The father-son tag team combination of Bob and Brad Armstrong had recently won the National tag team titles in December, 1981. They regularly made appearances on GCW, and Piper was complimentary to their abilities at first. Soon, Piper began mentioning on the broadcasts that Brad was the star of the team, and that Bob was holding his son back. Bob Armstrong did take exception to Piper’s comments, but the two only had verbal confrontations. This took place for about a month, with the tension building each week. Finally, Brad had a singles match on GCW against Kevin Sullivan. Piper began criticizing Brad’s abilities, and making fun of the younger Armstrong. Bob Armstrong could stand no more. He charged out of the back and attacked Piper. The two had a pull apart brawl that ended up with most every wrestler in the promotion trying to pull apart Piper and Armstrong.

Piper and Bob Armstrong had several matches throughout Georgia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Piper was still the co-host of GCW, but he was getting involved in matches on a weekly basis, attacking Tommy Rich, Michael Hayes, and the Armstrongs. This feud soon had all the stars of Georgia Championship Wrestling taking sides. On Piper’s side there was Ole Anderson, Buzz Sawyer, Magnificent Muraco, Gary Hart, and the Great Kabuki. For the Armstrongs, it was Tommy Rich, Dick Slater, and Dusty Rhodes. With names like that involved, you could be sure there were some great matches, and of course, interviews. Piper stopped his co-hosting duties in mid 1982, but still appeared on the program as a wrestler. He began spending more time in the Mid Atlantic area (where he was Mid Atlantic champion), and his appearances in Georgia were less frequent. Piper was a cult figure in wrestling by this point, and though he was a heel, his hyperactive personality and great interviews were bound to gain him some fans. It was not unusual for Piper to hear many cheers at the arenas.

In August 1982, Piper saved Gordon Solie from an assault from Magnificent Muraco. The studio crowd went wild as Piper and Muraco went at it, with the fans clearly backing Roddy. At the next Omni card, Piper saved Tommy Rich from a Muraco beating, cementing his turn as Georgia’s new hero. After a few weeks, Piper left GCW to compete solely in the Mid Atlantic. He did make a final return in August 1983, for a brief feud with then-lead heel (and former ally) Buzz Sawyer.

Piper would go on to fame in 1984 when he joined the WWF, where he wrestled sporadically until 1997, when he started wrestling in WCW. However, his period in Georgia Championship Wrestling was marked with excitement, and his talents were shown on a national scale. Many feel (myself included) that Piper’s best interviews were done in Georgia, and the Solie-Piper announcing combination set a high standard for entertaining wrestling programming.

We’ll take a look at wrestling’s most famous masked men who appeared on Georgia Championship Wrestling. Men like Super Destroyer, Masked Superstar, and Mr. Wrestling II. Come join us!