Today In Wrestling History 6/26: WWE Fires Roddy Piper, Vince McMahon's Non-Apology, & More
* 28 years ago in 1987, the WWF ran a house show at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston, Texas, with the card taped for local television and future use. This was the third event in the building since debuting in May, as they were running approximately every three weeks. Legendary local promoter Paul Boesch had been booking talent from Bill Watts' UWF until Watts sold the company to Jim Crockett Promotions in April. Not being told in advance about the purchase led to Boesch's change of allegiances.
Meanwhile, DiBiase jumped not long after the buyout to start his run as the Million Dollar Man. Given that he had been a top star in the city for years and had just been a babyface, Boesch and the WWF arranged a special, localized angle to explain his transformation. On the first show, DiBiase just announced he was going to the WWF. On the second show, he lost to fellow recent UWF star One Man Gang when he put his feet on the ropes for leverage. Yet another recent UWF wrestler, Sam Houston, protested the finish and helped DiBiase clear the ring.
That set up a tag team match on this show: DIBiase and Houston against Gang and Ron Bass. After the heels won, DiBiase turned on Houston, finally making him a proper heel. As for his newfound millions of dollars? That was explained in Houston (and the third party wrestling magazines) as DiBiase being the beneficiary of an inheritance.
* 14 years ago in 2001, the WWF taped an episode of SmackDown at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York for broadcast two days later, with the most notable event being an Intercontinental Championship change. Albert defeated Kane to win the title in a match that completely blew away all expectations. Both were known to be good, but inconsistent big men, but for whatever reason, everything clicked here. Some of the reaction was based around using a huricanrana (or Hurikanerana, if you will) as a counter to a power bomb, but it was a really good match the whole way through and one of Kane's better singles matches.
Take note of when fans start to take a shine to Kane's in-ring work: it's almost always when he's not working as a scary, supernatural monster. So you have runs like this one, his reign as ECW Champion, Team Hell No with Daniel Bryan, his initial run as Corporate Kane, and so on. When he doesn't have to over-emphasize the movie monster trappings, he's a very good big man style wrestler who can cut a surprisingly fast pace.
* 12 years ago in 2003, WWE publicly fired Roddy Piper. He had been back with the company since WrestleMania and was being used to give a rub to Sean O'Haire. Not long before he returned, he shot an interview for the infamous HBO "Real Sports" segment about wrestler deaths, which premiered two days earlier. In the interview, he talked about his issues with drugs during his career and how he didn't like who he became when he was working in wrestling. In the same feature, Vince McMahon was also interviewed, and it didn't go well. When asked if he felt any kind of responsibility for any wrestlers' deaths, he made a wacky face and slapped the notes out of reporter Armin Keteyin's hands. They whole segment reflected very badly on WWE.
In the fallout, they decided to cease contract talks with Piper, who had been working on a short-term agreement of some kind. WWE released a statement acknowledging what Piper said on the show and saying that "WWE is ending any further discussion with Piper regarding a contract.The WWE sincerely hopes for Piper and his family that Roddy can find happiness." He was back after two years and has been on good terms with WWE ever since.
* 8 years ago in 2007, WWE held a TV taping at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas for that night's live edition of ECW on Syfy as well as SmackDown to air three days later. In a weird way, it was the most anticipated episode of ECW on Syfy during its whole run, as it had been reported by multiple mainstream news outlets that Vince McMahon would open the show by apologizing for the previous night's Chris Benoit tribute edition of Raw. That's not exactly what happened, as this was the statement he read:
"Last night on Monday Night Raw, the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, the WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world?entertain you."
Virtually the entire show took place in the arena, consisting of 33 minutes of bell to bell wrestling and a segment where Roddy Piper and The Boogeyman embarrassed Matt Striker on his birthday (that was both the gimmick and a shoot, as he turned 33 that day). John Cena defeated Johnny Nitro to open the show while CM Punk defeated Elijah Burke in a best 2/3 falls match to close it out and become number one contender to Nitro's ECW Championship. It was similar to the old tribute show model but without tribute segments: Lots of in-ring wrestling, the only non-wrestling segment was very lighthearted, and there was very little storyline advancement.
See also: CM Punk Calls "Diva" Elijah Burke" His Worst Opponent