Review of WWE: Born To Controversy - The Roddy Piper Story (3 Discs)

Introduction

In a world of "sports entertainment" that is home to many larger-than-life personalities, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper might have the biggest of them all.

Though he claimed to be from Scotland during his wrestling career, Piper is in fact a Canadian, born to Scottish parents. After a childhood that he is notably secretive over, Piper left his family home in his early teens, living on the streets and in any youth hostel he could find. Eventually, he found himself in the professional wrestling arena, and infamously had his first match at the age of 15, losing in ten seconds to Larry Hennig (father of Curt "Mr Perfect" Hennig).

For the next fifteen years, Piper lived a nomadic existence in wrestling`s "territories" (there were no nationally-televised groups at the time), before moving to New York and the World Wrestling Federation. It was here that he achieved his career peak, as a bad-guy, feuding with Hulk Hogan just as "The Hulkster" was becoming a mainstream celebrity. Their bout at 1985`s "The War To Settle The Score" was not only a huge television hit, but it also set the stage for Piper`s battles with A-Team star Mr T, one of the foremost reasons why the WWF was so successful at this time.

In 1987, Piper announced his wrestling retirement to concentrate on acting. Although this was a short-lived change, he did star in the John Carpenter film "They Live", a film which garnered much-acclaim from Carpenter fans. Piper returned to the WWF in 1989, hosting a "Piper`s Pit" interview segment with fellow loud-mouth Morton Downey Jr. at Wrestlemania V, and began full-time wrestling again later that year, battling the likes of "Ravishing" Rick Rude and Bad News Brown across the country.

After losing to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania XIII in 1992, Piper continued his trend of sabbaticals, and was not seen as a full-time TV performer again until he showed up in World Championship Wrestling in 1996, re-igniting his feud with Hulk Hogan.

In 2005, Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and since then he has continued to appear on WWE television as a special guest. In November 2006, he even became a WWE Tag Team Champion, teaming with long-time nemesis Ric Flair to defeat The Spirit Squad.

Sadly, Piper`s reign as a champion was cut short due to the news that he is suffering from Hodgkin`s Lymphoma, a form of cancer. Piper announced the news on his website, stating, "It seems like I have been fighting someone, something, someplace, in some manner, my whole life. But this fight, is one I am gonna win!"

Released prior to his battle with illness, "Born To Controversy - The Roddy Piper Story" documents Piper`s life, in and out of the ring. A three-disc set, it also features many of Piper`s famous matches, and an entire disc of his "Piper`s Pit" interview segments.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent. Of course, the documentary uses a lot of archive footage, going back to the 1970s, so that quality is variable, but generally very good considering the production values of wrestling at the time. The new interview footage, with Piper himself, and the likes of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, is very well captured indeed.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is also very good. As with the video, the quality depends on the source material, but is generally of a high standard.

Features

Extras on this disc begin with stories told mostly by Piper himself, with WWE official Bruce Pritchard chipping in as well. These are a great listen and give a tremendous insight into Piper`s life, something he isn`t always keen to do. From there, several WWE personalities give their opinions on Piper`s return to the WWE at the Raw Homecoming show in 2005.

This set`s matches begin with two un-dated bouts from the Portland, Oregon region, which means they were held in around 1979. Unfortunately, the footage has not survived well at all, so the matches where Piper teams with Mike Popovich to face Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver, and where he takes on Rose in a singles encounter, look more like a sixth-generation VHS than a DVD. Still, the footage is fascinating given that it has never been seen on a national or international basis.

Video quality gets back to the very high WWE standards in the next contest, however, as Piper takes on Jack Brisco for the Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title. This is a great television match, and it is interesting to see "Hot Rod" in the ring with one of the best technical wrestlers of the time.

That technical wrestling, however, goes right out the window in the next encounter, as Piper faces Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in a Dog Collar Match. This is a horrendously brutal contest - and a legendary one - as Piper legitimately suffered permanent hearing loss during this feud.

Disc Two takes us to the World Wrestling Federation, and the original Wrestlemania event in 1985, where Hulk Hogan and Mr. T face Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. This is far from a great match, but has a particularly involved crowd and incredible historical significance, not to mention being Piper`s peak as a bad-guy.

In a short brawl, he then faces former partner Orndorff from a 1985 Saturday Night`s Main Event show, before battling Mr. T in a boxing match from Wrestlemania II. The less said about the latter, the better.

A similar note could be made about the next bout with The Iron Sheik, although things do improve slightly with a bout against another former ally, "Cowboy" Bob Orton (father of Randy Orton).

We then move on to Wrestlemania III, held in 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, which drew an incredible 93,000 fans. Here, Piper battles Adrian Adonis in his "final" WWF match, before pursuing an acting career. This was a reasonable match for the time, made up for by the amazing spectacle of the packed American football stadium.

Quite why the 1985 "War To Settle The Score" bout with Hulk Hogan has ended up at this point on the DVD is quite the mystery, but it is a nice inclusion given how it set up the Wrestlemania I main event. From there, we are back in relative sequence, in 1989, as Piper faces "Ravishing" Rick Rude in a steel cage match from 1989. This is a very hard-hitting match for the time, and is also very entertaining.

Unfortunately, the Wrestlemania VI bout with Bad News Brown is nowhere near in that league, although the bout from Wrestlemania VIII, with Bret Hart, is much better, and is in fact one of the greatest matches of Piper`s career. How odd it is again, then, that the Royal Rumble match with The Mountie that set up the showdown with Hart, is up next. It is a short bout, but one that, with the Intercontinental Title on the line, this set wouldn`t be complete without.

The next bout once again takes us to Wrestlemania, this time in 1996, as Piper faces Goldust in a "Hollywood Back Lot Brawl". The "match" is an oddity in that it is basically in three parts. The first part is filmed outdoors in an alley-way, and is shot in the style of a Hollywood fight scene. The second part is done for comedy value (although it is much more intelligence-insulting than it is comedic), as footage of the OJ Simpson car chase is shown, whilst purported to be footage of Piper chasing Goldust. The final part of the action takes place in the ring, if you`ve bothered to follow the bout that far!

Disc Three is made up entirely of "Piper`s Pit" interview segments - twenty-four of them in fact. These are great showcases for Piper`s incredible charisma and great vocal delivery, even if this many is a little overkill. One thing to note is that video quality is not at its highest standard here, with even some of the 2005-2006 segments featuring compression artefacts. But in what are simply interview segments, this issue is not something to fret over, and won`t spoil your enjoyment of classic moments involving Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant, and yes, The Haiti Kid.

Conclusion

Much like the main feature of the recently reviewed Brian Pillman DVD, the documentary here on "Born To Controversy" is a very good look at Roddy Piper the man, as opposed to just Roddy Piper, the wrestler. Certainly, the DVD captures footage of Piper`s career, and takes us through it chronologically, but in the comments from the likes of Ric Flair, Bruce Pritchard, and Piper himself, viewers are treated to a lot more than the average "He was a tough opponent" fare. Much of the talk is insider-speak, and is fascinating for anyone interested in that side of the business.

Going even beyond that, Piper lets us know a little about his childhood, something he has seemed loathed to do in the past. He describes leaving home in his tender teens, and never going back, and paints a picture of someone who was saved by the wrestling business. It`s quite the heart-warming story.

If I were to have any complaints about the documentary, it would have been nice to have learned a little more about how the WCW company was run, especially considering it`s reputation for having too many cooks spoiling the broth. Also, I could have done without the reference that Piper was "misquoted" about his allegations of drug use in wrestling, as this seemed to have been included for the benefit of the WWE`s flagging reputation.

In any case, however, this is a very interesting documentary, which is backed up by an encompassing set of extras, the archive footage of which is fabulous to own here. Video and audio are also generally very good, making this an excellent purchase for any wrestling fan, and in particular, any fan of Piper.

Highly recommended.