Tag: Roddy Piper

Roddy Piper and his Beloved Brooksie | From the Crow’s Nest

Roddy Piper and his Beloved Brooksie | From the Crow’s Nest

We’re waist deep into 1979 in our journey through the footage of Portland Wrestling, and the feud between Roddy Piper and Buddy Rose has been simmering quite nicely, a delight for the senses. We’ve got a stew goin’ baby!

We’ve seen interviews, both compelling and unhinged. Blood has been shed, via one wrestler squeezing the other’s head like a piece of fruit. And the Portland Sports Arena regulars have welcomed the Hot Rod into their hearts and minds less than a month after he got rough with a woman in the Crow’s Nest.

Welcome to the sublime chaos of Portland.

This week, we look at footage from the May 19, 1979, episode of Portland TV. The star attraction? Piper defending the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title against Rose in a Lumberjack Match.

Here’s the video:

We open with Rose and his partner in malfeasance, Ed Wiskowski, speaking to resident commentator Frank Bonnema in the Crow’s Nest. There’s the usual array of boasts and taunting, with Wiskowski weaving a metaphor around Piper being separated from his “mother”, Killer Tim Brooks, for more than a month thanks to this dirty deed by Wiskowski and Rose back in April:

That is what sparked the entire feud between Rose and Piper, and has brought us to this match. Wiskowski refers to Brooks as “mother” and “her”, which, in the context of 2026, certainly is a choice. One can only imagine the havoc that Wiskowski would have wreaked in this era of social media if he maintained just the slighest amount of kayfabe in those mediums.

With that, it’s time for the match itself and Dutch Savage is the ring announcer for some reason. “Guards” surround the ring and stand ready if one of the combatants tries to leave the ring, to throw them back into the squared circle. Bonnema correctly calls this a Lumberjack Match, which seems appropriate thematically for a promotion in the Pacific Northwest. It’s also worth nothing, Portland has now produced a four on four elimination tag in a harbinger to the Survivor Series gimmick that arrives eight years later, and a lumberjack match, all in a span of about six weeks. This is trend setting stuff.

The match itself is… pretty good? It’s definitely not bad, or skippable. It just doesn’t match the quality and intensity of the battle between these same two on the previous episode. Wild cheers for Piper during the intros, and after being taken aback by the crowd response last week, he just seems abundantly pleased this time. Worth noting that, unlike the typical Portland TV main event, this is one fall to a finish and not best two out of three. Piper zeroes in upon the left arm of Rose, which is a common theme in many of Rose’s singles matches, whether he has the upper hand or not. A trip from the outside by Wiskowski allows Rose to take control, during which he fires Piper into the corner on an Irish whip that Roddy takes with full commitment. Frank Bonnema calls this with the appropriate amount of sizzle.

The action here doesn’t hold up to last week but the crowd energy does. Rose maintains control, through an attempted sleeper hold on Piper, and the ensuing rally and reversal into a top wristlock. Finally Piper fights his way back, by, well, fighting. A wild roundhouse and what looks like a running forearm off the ropes evens the scales, if only briefly. Momentum starts to turn and Rose attempts to flee the ring multiple times, getting tossed back in on each occasion. Piper fights back with a flurry capped by a knee lift, which evokes one of those spectacular heedless banana-peel bumps from Rose that are just so enjoyable to watch. Piper later busts out an airplane spin, which Bonnema refers to as somewhat of a retro tactic, even though this match is happening in 1979!

Ultimately, this is Portland, and in Portland we have shenanigans, and so shenanigans eventually ensue. After both wrestlers go to the floor and Piper gets rolled in first, Wiskowski is in and jumps Piper. Bonnema screams about how the referee’s back is turned even though, at one point, referee Sandy Barr turns and clearly sees the assault only to turn back because we’re live, pal, and mistakes happen. The equation changes when Brooks comes storming into the ring from the crowd wielding the chain off a dog collar. Wiskowski gets flattened, and I’m shocked he doesn’t bleed. Brooks hits a jumping legdrop in full view of the official, drags Piper on top, and a quick three count follows to end the match. Brooks continues to clean house, chucking Wiskowski and Rose out of the ring, then kneels and hugs Piper to the unabashed delight of the Portland crowd.

Piper and Brooks head to the crow’s nest, and Piper’s joy at having his “Brooksie” back in the territory is infectious. Brooks takes a turn to talk, and he’s out for revenge. He notes he showed up in jeans and boots: “I haven’t been in these boots since I got home from Vietnam.” If you’re looking for immersion, if you’re wanting to believe, I don’t think there’s a better bar to clear than “I’m coming to fight you in the boots I wore to war.” I always found Brooks’ work in World Class about as compelling as watching as paint dry, but he’s pretty compelling here.

You know, if you’ll indulge me for a second, I leave you this week with the following.

We all try to carve out some slice of happiness in this wild and crazy world. My esteemed readers, I come to you today with the hope that you find the love that exists between Roddy Piper and Killer Tim Brooks in Portland Wrestling in 1979. The type of person that will show up in his boots from war, hug you in front of a capacity crowd, and make an entire wrestling production feel like, if only for a moment, it’s found its soul.

After all, don’t we all need a “Brooksie” in our lives when the going gets tough?

Check out all our content pertaining to the old Portland territory.

Roddy Piper Appreciation Society | From the Crow’s Nest

Roddy Piper Appreciation Society | From the Crow’s Nest

This journey through the footage from the Portla|nd wrestling territory began as a series of odes to the underrated greatness of Buddy Rose. Since we started in 1979, though, while Rose is still great, it’s given me a greater respect for the talents of Roddy Piper.

That continues here, in the surviving footage from the first half of May 1979, where Piper is definitively the star of the show.

Here’s the footage we will be covering in this edition:

May 5, 1979

Not a lot of meat on the bone in what footage has survived the test of time from this week’s episode … almost entirely interviews, but there’s a gem to be found. Piper gets two chances to speak from the crow’s nest with Frank Bonnema. Both address the battle royal that coming Tuesday, where both men and women are entered, and he can’t wait to throw Vicki Williams out of the ring and into the fifth row — understandable, given recent events between them.

Piper’s second promo, at the end of the footage, is must see. He runs the gamut here, starting by busting out some rhymes like a freestyle rapper in the midst of their flow, in a sequence that, given it’s 1979, feels groundbreaking and innovative. Then he shifts: “You take a good look at me.” Here we see Piper making magic, grabbing at the attention of the viewer through the screen. As he talks about how he always gets up in a fight, the bandage on his head covering a fresh cut helps to sell the words. Then, Piper veers into complaining about promoter Dn Owen letting kids into events free.

The subject matter here veers all over the place. His schtick isn’t perfected and polished yet, like it will be by the time Piper reaches the big stage of the World Wrestling Federation in about five years as the chief foil to Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania. The intensity, the presence, however? It’s all here, already. And it’s impossible to ignore.

The feud between Rose and Piper advances here as well. Between Piper’s interviews, Rose comes to the crow’s nest and refuses to wrestle Piper this coming Tuesday because Rose’s partner Ed Wiskowski currently is out of the area. Piper interrupts and decks Rose, which evidently is all it takes for the Vegas Playboy to accept. Rose runs down the list of wrestlers he’s injured and/or crippled in the territory, in a nice odd to continuity that I appreciated probably more than someone watching this week to week in Portland nearly five decades ago would have.

One more fun fact: the battle royal they’re hyping has a $4,000 prize for the winner. That’s worth more than 18 grand in 2026 dollars.

May 12, 1979

One match in the existing footage, and it’s a good one: the first televised contest between Piper and Rose. Piper’s the current Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion, but he’s refused to put the title on the line here because Wiskowski is back in the area, and in the building. The previous Tuesday, Rose and Piper had a match that got thrown out after they brawled all around the Portland Sports Arena, That’s helpful context for what comes here, and what comes next between these two.

Unfortunately, Dutch Savage has affixed himself to what looks to be the hottest feud in the territory in quite some time; he’s been added to this affair as a second referee, outside the ring. Sigh … at least we don’t have to we Savage wrestle. Or talk.

The match itself is a treat. Piper drags Rose to the floor during the introductions and starts battering him, still seeking payback for what Rose and Wiskowski did to his beloved “Brooksie” last month. Rose gets the upper hand and targets the fresh bandaged cut on Piper’s head. Punches to the head prime the pump, and then Rose applies a headlock and squeezes Piper’s head like he’s trying to draw juice from a fruit. It works, and I’m here for it. Later, as Rose grinds his knuckles into the open wound, the camera catches a great close-up shot of Piper as his eyes roll back into his head. It’s the featured image of this article.

What’s astonishing about this match is, after weeks of Piper doing or saying something dastardly — usually to or about Vicki Williams — he wins over the crowd in short fashion here. What’s that old proverb? “The enemy of my enemy is my new fan favorite.” Or something like that. Bonnema does an admirable job on commentary helping sell the change in the fans’ perception of Piper. He’s disbelieving as a “We Want Piper!” chant begins, while noting Piper has not changed his style at all. Indeed, Piper throws punches. He fights recklessly. At one point he delivers an open-handed strike to Rose’s throat. “He didn’t ask anybody to cheer for him,” Bonnema observes during Piper’s comeback in the first fall. It’s a subtle but effective layer of the story being told here. After Piper wins the first fall, he seems legitimately bewildered at the fans who were previously howling for his destruction now cheering him.

This feels like a grudge match because neither man appears particularly interested in winning. When Piper hits a swinging neck breaker on Rose, he lets Buddy up rather than maintain contact for the pin. Then, in the second fall, Rose returns the favor, letting up Piper after hitting his back suplex into a backbreaker (or, the “Billy Robinson inside backbreaker” as it’s called here). In the third fall, Rose ultimately gets disqualified after Wiskowski runs in when both wrestlers and both referees are entangled outside the ring and rams Piper into the ringpost. Neither Savage nor Sandy Barr sees anything. Rose is DQ’d nonetheless, because they don’t believe his story on how Piper gets waylaid. It’s the only disqualification I can remember in wrestling based on nothing more than vibes.

Rose could care less. He’s gloating as he reaches the crow’s nest that he was the first to get there for his interview. He taunts Piper to put the title on the line next week, then retreats quickly to the back as Piper approaches. There’s great energy from Piper on his rebuttal: “When you were in high school having your mama pack your lunch, I was fighting,” he tells the absent Rose. Throughout, Piper maintains a captivating eye contact with the camera. There’s a star quality presence from him that anyone else in the territory lacks.

These two aren’t done. Next week, Piper puts the title on the line in a no DQ match with six “guards” around the ring — a lumberjack match, in other words. Piper cackles in delight when Barr informs him of the stipulations. He’s not the only one.

Barr says promoter Don Owen is ready to end the feud with this upcoming match. Thankfully, for all of us, he’s wrong. Piper and Rose have many more battles left to wage.

Check out our full collection of content on Portland Wrestling.

Roddy Piper and a Lesson in Heat | From the Crow’s Nest

Roddy Piper and a Lesson in Heat | From the Crow’s Nest

Here’s some of the footage we’ll be covering in this installment, all from the April 21, 1979 episode of Portland Wrestling. If you want to make sure you have access to all the Portland wrestling covered in these pieces, I recommend signing up for this Patreon. Tons of Portland and other great old-school wrestling content.

Roddy Piper finds himself in a curious spot in Portland. He remains the Pacific Northwest Wrestling Heavyweight Champion — the top singles title in the territory. He still, in many ways, wrestles and acts like a heel. He’s also seeking revenge on Buddy Rose and Ed Wiskowski for injuring “his Brooksie”, Killer Tim Brooks, a couple of weeks ago.

On this episode of Portland TV, Piper is a villain, through and through. For at least a week, the rivalry with Rose and Wiskowski is forgotten.

All thanks to Vicki Williams.

Women’s wrestlers were much fewer in number in the late 1970s, for various reasons. Portland’s been promoting them throughout the past month of TV as a special touring attraction. In this case, Williams and Judy Martin have been making the rounds. The first footage from the episode sees Piper and Vicki in the middle of bickering from the crow’s nest broadcast position. Piper (and Rose, for that matter) went on record for weeks prior how women didn’t deserve to be in the ring. The segment opens in mid-argument, with insults flying and fingers pointing. The crowd is rowdy and rambunctious, the usual for Portland Sports Arena, until Williams calls Piper a boy.

And that’s when Piper snaps. He lunges and grabs Williams by the hair and the crowd goes stone silent. Every ensuing word from Piper, every syllable is clearly audible as he throttles Vicki in his grips and ultimately throws her down. The most surprising thing about this entire segment is that Frank Bonnema, the broadcaster, doesn’t intercede or even say one negative word about Piper’s actions.

This is a short segment but it’s worth studying in detail, especially if you’re in wrestling, or act, or any kind of performance art. Watch how, once Piper grabs Williams, he makes the most out of every gesture. Every motion. Every word. He projects a sense of bullying malice that makes you want to see him face revenge — a violent one, exacted with swiftness.

Later in the episode, we get another fragment of a segment, this one with Piper, Williams, and Ron Starr. He’s got a problem with the way Piper treated Vicky and lays down the challenge for a mixed tag match. Piper lunges at Vicky again, only this time Starr grabs Piper from behind, leaving him vulnerable to a big slap from Vicki. The crowd loved this, and the mixed tag match evidently is made for the following Tuesday in Portland, which is where the territory sets several of its key matches — all, sadly, not televised.

The rest of this episode’s footage includes Rose and Wiskowski. First up, an interview about their simmering rivalry with Stan Stasiak. Wiskowski, who’s made a habit of making some uncomfortable comments in his promos (especially by 21st century standards), proclaims he learned Stasiak isn’t Polish; he’s Yugoslavian.

Burn, I guess?

In the only match on this episode, Rose and Wiskowski face Stasiak and George Wells two out of three falls. The match itself is not great, but it’s a fun snapshot of Portland Sports Arena crowds, and how easy they are. I’ve yet to encounter another wrestling audience that does some of the things Portland fans in this era do: such as count along like punches in the corner or face first turnbuckle smashes when a fan favorite wrestler is wrenching a hold on the heel.

Rose has so much personality here. There’s a legitimately funny beat early in the match when Stasiak has Wiskowski in a hold, Rose wanders down the apron to jaw at some of the grannies in the front row, and misses an attempted tag by his partner. Generally speaking, the Portland crowd in these 1970s episodes is highly engaged. They also really understand wrestling. They recognize holds and, in this match, they’re howling for blood when Rose and Wiskowski switch in and out without making an actual tag. It’s a level of investment that is refreshing.

Stasiak as a fan favorite here is certainly a change from his work in the Northeast this decade for WWWF. He seems to be legitimately enjoying himself, and shows fire and motivation. Late in the second fall, he slugs away on Wiskowski like it’s last call at the Double Deuce. The match goes to a third fall, as per usual, and time is short, also per usual, but the footage ends without the conclusion of the match.

While this contest takes up the bulk of the surviving content from this episode, the segments with Piper and Williams — especially the first one — steal the show. In this case, less definitely is more.

On to the next episode, and the month of May 1979, where there’s a good amount of available Portland wrestling to watch.

Check out all full index of content on Portland wrestling.

Adios, Hector Guerrero | From the Crow’s Nest

Adios, Hector Guerrero | From the Crow’s Nest

When you’re watching territorial wrestling footage from nearly five decades ago, located in a relative distant outpost for the business, you’ve got to take what source material you can get. Given that the vast majority of the surviving footage from Portland wrestling in the late 1970s came from the actual tape collection of Buddy Rose, that means that there’s a hearty helping of Rose on these episodes.

That’s not a bad thing. I feel like I’ve waxed poetic on the greatness of Rose, who I consider among the best wrestlers of all time, and maybe the most underrated.

The bulk of the footage available from the April 14, 1979 episode of Portland TV, sees Rose take on a young Hector Guerrero. It’s an undercard match, so it’s one fall to a finish unlike the usual two out of three fall format for main events on the Portland program.

This is also the final match for Hector in Portland, period, for reasons that are made quite clear after the match. He still looks like a kid thanks to that haircut (pictured below) but he’s actually about six years into his career.

This might be the Portland exit for Guerrero, but Rose seems determined to send him out looking strong, because the Playboy spends the vast majority of the match selling and feeding. For all the fat jokes about Rose, to the point he goes into some deep schtick about it later in his career when he is substantially heavier, he’s in great ring shape. He runs the ropes and feeds into arm drags more effectively than hundreds of wrestlers I can think of who look more athletic.

Hector works the left arm of Rose relentlessly, with everything from an arm wringer to an arm scissors to, briefly, the setup for a modern-day mixed martial arts armbar. On one of the few occasions where Rose gains the upper hand and flings Guerrero for a backdrop, Hector nimbly lands on his feet to oohs and ahhs from the Portland crowd, in a spot that had to feel spectacular by the standards of 1979 and was still pretty nifty by the standards of 2026. Nothing Rose does seems to keep Hector down for long… until he catches a flying cross body and drops Guerrero across an outstretched knee for a backbreaker. An inside backbreaker follows, and Rose scores a decisive pin. After the bell, Rose and his running buddy Ed Wiskowski double team Guerrero and hit the same knee drop from a backbreaker setup that put Killer Brooks on the shelf the previous week. The referee disqualifies Rose, who doesn’t seem bothered. He grabs the house mic from Don Owen and proclaims, with no small amount of glee, “I heard his neck snap!” as Guerrero is carried out of the arena, never to be seen again in Portland.

There are entertaining nuggets in this, and several things young wrestlers can borrow (the word we use instead of “steal” in any creative or performative endeavor), but the structure is too disjointed to call it a good match.

Up next, we get a Roddy Piper interview from the Crow’s Nest, and Piper is beside himself after seeing Rose and Wiskowski take out someone else with the same tactic they used to injure Brooks, or, as Piper calls him, “my Brooksie.” Adorable. Piper is borderline manic here. He’s talking way too fast but you already see the presence that goes on to make him one of the major stars in wrestling during the pop culture boom of the mid 1980s, and arguably the first major crossover star in American wrestling. It’s in the eye contact, and the conviction of his words. Even here, years before his peak fame, Piper stares into the camera, using it as a vessel to connect to the viewer, doing everything but reaching through the screen, grabbing you by the shoulders, and throttling you until you believe.

Piper also spends some of this time running down the women’s wrestlers passing through the territory and Vicki Williams in particular. There’s an interesting level of nuance here, a shade of grey usually absent from the black or white, hero or villain booking of traditional wrestling. While Piper continues to position himself as the next nemesis to Rose, he simultaneously with his words on Williams embodies unfiltered, ugly misogyny with a microphone — and taking that stance to a much higher level in our next installment.

A couple of other interviews from the Crow’s Nest wrap the footage from this episode.

First up, current tag champs and fan favorites du jour Adrian Adonis and Ron Starr. I appreciated the continuity here — they find Brooks’ injury last week unfortunate, but it’s from the company he chose to keep — and Starr in particular had a good delivery, but the other material is so cringe-worthy I won’t even summarize it.

Finally, Rose and Wiskowski return to the Crow’s Nest with Wiskowski selling the heart punch from Stan Stasiak, a former WWWF (the predecessor to WWF or WWE) world champion who’s been appearing sporadically in Portland since the mid 1960s. Rose has Stasiak one on one next week. After seeing several Stasiak matches from earlier this decade when he was younger and presumably more spry, the prospect of a Stasiak singles match here doesn’t excite me, even if it is against Rose. We do get a tag match featuring Stasiak and Rose on opposite sides, and that’s the centerpiece of our next review.

Check out all our reviews and articles on Portland wrestling.

365 Wrestling, Day 5: 8 Man Tag (Pacific Northwest Wrestling, 1/5/80)

365 Wrestling, Day 5: 8 Man Tag (Pacific Northwest Wrestling, 1/5/80)

365 match reviews, one for each date on the yearly calendar? Challenge accepted. Welcome to 365 Wrestling.

Do you enjoy watching good wrestling? Are you a wrestler looking to improve? If you can answer yes to either question, then I have one piece of advice: watch more Buddy Rose.

Today, we’re taking a look at a two out of three falls tag match from Portland in January 5, 1980 featuring Rose — Pacific Northwest Wrestling’s top heel at the time — teaming with the Kiwi Sheepherders, Butch Miller and Luke Williams (you may know them better as the Bushwhackers), and Sam Oliver Bass (better known as Outlaw Ron Bass). Their opponents are the quartet of Roddy Piper, Rick Martel, Dutch Savage, and Stan Stasiak. You can find this match on YouTube, or embedded below:

Part 1
Part 2

The Match

Portland weekly TV at the time was structured around long matches, many of them two out of three falls with sponsor plugs and interviews between falls. This match follows that formula. It’s also the latest chapter in a feud between Rose and Piper that began the prior spring. Rose has recruited Bass and the Sheepherders to his “Army.” The shenanigans between Rose and Piper in 1979 included Rose, in an act of sublime dastardly heeldom, setting fire to Piper’s kilt from the Crow’s Nest broadcasters’ position while the Rowdy Scot was part of a tag match. Fun fact, PNW pre-taped its TV show at the time, but fans watching thought it was happening live and called the fire department.

Piper’s team consists of Martel, who is new on the scene in Portland; Savage, a mainstay in PNW and one of the promoters of the territory; and Stasiak, best known for his “heart punch” and being the man who dropped the WWF Title to Bruno Sammartino to begin Bruno’s second reign as champion. By this point, Stasiak is in the twilight of his career.

The booking here accomplishes three goals, which is an impressive juggling act. First, building Martel for an imminent shot at Harley Race and the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Title. Second, to advance the feud between Piper and Rose. Third, to establish Rose’s Army as a force.

Most of the action is basic pro wrestling you’ve seen a thousand times, but it’s all done well and the crowd is red-hot for the first fall, which lasts more than 20 minutes. Rose is involved on the three big highlights of the match: a rapidly-paced exchange with Piper in the opening minutes, taking a Martel Irish whip into the opposite corner where he throws himself headlong above the turnbuckles to smash into a long pole extending from the ringpost, and then, in the second fall, feeding into a late hot tag by Martel, who busts out a huracanrana (in 1980!!!) as part of his comeback.

Rose sells for everybody in this one, whether it be an exaggerated bump on the apron after Savage punches him, or reacting to Stasiak’s “reverse pumphandle armbar”, as Frank Bonnema calls it, like he’s being interrogated in a medieval torture device. This match loses quite a bit of steam heading into the second fall and the intensity continues to diminish — the opposite of what you want — with the minute-by-minute calls of ring announcer Don Owen (the promoter of the territory), making a time-limit draw finish as obvious as a flashing neon sign.

Final Rating: 6.0

This one is definitely worth seeking out to watch. You get a good look at a highly-energized Piper, the Sheepherders with a distinctly different look, and Bass in his prime. The star, though, is Rose. Rose shines in the style of the Portland territory, thanks to his combination of tremendous promos, meticulous mannerisms in the ring, and bumping heedlessly to make his opponents look like a million bucks. I assure you, this won’t be the only time you see Rose on this list.

What’s Next

Two of the top female wrestlers of the 2000s battle in a No DQ brouhaha.

Here’s the complete, ongoing list of matches in this project.

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