Greg Valentine vs. Roddy Piper (NWA - 7/9/1983)

Third

Amazing match. Such a great brawl. Please God let there be more matches like this ready to surface on the Network

Asking again, this is only on the network, correct? Can that be changed?

Stone cold lock.

What a dirty, violent belter of a pro-wrestling match. I don't know if it was better than the dog collar match but it somehow might've been nastier, and bear in mind we're talking about a match where someone is whipped in the ear repeatedly with a rusty chain. Piper was unbelievable in this. It might be his very best performance. Both guys' strikes were amazing, but Piper was as vicious as anybody I've ever seen, throwing amazing body shots, jab combos, clawing at Valentine's face, his all-time great eye poke, headbutts, all of it. Valentine wasn't exactly straight-laced, because this was a fight and you don't throw clubs to the chest like that in a gentleman's contest, but once or twice he did show his wrestling chops. He wasn't downright feral at least, which I suppose was one thing he had over Piper, and at one point he hit one of the best gut busters I've ever seen. He's rougher than a stuntman's knee and tough as stewed skunk, but Piper is a wild street brawler on methamphetamines and that'll put a fear in even the hardiest of men. Valentine taking over by going to the ear ruled and obviously ear workover was amazing. There was an awesome bit where Greg throws him ear-first into the ring post and then starts mashing the ear up against the steel. Lots of great little teased comebacks as Piper staggers around trying to fire back with flurries of punches and bites and eye gouges. He's near dead on his feet in the corner and Greg is blasting away on him, but then Piper starts ducking and moving and all at once he's in the groove again, Greg missing five, six, seven swings in a row as Piper is evading everything, the crowd going full on apeshit when he hits back. We get the revenge posting and Valentine blade job and naturally Piper bites the cut, but then he took it a step further and tried to Tyson his ear off. There are parts where they're rolling about on the mat sticking fingers in eyes and ripping hair and trying to throttle each other, just pure, visceral hatred. And then there's the finish which was basically attempted murder. Piper trying to saw Valentine's fucking head off with a rope was crazy enough, but the image of Greg frothing at the mouth as Piper hangs him over the top rope was borderline disturbing. Folk are trying to tear Piper away and Roddy will not have it. He's going to kill this man if it's the last thing he does. Holy shit this was something else.


Did you ever manage to watch this, elliot? Parts of it were Puerto Rico level gruesome so there's no way you don't dig it.

Bare knuckles boxing meets 80s Southern revenge brawl with Puerto Rico levels of violence. The match had a clear face/heel dynamic with some subtle character work. Piper was extra aggressive throughout while Greg mainly focused on the ear, since this was after the famous ear angle. Loved how Piper was out for blood. Piper wailing on Valentine with some lightning fast combos of thousands of reckless punches and strikes after cornering him ruled. Loved the dirty biting and the throat punch that Valentine sold like suffocation. Piper mixing in some violent kneelifts and taking Valentine’s head off was great pure violence. Match had tremendous urgency and intensity. It escalated when Valentine, sensing the danger, went after the ear methodically. Loved the focus with which he went on that ear and almost swaying it ruled. The methodical vs aggressive boxing dynamic ruled, too. Also, Piper’s stumbling selling was a great little detail. Them just slugging it out like pure boxing at one point was awesome. Loved how Piper started targeting the throat like a beast. The finish was as violent as wrestling gets, with Piper using the rope to try and cut Valentine’s throat and hang him. Valentine struggling like a shark getting killed ruled. The suffocating and foaming gave the bout an extra aura of realism and violence. As far as Southern brawls go, this is top notch with them changing the structure to UWF meets Puerto Rico with punches. Also, the match had tremendous heat. One of the best brawls of the 80s.

Watched this for the first time in a while and it was hitting the right buttons for me. I am a Piper fan and this was a fantastic babyface performance. Hitting great combos and spitting on Valentine once he’s knocked Valentine to the outside. Then when Valentine knocks him out he is right up and after him. When Valentine goes after his ear he sells the pain and disorientation. Valentine is great here, alternating between some begging off and some viciousness, really nasty stuff by the ring post. I actually forgot about the attempted murder at the end, I remembered this was nasty but it was wilder than I remember. I am pretty sure this will be in the middle of my list.

Obviously I've seen this since 2018 and it's one of the best matches ever.