Roddy Piper vs. Hulk Hogan 02/18/85

Where: New York, NY

Backstory:

The WWF's first Wrestlemania was a month away, and there was an MTV special called The War to Settle The Score. This was used to promote the Wrestlemania main event of Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Cyndi Lauper was the catalyst of this feud as Piper's bunch continued to harass her and Hogan was the knight in shining armor to fight off this villian. This match is for Hogan's WWF Title.

In Ring Analysis:
Piper out first lead to the ring by his bagpipe band, Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff and Cowboy Bob Orton. He holds up the guitar that was used to strike Lauper's boyfriend and is wearing a Hulkamania t-shirt. He has this smirk on his face that makes the average person just think he's so in need of a beating.

Hogan comes out flanked by Cyndi Lauper, her boyfriend Rick Wolff, Captain Lou Albano, and Mr. T. He gets a huge reaction as the crowd was really into Hogan and wanted to see Piper get his. They start slugging it out as soon as Hogan rips his shirt off and the bell rings. Hogan gets a rake of the eyes which I never understood. Hogan is supposed to be this super babyface, but he isn't about cheating a little. I guess it's hard to break heel tendencies. The fans love him anyway so there is no backlash.

Piper makes a blind charge and takes Hogan down and both men slug it out on the mat. Hogan takes over and they stand up as Hogan hits Piper with right hands. Hogan hits a big scoop slam and then another. Hogan didn't have a huge moveset, but he had what was necessary to get through a match and not have the fans turn on him. He then hits a elbow drop and motions to the crowd.

Hogan stands Piper up and starts biting him. Once again, I don't get it. Why go through cheating when it's not even instigated? Hogan Irish whips Piper into the turnbuckle, but it's reversed, and Piper takes Hogan down with a clothesline in the corner. Piper goes for a pinfall but only gets 2. Piper then gives Hogan two running kicks to the head and gets another 2 count. Piper continues kicking to the head which is solid and uncheerable offense.

Piper then swings Hogan to the ropes and applies a sleeper hold. Hogan fights out and get Piper with a version of snake eyes on the turnbuckle. Piper up first and rakes the eyes of Hogan and then rubs his eyes on the top rope. That's cheating that makes sense because the heel is doing it.

Piper then distract the referee as Bob Orton then chokes Hogan over the top rope from the outside. Hogan fights up and pulls Orton up to the apron and rams his injured arm on the ringpost. Good spot since the crowd wants to see the cheater get what they deserve for interfering.

Back on Piper Hogan punches him out as Piper begs off. Hogan again rakes the eyes. Maybe it's not an illegal move, but it sure seems like playing dirty. Hogan then hits a big clothesline on Piper and an atomic drop. Hogan goes for another one, but Piper elbows Hogan into the referee knocking him out. Piper then holds Hogan down while Orndorff goes to the top and hits a flying knee on Hogan. Both men continue to stomp on Hogan, but Cyndi Lauper gets on the apron to argue. Piper and Orndorff both try to corner her, but Mr. T comes to her aid. The heels try to talk Mr. T. into the ring, and T obliges. Orndorff distracts him, and then Piper takes him down too. Both men begin stomping on Mr. T, but Hogan recovers and all four square off which gets a huge pop from the crowd. Before they could come to blows the heels run off and the faces are left in the ring. The police keep both keep both men from getting into the ring as the crowd is eating it up.


No Contest in Approximately 8 minutes. **

This match was a great way to whet the appetite of the fans for Wrestlemania as you could see that Piper and Hogan were about to have a great match before it got ended prematurely. They did a great job of giving people enough, but giving the fans minimal satisfaction on their way to making the fans need to pay for the payoff match.

I honestly don't understand Hogan's dirty tactics in the match, but like I said, at Hogan's level, he's not getting booed. Still it helps me remember why I kind of thought he was a phony as a kid sometimes.