The Piper - Snuka Syndrome

[80s4life]

Though it sounds like the title of this thread refers to the legendary Roddy Piper - Jimmy Snuka feud, I'm getting at something different. I found it personally painful to watch these guys age on camera and / or lose their effectiveness. 1989 marked the return of The Rowdy One and The Superfly, yet clearly something was missing in relation to their past accomplishments. This is not limited to these two. I have seen the air taken out of the sails of Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Haku, Davey Boy Smith, Randy Savage, and others. Do you guys agree that this kind of helped tarnish their earlier week, whether they were sticking around just to collect a paycheck or someone in head office they were really still awe-inspiring? Even Vince McMahon said that in 1992 he wanted Hulk Hogan to become more of an occasional legend cameo appearance-type guy, which Hogan objected to and helped fuel his later decision to join W.C.W.

[oldschooler]

Piper just wasnt as Rowdy anymore when he returned in 1989 and Snuka was more or less used to put over newer and younger stars like The Undertaker and The Barbarian

[80s4life]

True. Undertaker definitely was helped by his WrestleMania win over Snuka, but in the Barbarian's case, he wasn't really younger or newer. As for the other guys I mentioned: Rick Martel had it all as A.W.A. World Champion and member of the Can-Am Connection and, well, even Strike Force, I guess. But his injury followed by his comeback and heel turn on Tito Santana seemed to take the excitement out of seeing him. Even before "The Model" gimmick was put on him, he never fit in with Slick and eventually became stale and uninteresting. His feuds with Beefcake and Jake were barely passable, although obviously much better with Roberts than The Barber.

Savage's hiccuping career was astounding, in both senses of the word. He was hot challenging Hogan for the World Title in '89, but his stint as The Macho King was erratic, at best. Then he retired, unretired, turned face again, had an entertaining feud with Jake, won the World Title again in a somewhat captivating feud with Ric Flair (but this time, I.R.S., Berzerkerm and Papa Shango were his top initial challengers other than Ric Flair), and got set for an epic showdown with Warrior at Summer Slam. That turned out sorta OK, and then he had a really good feud with Razor Ramon (I tend to think Razor deserves more of the credit here). Then it drops like a trap door in a Bond movie. His Royal Rumble '93 loss to Yokozuna signalled the clear end of Macho Madness. His subsequent occasional revivals to battle Jerry Lawler, Diesel, or Crush were making people forget that this was once the hottest property in wrestling heeldom outside of Roddy Piper.

Haku was never the same after he lost the crown, and I still am puzzled why people think the Colossal Connection was that great. They were very intimidating (as any team with Andre would be), but it seemed to reek desperation on the part of the W.W.F. that the team existed in the first place. With The Brainbusters, Bulldogs, and Rougeaus gone, and The Hart Foundation and Powers of Pain often split up into singles competition, it left only Demolition, The Bushwhackers, and The Rockers to really carry the tag division, and they were all babyfaces. Still, it served its purpose because it allowed Andre to finish out his career, but it didn't do much for Haku. When the team split after WrestleMania VI, Haku became a sort of jobber to the stars, walked over by Big Boss Man, Davey Boy Smith, and even The Rockers.

[Iceman]

I think once Roddy went to WCW he was truely downhill. Snuka never made it past 1989-1990 in my eyes. Without the Snuka vs Piper or Muraco, Snuka was nothing to me.

But basically some Wrestlers could hang longer than others.

I actually liked Rick Martel as the Model a lot (I know most don't), I thought he was very entertaining and funny. His new cologne "Arrogance" was pretty good back then too, just ask Tito Santana. Now "El Matador" never worked and Tito was done as soon as he went to "El Matador" in my opinion.

You might of thought Savage was downhill because of who he wrestled towards the end in the WWF, but that wasn't his fault, that's who Vince put him against. Remember, that was around the same time Vince wanted stars like Macho and Hogan out of the picture gradually, but obviously they had a lot of life left in them and great matches, see WCW.

Well Haku wasn't anything special or that entertaining in my eyes either, but like you said 80s4Life, anybody with Andre would make a great tag-team, too bad Vince picked Haku though, lol.

[80s4life]

Very good points, Iceman, with one glaring exception. I can't honestly agree that Randy Savage or especially Hulk Hogan had great matches in W.C.W. They certainly had great feuds and interviews, but actual matches? Come on, even Hogan was known for telling his buddies like Savage, Honky Tonk, Earthquake, and The Nasty Boys to not bother trying hard to have good matches because the fans, conditioned previously to their star status, did not need to see the physical sacrifice for them to get over. I can honestly say Kevin Nash must have been listening that day.

[Alpha Clash]

80s4life said:

Very good points, Iceman, with one glaring exception. I can't honestly agree that Randy Savage or especially Hulk Hogan had great matches in W.C.W. They certainly had great feuds and interviews, but actual matches? Come on, even Hogan was known for telling his buddies like Savage, Honky Tonk, Earthquake, and The Nasty Boys to not bother trying hard to have good matches because the fans, conditioned previously to their star status, did not need to see the physical sacrifice for them to get over. I can honestly say Kevin Nash must have been listening that day.

Sad but true................living on past accomplishments instead of trying to earn the praise of the fans here & now. Some things will never change.

[Scott Joyce]

Thats true once some of these superstars get so big with the fans and get pops everytime they come to the ring they IMO dont give nearly as much effort to their matches. I believe if Hogan, Savage, or Piper had given just 50% effort they would have still been over with the fans.

[Hulk Hogan 1 Fan]

admin said:

I actually liked Rick Martel as the Model a lot (I know most don't),

I liked Martel too. Great wrestler. What a character.

[Scott Joyce]

Martel was a great wrestler in the AWA as their champion and even when he made the move to the WWF he was entertaining as well. He was a IMO very good technically sound wrestler.