Why did the WWF make Piper a heel?

[horsemen4ever]

Well watching Mid Atlantic wrestling on the Network, and you see Piper was super over as a babyface in that time. So when the WWF bought him north, why didn't they just run with that, instead rebooting hic character as a heel, was it they needed heels and had too many babyfaces, or did they think fans in the north are different than fans in the south?

I am not question their decisson, it was the right move, just curious of why giving it would be easier to just continue his face run from Mid Atlantic.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Bobby Heenan said it best, "here was a guy wearing a skirt claiming to be a man." Back then it was immediate heat.

[HMARK Center]

Plain and simple, I think it boiled down to wanting him to work with Hogan, and he wasn't going to get to do that as a face.

[efarns]

Vince wanted to be the biggest wrestling promotion and make "WWF" synonymous with "professional wrestling," and he could see Roddy Piper as a heel was just the ticket.

[abjordans]

Because he was awesome at it.

[Joe Neglia]

His best face work in those days (Georgia/Mid-Atlantic) came after extended heel runs. Vince bringing him in as a face wouldn't have garnered the fans' attentions the same way the #1 big bad turning face would.

[horsemen4ever]

Jan 15, 2018 16:43:27 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

His best face work in those days (Georgia/Mid-Atlantic) came after extended heel runs. Vince bringing him in as a face wouldn't have garnered the fans' attentions the same way the #1 big bad turning face would.

I agree there. And I tell this though, just as good as Piper's heel stuff, his baby face turns were great as well. Which was better, his turn in Georgia/Mid-Atlantic in 82 of his turn in the WWF in 86. I think 82 was better, that one had him saving Gorden Solie which was such an epic moment.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Because with Hogan they needed a good heel. Piper was that guy who could pull it off and well we clearly can see how well it worked. It was the right move because Piper was brilliant in doing it. As a face he be more lost in the shuffle because they where face heavy and lacked really good heels that wasn't managers.

[axebomber]

Probably because they needed heels. They had Hogan, Andre, Backlund, Snuka, Tito, JYD, Bruno...who were the notable heels at the time? Muraco, Sheik, Volkoff, Studd and Bundy?

[lildude8218]

They also brought him in to manage before that was gradually dropped.

[horsemen4ever]

I understand when he is a heel not to mention it, but after he turned face, did the WWF mention his weakness, that he can't hear good out of one ear.

This is not the only time the WWF took someone from another promotion and turned them without actually turning them. A few years later of course the Powers of Pain and Ron Garvin they were heels but when they came to the WWF they were faces.

[corndog]

Jan 16, 2018 19:17:01 GMT -5 horsemen4ever said:

I understand when he is a heel not to mention it, but after he turned face, did the WWF mention his weakness, that he can't hear good out of one ear.

This is not the only time the WWF took someone from another promotion and turned them without actually turning them. A few years later of course the Powers of Pain and Ron Garvin they were heels but when they came to the WWF they were faces.

Wasn't Jake Roberts a face in Mid-South before he joined the WWF?

[brody]

A lot of what went down in early 84 was them tossing stuff at the wall.

[Deleted]

Jan 16, 2018 10:21:12 GMT -5 axebomber said:

Probably because they needed heels. They had Hogan, Andre, Backlund, Snuka, Tito, JYD, Bruno...who were the notable heels at the time? Muraco, Sheik, Volkoff, Studd and Bundy?

Masked Superstar was there a while as well.

Besides, Piper is a great asshole. You laugh at his jokes, but when he does something low-down, you want somebody - ANYBODY - to whip his ass.