped Oct. 1, 1985, and aired on Oct. 26. He says the match took place on Oct. 22 (yes, before the public was shown the "set-up). Now my speculation: Inasmuch as McGraw died Nov. 1, the match was shown on TV sometime between Oct. 26-31, possibly live on the 26th or later than evening or anytime from the 27th through the 31st. I can't believe that even with the wildly injudicious management of wrestling federations that this beat-down of McGraw premiered the day after he died. It's too hard to believe that no one involved with the TV or wrestling sides knew of his death for 24-48 hours and allowed it to be run. Especially not this kind of pummeling.
@@rmartin7558 I agree. I only found out when the wrestling magazines came out which were monthly. This wouldn't have been covered by the main stream media or a newspaper. TV stations probably already had the tapes of the match and fair to say, they wouldn't have known.
Even as a kid watching these matches on TV, I knew they exaggerated the wrestlers’ weights. Here, they announce McGraw at 230 and Piper at 233! For comparison, Evander Holyfield’s weight when he won the Undisputed title was 208 lbs.
@@maxv6837 LOL.... maltlax is full of BS. Yes, they exaggerate heights, and sometimes weights...though some weights were under real-life too lol. Piper was easily coming around 230. I knew the Harts....Bret was a big dude and was EASILY 230....Piper was around the same size. As to Holyfield - 208 was at his leanest and most dehydrated - on the door of death. His actual fighting weight (let alone non-fight weight) was way higher.
gbinct I recall thinking the same. I was your age, I heard he died from a broken neck and I thought Roddy did it. I havent seen this bout since then. Awesome memories.
At 4:44, look how Piper hooked his other arm and shoulder so that he he could drive Rick's head into the mat with as much force as possible. And you can hear Piper grunt as he tries to slam his head down with as much force as possible. It makes my stomach queasy just watching it. How can anybody think that McGraw didn't sustain catastrophic injuries from this? They outlawed fake piledrivers because it's too dangerous. These were real, legitimate piledrivers.
I watched this back on the day of the fight. I told my girlfriend Piper was hurting McGraw badly and was not pulling his strikes and was not playing. McGraw then died, I had told her he was severely injured. The “Heart attack” was caused partially by the severe beating and pace of the fight. If he had not fought he wouldn’t have died. I swear I knew he was done. Dead? Everyone dies of Heart Failure….
As an old timer,I think this was considered a Push for Magraw,I saw Snuka beat him to a bloody pulp live,and he really wasn't a jobber,him and Andre once won tag Title,s from Fuji and Saito,it was on you tube,two out of three fall,s,but later was reversed but they made it go awhile before the reverse,SD jone,s even won alot on house show,s,that,s how he stayed over,But Piper never lost,back then, even to Hogan,This was meant to make macgraw look like Austin vs Bret,He was too tough to quit,That,s just how they booked,Bob Orton never won a title but everyone he fought for Intercontinental,mostly Tito and Pedro,he usually went time limit,and rarely lost those matches,they just had alot of time limit,s and DQ,s back then, May be family wanted to see match,Piper was huge in Fall of 85
Saludos viendo la lucha entre ellos literalmente en no lo mató como alegan pero la.ultimas golpe al área.del cuello con la.suplex la pile driver pudieron afectar son capacidad a lo que el árbitro procedió a detener la lucha no lo mató pero tuvo un papel trágicamente importante tal vez en su muerte no intencional algo intencionada con sus.golpez
Really not. After this match, McGraw had matches in the independent circuit. But this was a pre-recorded match, around October 22nd from that year. And it was transmitted on October 30th or 31st for WWF. Unfortunately, McGraw died at next day of the transmission, and for that reason people thought that Mr Roderick was guilty of McGraw's death
Can anyone else think of a match that was a non-DQ/countout without special stipulations (cagematch, battle royale, etc.) was stopped without a pinfall or submission where one of the competitors wasn't actually hurt? This was bigtime wrasslin', not boxing. Perhaps it was done for effect, but that's just not how matches played out back in the day. For a match to be stopped like that, in the ring, where a countout wasn't plausible, it seems like a dude really had to have been in a bad way. Usually they go through the motions of a pinfall, at least.
The finish makes sense here, McGraw challenged him as to why he didn't wrestle on TV so Piper went out and beat him so bad the ref had to stop the match. It makes sense for the storyline and to get Piper over strong.
Saw a live match once in Pittsburgh where Waldo Von Erich hit Gorilla Monsoon with his German army helmet before the opening bell rang. Gorilla was cut, and seemed like he was in a daze the whole time, and could mount no offense whatsoever. The ref eventually stopped the match saying that Monsoon was unable to continue.
Yup true, he died November 1, 1985 and this match aired the next day on November 2, 1985. Rick Mcgraw was a guess on pipers pit on October 26, 1985 where they spared back and fourth, insulting eachother, it all ended when Rick McGraw slapped Roddy Piper which culminated to this match on october 22, it was taped days before , it was Rowdy Pipers revenge...But it aired on Television the next day after his death On November 2, 1985.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7] Personal lifeEdit McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky. DeathEdit McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
in Roddys own words, don't ring the bell unless ya wanna fight. this fight took place shortly before Ricks passing, so don't totally blame Roddy for being aggressive.
They really blew WM 2 (well besides having it In three venues) main not having Piper Vs Hogan in the match that was a long time coming, too heel vs too face and Vince instead went with the 1.5 star lame match vs King Kong Bundy
According to Wikipedia, Rick McGraw died of a heart attack the day before fighting in this match. It's not a big deal, but maybe figure out the correct date and edit the video title. Or if you can't just put 1985.
November 2nd was the air date and that's why it's in the title. The match was taped on October 22nd.
All Out of Bubblegum
Ah, that makes sense. Sorry about that then. It just seemed so weird at first.
Piper was actually wrestling a zombie. That's why he dropped him on his head. It's the only way to kill them.
He did of a heart attack the day before the airing of this match, that's actually right. It's a fact that some fans back then took this as a kayfabe sign that Roddy actually killed Rick in this match! However, in reality, Rick had three more matches after this one before his death.
thie the day it aired on tv thats al wwf came on every saturday for years in the 80s thats all
The production, the graphics - and I think this was at Ag Hall in Allentown, PA... This really takes me back. I'm watching this right now on an overcast Sunday morning, and it reminds me of how it felt back when I was a pre-teen watching this on a Saturday.
The WWF (before becoming WWE) did tape at Ag Hall for a while but this was actually from the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie, NY where WWF would tape their weekly syndicated "Championship Wrestling" shows from late 1984 to August 1986 before they took the show on the road from various locations throughout the US and Canada with "Superstars of Wrestling"
The show that aired the week before featured the Piper’s Pit that set up this match. McGraw came out, pointed to Cowboy Bob Orton, and asked “What’s he doing here?”
And Piper responded, “He’s waiting for a bus. What do you think he’s doing here? He’s my bodyguard.” Great line by Piper.
Rick McGraw stood five feet seven inches tall, he faced the biggest, largest and the toughest wrestlers in his career and brought excitement to all wrestling fans in the WWF, R.I.P. Rick McGraw!!
more like 5'4"
I was 13 at the time when I watched the Piper's Pit that lead up to this match. This matched scared me because Rick Mcgraw looked like he was really getting a beating from Piper. After the match I wondered what happened to this guy because I never saw him in any other matches after this. Just read the comments and was surprised to find out today after about 37 years he had passed shortly after this match. Wow, my condolences. Thank you for this All Out of Bubblegum.
I did too. I wonder how all us kids found out. There was no dirt sheets or internet.
Fighting Piper killed him, I watched it back in 85 and told my gf Piper was not holding back
Piper was the most entertaining man of all time
As a heel, yes, he was the best.
Randy savage
To show you the kind of guy Piper was outside the ring, upon Rick McGraw's passing, Roddy Piper put together a benefit match to raise money for Rick's family. Back then, heels were heels and faces were faces and kayfabe was kept up even in public(until Jim Duggan and Iron Sheik blew the cover on it) so you didn't hear much about this but Roddy Piper was a good hearted man and it showed when Rick McGraw died.
The card was held in Charlotte, NC, McGraw's home and also the home of Jim Crockett Promotions. Though JCP and Vince were involved in a territorial dispute (Vince was wanting to run cards in Richmond, VA), the Crocketts allowed him to come in that one time.
jim and sheik didn't blow anything! -_- it was the kliq
Getting arrested for drug possession while driving together even though they were supposed to be feuding didn't do kayfabe any justice.
Studa Baker bc he knows he beat the shit out of McGraw. Probably felt responsible since McGraw dies afterwards. Might have been the suplex. That moves killed a Japanese wrestler. That ddt was vicious and he was hurt. The ref actually stopped the match which was never done back then even when people did die. I hate to say it but I think roddy killed him.
Um, you do know wrestling is fake, right? And, no, Piper didn't kill him. Steroids killed him.
I don't ever remember matches being ended like this back in the day.
I miss this guy. And all the legends. RIP Piper and Other Lost Superstars!!
Piper never got the credit he deserved for being a Technical Wrestler..He was a true tough guy in real life....As told by a lot of the Wrestlers back the...He really dogged Rick here!
He had the technical abilities,but the promoters wanted to see his quick punches and brawling. Being crazy and bloodthirsty made him more of a draw.
Roddy was a terrible technical wrestler. No clever moves and never flew off the ropes like Macho Man. With that said, Rowdy was a spectacular entertainer. Pro wrestling died when Roddy died.
These two were actually good friends. For years Piper wore a t-shirt with names of his friends in pro wrestling who had died, and Rick Mcgraw's name was on the shirt.
I believe Piper also played a big part in organizing the tribute show they held after McGraw's death.
I was 12 years old when this match happened. After it came out that McGraw died I was convinced it was because of the beating piper gave him in this match
That’s what I thought too
You must be 46 now? I was 4 years old at the time.
Rick McGraw died to an drug induced heart attack
I thought mr Kennedy roughed up Eddie guerrero too much as well....
@Paulie If that's true, then it confirms what I myself, and possibly many other people worldwide, have thought all along, concerning injuries such as this, and also concussion issues & Steroid abuse from decades past. Seems that there have been many times that a cover story was put out by the owner(s),concerning somebody that died, rather than the owner being honest. Man, that makes me glad I'm not involved in junk like this!
Growing up my friend and I always said his name for fun. As an adult the name always stuck with me but thought it was a baseball player until now 40 years later you reminded of that match and the segment on Piper's Pit. Shame he died so young.
The ref stopped the bout and saved McGraw for another day? You might want to rethink that, Bruno.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7]
Personal lifeEdit
McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky.
DeathEdit
McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
There's a three week gap
A few weeks after this match, some kids and I were talking on the playground about McGraw's death. Some of them actually thought that this beating actually led to his death.
I never saw a match end that way. No submission or a pin for a 3 count.
Piper hitting DDTs in 1985? I didn't remember this.
Piper was a mans man, tough as nails, father, husband and fantastic entertainer. Watched this match with my dad. Remember like it was yesterday. Miss ya dad
Piper could really work back in the day. . . no flippy floppy high spots, and the match was still packed with action bell to bell. . .
Agreed. The way wrestling should be.
All Out of Bubblegum who are you to say the way 'it should be'? You are just an uploader, stick to that and keep your moron opinions to yourself
+jaroncreed Yes, who is to say a match "should be" packed with action bell to bell?? Watching your John Cena do his same 5 big moves is much better.
DarthHater100 Cena is a 16 time world champion. How many world titles did Piper have? ZERO , you dumbass thanks for exposing yourself
So he lost the belt 16 times???
At around 4:30 it looks like it’s borderline becoming a real fight when piper grabs his legs then mounts him. McGraw had started hitting back with more power just prior .
This was the first wrestling thing I ever saw on tv. I remember to this day Vince and Bruno calling for the ref to stop the match before McGraw was seriously injured or worse.
Rick McGraw died the day before this aired on November 1, 1985, this was taped and and came aired a day after his death.
"This is why I don't wrestle on TV!" Vince gives a mention to The Wrestling Classic PPV that would happen a few days later. 1:33
I saw this match way back in the 80's, back then Piper was the most hated wrestler in the WWE. (formerly the WWF)
Rick McGraw thought he had all the answers and then Piper changes the questions
roddy piper was once the most hated man in the wwe and later became the most beloved man in the wwe amazing. rip rowdy roddy and quick draw.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7]
Personal lifeEdit
McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky.
DeathEdit
McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
They weren't calling them DDT's. They didn't start calling it that until Jake Roberts came to WWE around February 1986.
One of my wrestling heroes and true gent
At 6:25, I heard Hot Rod say "I need some help here". Is that correct?
That's exactly what he said. "We're gonna need some help here."
bearpaw72 He did but he was being an obnoxious heel when he said it, he wasn't being serious. That's why he got back on the apron and demanded that McGraw stand up.
Piper was terrific at this point, and even though he could work as a face, he was ideal as a heel.
Was that a pre-Jake DDT?
Ian Reeve post Jake DDT.. It's just that the WWF never saw that move prior to this match. Jake had been doing the DDT in Georgia Championship Wrestling...
Also in Mid South. In a Slater-Snake feud,Slater would only wrestle him in a championship match if Jake didn't use the DDT.
And a doublearm DDT at that!
Many WWF tapings happened in the Northeast area ,upstate New York, Scranton Pennsylvania. The WWF fans would attend these tapings that would be aired on Saturday morning and know who was the next champion or newest wrestler in the WWF. The Dark Side Of The Ring did a story about Jimmy”Superfly”Snuka and mentioned how the WWF was taping Saturday shows at a local arena outside of Scranton Pennsylvania.
The match was taped in October and shown on TV on November 2nd the Day after McGraw died.
It was in poor taste for wwf to show it plus it made people (myself included back then) think that Piper had killed Mcgraw...which was not the case.
The Drugs McGraw was taking led to his death of a Heart Attack.
On a side note this was Piper using the DDT (That Bruno called some kinda Piledriver) on TV before Jake "the Snake" joined the WWF.
Bruno didn't know alot of the newer moves in wrestling and would often say "Oh What a Maneuver".
Hell they showed one of his matches on November 19th. Almost 3 weeks after he died
Not poor taste. These things cost money. They know what they're getting into. They're not wearing panties in that business.
He died November 1, 1985...he left way too young and a promising career.
He was also in the first Wrestlemania.
It's so sad to see this knowing he will pass away 10 days later.
One of the First pro wrestlers to die in the early days, before it became a pro wrestler death epidemic.
But Rick McGraw wasn't with WWF/WWE when he died, he was having matches and storyline with Roudy Piper in a territory.
McGraw was not in WrestleMania. The only unidentified wrestler at the first one was The Executioner, who was Tito Santana's opponent in the first match. It was later revealed that it was Buddy Rose.
@@mkl62 Oh mybad I totally thought he was at the first Wrestlemania.
He was actually was having a Feud with Piper and had some matches with Roudy Roddy Piper on some house shows and was on Pipers Pit once.
Tim McGraw last match was with Roudy Roddy Piper.
The match against “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was taped Oct. 22and aired on TV on Nov. 2. The timeline was confusing and concerning to fans, who assumed that Piper had inflicted a fatal beating. In truth, Piper may have hurt McGraw, who died on Nov. 1, 1985. So fans actually thought Piper somehow killed him.
He had a small little feud with him on some house shows, which started on Pipers Pit.
@@jiovanna4136 Rowdy.
RIP Fink Rick & Roddy 😇
Rick died Nov 1 1985. This match took place Nov 2 1985. Rick was dead in this match.
+j.d. Hogg This was a taped show. Most likely in early October 1985.
+j.d. Hogg This was taped on October 22. I guess before the internet, you could air a match featuring a man who died the previous day.
marman51212 Yep. News just didn't travel as fast back in the 70s and 80s. To be truthful I kind of want to go back.
+j.d. Hogg I remember watching this broadcast, and the Piper's Pit from the week before. I'd never seen them do a "Referee stopping the match" bit before. I had no idea he passed away in between the taping and actual viewing. Sad.
Dominick Ibelli Nice memory.
love the way McGraw volumtarily flies over the rope
When you watch this knowing that one man is going to kill the other man!!
Also back then, there wasn't the internet so the public (and perhaps even the WWE or local TV affiliates) didn't know he had died thus the match was shown. You only found out about these things in wrestling magazines when they did their next publication.
They must have said it somewhere, because I was a kid then and knew he died before watching the match. Like others have said, I thought the two things were connected
Had McGraw not passed away days after this taping, were there any plans going forward to continue this program or was this a one-off to get over how ruthlessly dangerous Piper is in preparation for his title match against Hulk Hogan at the Wrestling Classic?
I think,rick was high during,this match and his explosive style is what did his ol'ticker in
His explosive style of only using punches?
Piper rockin that bad helmet haircut that is featured on the LJN figure…classic 👏🔥
According to the title, this aired November 2 '85. According to Wikipedia, McGraw died the day before. I know WWF/WWE wasn't aired live back then; did they not know of his death when they aired it? When was it taped?
Ok. I just read that this was taped Oct 22. About two weeks before McGraw's death
Hell they aired one of his matches on the 19th of November. Almost 3 weeks after he died
I believe Rick had a good deal going for him until we lost against Roddy Piper and I think Vince liked the match but the crowd later on forgot about it.
IDK... they credit Jake the Snake with inventing the DDT.... but it looks like Roddy was using it before Jake.... Bruno didn't even know what to call it... great match... I remember seeing this when it originally aired... Roddy's Heel run in the WWF (in the mid 80's) was the greatest ever..... Him and Ric Flair are my two all-time favorite wresters... RIP Hot Rod
Nooooooooo--Jake had been using the DDT as his finisher for around 2-3 years at this point. At this point in time, the move was so over in Mid-South, the fans were chanting for it & Bill Watts was forced to turn Jake face. Vince was ripping off the move with Piper here & also with Adorable Adrian Adonis, calling it the "reverse bulldog", but it never got over with those guys like Jake got it over. Vince signed Jake about 3 months after this match
Definitely one of the cutest matches! Both guys performing great! :))
ooooooooo kay😐
U can see piper geniune concern for rick mcgraw
30 years later, the hot rod would be in heaven!
Haven't seen him do the DDT in any other vids.
So they had no name for the ddt back then?
The intriguing thing about this match -- however kayfabe the set-up and however kayfabe the fight itself -- was the nature of the set-up. Usually the big "square off" matches were between a major heel and a major face or two major heels each using his own dirty tactics. (Who's tactics will triumph?)
In this case, Piper used his Piper's Pit interview segment to taunt and humiliate McGraw, the chunkiest, hunkiest jobber ("enhancement talent") of his era just before Dale Veasey and Mike Richards surfaced.
McGraw, who by all accounts, was "enhanced" himself, went into the den of one of wrestling's hunkiest heels and unexpectedly succumbed (as the story would have it) momentarily to the Piper's bullying before slapping Piper. OK, the ring match is on.
But the oddity is that when this happened in - say - the movies, the abused guy (Jimmy Stewart as often as anyone) and triumph against odds against the bully Lee Marvin or whoever.
But in this match, after the strange set-up of the bully picking on the most formidable of jobbers, Piper keeps McGraw cooling his heels in the ring for an extra minute or two and then beats the crap out of him. When have you ever seen a trusty jobber provoked into fighting and then getting the puss kicked out of him? And how often in the latter part of the 20th Century did a ref stop a match and award the bully the victory?
I wonder seriously if McGraw did signal the ref that (McGraw) could not continue? Given that he died less than a week later, it's possible he landed really badly and/or that Piper landed a seriously over-played blow.
We've seen thousands of matches in which a jobber was taunted repeatedly to stand back up - or get back in the ring - to absorb a lot more punishment, which then would happen. But the savage beating never began weeks earlier with verbal abuse -- not against enhancement talent.
Please challenge this point if I'm wrong. I liked Piper and McGraw a lot, which makes this whole scenario that much more interesting to me. I'm just sorry McGraw pushed his body so far so young that we lost him damn near the beginning of his career. He was just too short to be a headliner. RIP, both of you stalwarts.
Boots Hartman McGraw wrestled 3 times after this match including against Randy Savage. This had nothing to do with his death. Considering his rumored condition through the years his heart was probably ready to go any day.
I wonder if it wasn't going to be a simlar angle to what Piper did in la when he first started out where the jobber gets beat so bad that he would have come back and join up with Piper in "can't beat em join em" angle.
Didnt mcgraw die dron a seug overdose?
He died cause he was a pill head
The start seems kayfabe enough with the t-shirt gimmick, McGraw wears a Piper shirt then attacks Piper while he is taking off his own shirt, Piper sells for McGraw's blows backing him into the corner, then Piper starts working stiff. Perhaps one of McGraw's blows potatoed him a bit, but I think actually that was the script. That is the match was supposed to be the agreed start with the t-shirt gimmick, a bit of offence from McGraw, then go at it, like a controlled shoot, lay the blows in hard but safe, hard throws, some stretching, and then an agreed finish, maybe Piper gets a pin with a foot on the ropes or does something vicious enough for a dramatic dq. But McGraw wasn't up to it, likely because his drug use had already wrecked his body. Piper, full of adrenaline kept going with a hard almost shoot style such as would go over big in Japan if he had someone tough enough to go with him, McGraw seemed to wilt
Bruno and Vince carry on about what a tough match it's going to be, Piper with his statement about not being allowed to wrestle on TV has a point to prove, it was set up for a violent hard style match, not a squash. Vince and Bruno keep talking up how much of a fight McGraw will put up, then Vince realises that Piper is beating the snot out of him and eventually Bruno accepts the fact. Then Vince says that the ref might want to stop it, not long after that the ref does stop it
There is a good example of this sort of controlled shoot on RUclips with Les Thornton v David Sammartino. Thornton playing the Piper role. Thornton gives David Sammartino a more thorough stretching and beating than Piper gives McGraw, but when LT gives DS a chance to respond he has some strong moves and counter attack. LT and DS go to a ten minute draw, and get a big pop from the TV studio crowd because it was very intense and substantially real in terms of an actual wrestling contest. Sammartino copped a genuine beating and stretching but was tough enough to take it, Thornton let him show enough to keep the crowd invested, and kayfabe was strengthened because it was a very good shoot style work. Piper v McGraw should have been the same, but McGraw couldn't go with Piper. Given that he looked in very poor shape at the end, and the fact that his heart gave out a few weeks later, how was he allowed to wrestle in the meantime? Was he checked medically? If it was common knowledge that he was on very high doses of whatever, and the ref had to ring the bell because he could not continue, shouldn't that have been a red flag? (Yes I know red flags everywhere, not just Nikolai Volkoff)
When Piper says that they need some help at the end there it is genuine I think, he can't break character/kayfabe so he says it like a heel boasting of the beating he gave, but he knew something was wrong with the guy. Not his fault, it was meant to be hard style but McGraw was not a well man, and the help he needed was a lot more than being assisted from the ring
I remember this match
So...
As much as Vince loved his giants and his musclemen I think he still had a place in his so-called heart for the little guys like Rick McGraw, Terry Daniels, etc...he liked to see them try valiantly and then just get stepped on...
Peter Isnardi
Peter Isnardi
It was extremely rare back then for Roddy Piper to face a jobber. Hogan, Andre, and Piper were so big, they didn’t wrestle jobbers in the WWE back then.
Maybe Mc Graw was considered for an at least minor push in those days, that´s why Vince put im in a high profile program on TV. But sadly, he died a few days after.
They booked him like they did with Backlund and Sammartino. Rarely actually wrestle on TV, just do interviews, and then make people want to pay to see them in arenas. Very smart booking on Vince's part with Piper.
Who was piper going to fight on the following Thursday
Hulk Hogan for the WWF title. That particular Thursday was The Wrestling Classic, the WWF's first full-fledged pay-per-view (WrestleMania was primarily held on large screen closed-circuit television).
rip rick.
When the WWF was good and had some talent.
2 suplexes and 2 ddts render someone unable to continue. Talk about a different era. But Pipes was working a little bit like Hogan at the end here.
I remember watching this oh roddy was the best out there
I have zero sympathy for Rick McGraw in this one. The week before when he was a guess on Piper's Pit all he did was disrespect the Hot Rod & then he opened his big mouth & challenged Piper to wrestle on TV & Piper accepted the challenge & as you can see from this video, whooped his ass. As for McGraw, I'm reminded of a famous line by the late great John Wayne} "A big mouth don't make you a big man." And McGraw learned that, the hard way. Simple but fact.
Biff, are you familiar with the term "kayfabe?"
Now, how about the term "reality?"
Look them up on Wikipedia, we"ll wait.
legendary battle at the mid hudson civic center !!!
What a difference there was between 80s Piper, who looked fairly impressive, not a huge guy but a fairly big guy that looked like he could back it up. The mid 90s -2000s Piper was a much different wrestler...most of that mass was gone, a leaner physique, and he looked like he lost about 3 inches in height... definitely a bigger difference than how Hogan looked later in his own career
funny thing is, vince had nothing to do with the richness of character, work or charisma of any of the performers that put him on the map. roddy: los angeles, san francisco, portland. hogan, minneapolis, etc
According to You Tube contributor All Out Of Bubblegum, the Piper's Pit episode was taped Oct. 1, 1985, and aired on Oct. 26. He says the match took place on Oct. 22 (yes, before the public was shown the "set-up). Now my speculation: Inasmuch as McGraw died Nov. 1, the match was shown on TV sometime between Oct. 26-31, possibly live on the 26th or later than evening or anytime from the 27th through the 31st. I can't believe that even with the wildly injudicious management of wrestling federations that this beat-down of McGraw premiered the day after he died. It's too hard to believe that no one involved with the TV or wrestling sides knew of his death for 24-48 hours and allowed it to be run. Especially not this kind of pummeling.
This was pre-cellphone and internet. It's conceivable that they didn't know.
@@rmartin7558 I agree. I only found out when the wrestling magazines came out which were monthly. This wouldn't have been covered by the main stream media or a newspaper. TV stations probably already had the tapes of the match and fair to say, they wouldn't have known.
Hell they aired one of his matches on November 19th. Almost 3 weeks after he died
This vid's dated a day after McGraw died.
The rumor was McGraw died from the injuries in this match but in actuality he wrestled one more match after this against Iron Mike Sharpe.
He wrestled the spoiler and savage too
McGraw always sold in a stiff way, Killer Khan breaking his neck was another example where McGraw took really stiff bumps to put over others.
Even as a kid watching these matches on TV, I knew they exaggerated the wrestlers’ weights. Here, they announce McGraw at 230 and Piper at 233! For comparison, Evander Holyfield’s weight when he won the Undisputed title was 208 lbs.
Holyfield was a pretty small heavyweight. Riddick Bowe and Lennox Lewis weighed 245lbs.
Some crap was made up. Piper was Canadian not from Scotland. Savage wasn't from Sarasota, Florida either.
@@maxv6837 LOL.... maltlax is full of BS. Yes, they exaggerate heights, and sometimes weights...though some weights were under real-life too lol. Piper was easily coming around 230. I knew the Harts....Bret was a big dude and was EASILY 230....Piper was around the same size. As to Holyfield - 208 was at his leanest and most dehydrated - on the door of death. His actual fighting weight (let alone non-fight weight) was way higher.
gbinct I recall thinking the same. I was your age, I heard he died from a broken neck and I thought Roddy did it. I havent seen this bout since then. Awesome memories.
I remember watching this match live as a kid and QuickDraw dying the next day. I hated Piper after that.
At 4:44, look how Piper hooked his other arm and shoulder so that he he could drive Rick's head into the mat with as much force as possible. And you can hear Piper grunt as he tries to slam his head down with as much force as possible. It makes my stomach queasy just watching it. How can anybody think that McGraw didn't sustain catastrophic injuries from this? They outlawed fake piledrivers because it's too dangerous. These were real, legitimate piledrivers.
stupid mark.
I watched this back on the day of the fight. I told my girlfriend Piper was hurting McGraw badly and was not pulling his strikes and was not playing. McGraw then died, I had told her he was severely injured. The “Heart attack” was caused partially by the severe beating and pace of the fight. If he had not fought he wouldn’t have died.
I swear I knew he was done. Dead?
Everyone dies of Heart Failure….
2:38 "This is vintage Roddy Piper." Who knew Michael Cole stole this line from the Boss?
04:42: and 05:28 Piper used some kind of a DDT before Jake invented the name.
Jake was using the DDT before he came to the WWE.
As an old timer,I think this was considered a Push for Magraw,I saw Snuka beat him to a bloody pulp live,and he really wasn't a jobber,him and Andre once won tag Title,s from Fuji and Saito,it was on you tube,two out of three fall,s,but later was reversed but they made it go awhile before the reverse,SD jone,s even won alot on house show,s,that,s how he stayed over,But Piper never lost,back then, even to Hogan,This was meant to make macgraw look like Austin vs Bret,He was too tough to quit,That,s just how they booked,Bob Orton never won a title but everyone he fought for Intercontinental,mostly Tito and Pedro,he usually went time limit,and rarely lost those matches,they just had alot of time limit,s and DQ,s back then, May be family wanted to see match,Piper was huge in Fall of 85
Saludos viendo la lucha entre ellos literalmente en no lo mató como alegan pero la.ultimas golpe al área.del cuello con la.suplex la pile driver pudieron afectar son capacidad a lo que el árbitro procedió a detener la lucha no lo mató pero tuvo un papel trágicamente importante tal vez en su muerte no intencional algo intencionada con sus.golpez
Rick passed time this match aired, and 30 yrs later, Roddy passes away.
6:51 "The Referee stopped the bout and saved McGraw for another day." Not so much.
Also I liked the slaps and the finish.
My dream tag team was always Roddy Piper and Terry Funk. They would kick some serious a**.
Rip
The Final Match of "Quick Draw" Rick McGraw.
Really not. After this match, McGraw had matches in the independent circuit. But this was a pre-recorded match, around October 22nd from that year. And it was transmitted on October 30th or 31st for WWF. Unfortunately, McGraw died at next day of the transmission, and for that reason people thought that Mr Roderick was guilty of McGraw's death
Can anyone else think of a match that was a non-DQ/countout without special stipulations (cagematch, battle royale, etc.) was stopped without a pinfall or submission where one of the competitors wasn't actually hurt? This was bigtime wrasslin', not boxing. Perhaps it was done for effect, but that's just not how matches played out back in the day. For a match to be stopped like that, in the ring, where a countout wasn't plausible, it seems like a dude really had to have been in a bad way. Usually they go through the motions of a pinfall, at least.
The finish makes sense here, McGraw challenged him as to why he didn't wrestle on TV so Piper went out and beat him so bad the ref had to stop the match. It makes sense for the storyline and to get Piper over strong.
Saw a live match once in Pittsburgh where Waldo Von Erich hit Gorilla Monsoon with his German army helmet before the opening bell rang. Gorilla was cut, and seemed like he was in a daze the whole time, and could mount no offense whatsoever. The ref eventually stopped the match saying that Monsoon was unable to continue.
Piper beat the shit out of Rick Mc Graw but my cousin told me that McGraw was a scrub RIP to McGraw i watched this match in 1985
Rick died from major drug abuse, not from this beating !
Did piper cut his own hair
This was not atypical WWF match, it had a mid south feel.
I still can't figure out what angle was being worked from a match like this?
Piper was the best.
After watching this match I believe this beating contributes to Ricks demise
You think it was real? Mark.
@@JoeyT1 of course it’s real
@@jimmyolsen5897 You are quite soft
@@JoeyT1 hahahahaha hahahahaha let’s go Brandon
@@jimmyolsen5897 and your softness continues to show.
Rick died shortly after this match.
Yup true, he died November 1, 1985 and this match aired the next day on November 2, 1985. Rick Mcgraw was a guess on pipers pit on October 26, 1985 where they spared back and fourth, insulting eachother, it all ended when Rick McGraw slapped Roddy Piper which culminated to this match on october 22, it was taped days before , it was Rowdy Pipers revenge...But it aired on Television the next day after his death On November 2, 1985.
On the October 26, 1985 episode of WWF Championship Wrestling, McGraw was a guest on Roddy Piper's "Piper's Pit" segment and got on the host's case about always shooting his mouth off and not wrestling on television, prompting Piper to accept a challenge to wrestle him on the show the next week.[4] During his entrance, Piper repeated "I'm going to show you why they don't let me wrestle on TV." McGraw wore Piper's signature "Hot Rod" T-shirt to the ring before blowing his nose on it and throwing it at Piper to start the match. Piper quickly took control, throwing McGraw out of the ring and twice into the guardrail. After no-selling several punches and kicks in McGraw's comeback, Piper hit him with a swinging neckbreaker and two DDTs, the second prompting the referee to stop the match, declaring McGraw unable to continue. Piper stomped him a few times then yelled into a camera, "That's why they don't let me wrestle on TV!" Coincidentally, the unusually violent match (taped October 22) aired the morning after McGraw died, leading some viewers to assume Piper killed him.[6] Off TV, McGraw had at least three matches in the interim, with The Spoiler, Randy Savage and Mike Sharpe.[7]
Personal lifeEdit
McGraw was married to Lisa. The couple had a single child, Ricky.
DeathEdit
McGraw died of a heart attack on November 1, 1985.[1] Shortly after, Roddy Piper headlined a show held to benefit McGraw's family.[8]Fellow professional wrestler Bret Hart noted in his autobiography that McGraw regularly consumed Placidyl and suggested this resulted in his heart failing.[9]
@@junegiovanni6475 the piper's pit was taped October 1st
Rick's punches looked like he had pillows for hands. He was paintbrushing and not laying them in.
I wonder if piper got some heat for that match.
Do you have kids Maniac?... "Nah... Not anymore".
Holy shit, did he kill his kids?
The most tragic thing about this video is Brunno Sammartino’s horrible commentary.
in Roddys own words, don't ring the bell unless ya wanna fight. this fight took place shortly before Ricks passing, so don't totally blame Roddy for being aggressive.
The deaths of David Von Erich and McGraw were the start of a sad trend of wrestlers dying of drugs over the next two decades
Good match💖
Looks like something went wrong in the script to me.
I can’t believe the Police didn’t intervene in this match.
85 belong to Roddy Piper
They really blew WM 2 (well besides having it In three venues) main not having Piper Vs Hogan in the match that was a long time coming, too heel vs too face and Vince instead went with the 1.5 star lame match vs King Kong Bundy
Not surprised that Piper won.McGraw was in over his head