Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Mooneyham: Roddy Piper

Rowdy Roddy Piper always knew how to make an exit
by Mike Mooneyham
Charleston Post & Courrier

Henry Marcus was pacing nervously through the dressing room at County Hall.

“Anyone seen Roddy Piper yet?” the veteran promoter asked a group of wrestlers huddled in the corner.

Glen Lane of Charleston was one of those grapplers on the show that night in 1983. He vividly recalls the sense of desperation that was mounting as bell time neared and one of his two main-event combatants was nowhere to be found.

Although Marcus was simply displaying the angst of a promoter who dreaded finding a last-minute replacement for his star attraction, the other wrestlers in the dressing room were confident that Piper would never let down a promoter or his audience.

But time was nearing for his “New York Street Fight” with Greg Valentine, recalls Lane, and the 15-minute intermission between semifinal and main event had already begun.