In honor of a new section on PWPNation.com, PWP’s Eron Ramadanov reviews the very first “Table For 3” featuring Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff & Gene Okerlund.
In every episode of “Table For 3,” WWE has attached a “theme.” For the very first edition of the show, which was released on August 6th, 2015, these three road-stricken legends shot the breeze about life on the road, WrestleMania 1 and had a few laughs along the way. Hopefully, me, and/or someone else on the PWP Nation staff will be reviewing every single one of these “Table For 3” sit-down interviews/forums, so let’s begin with the very first.
Here are the highlights from this debut episode:
This episode starts off with Gene Okerlund welcoming the audience to the show, but before he can get through that, the late, great Roddy Piper strikes with a joke saying, “Okay, well I’m out of here,” as Paul Orndorff follows. This wouldn’t be the first “rib” pulled on Gene in this episode. Okerlund continues to introduce Piper and Orndorff; I’ll admit right off the bat that it was really difficult to watch this episode due to the fact that Roddy Piper was in it; had me emotional the entire time! Rest in peace, Hot Rod!
The first topic they touch on was WrestleMania 1, where Orndorff praises the vision of Vince McMahon to have the, as he put it, “foresight” to in-vision the global brand it has become today. Piper then begins to talk about his heated relationship with WWE Hall of Famer Mr. T. As the discussion goes on, Piper explains why there was so much heat between Mr. T and himself. Hot Rod explains that the reason he didn’t like Mr. T is because of the way he [Piper] was brought up in the business, which is that you always PROTECT the business, as Orndorff nods his head in agreement. Piper then talks about the pressure from the boys in the locker room to not allow Mr. T to go over on them at wrestling’s biggest event. Okerlund plays devil’s advocate, stating that celebrity involvement can sometimes make the business better, but Piper quickly pointed out that he has no issue with celebrity involvement, as long as it’s not inside the ring.
Piper then recalls his mindset before he entered the ring with Mr. T talking about how he wanted to, as he put it, “spike him” when Mr. T had a headlock put on Piper. Hot Rod took into account honor and morality, which obviously led to Piper not doing anything like that. The table then moves on, as they begin to talk about the business and work ethic during their time. Piper and Orndorff explain how hard their generation worked, as far as in-ring work and training to stay in shape.
Okerlund then moves the table to some road stories; obviously Piper told some fantastic stories. I’m not going to recall them because I can’t do them justice. Piper was always a great storyteller, which is why I loved his podcast, when it was running hot.
After a few stories, Piper and Orndorff start to pick off the plate of Gene Okerlund, who is attempting to keep them on task; it didn’t work. Piper gets back on task and tells a disgusting story about Johnny Valentine, who’d, as Roddy explained, would go to the bathroom in your cowboy boots… yes, number two. Piper explains that Valentine could go to the bathroom in said cowboy boot but the true magic is that he could put the “dairy queen whip” on it… look it up if you don’t know what I’m speaking off. Moving on, Piper and gang continue to talk “ribs.” Piper then tells the story of him going “blackface” for a show in Canada. He explained that the solution to remove the paint was replacement by Andre “The Giant” and Arnold Skaaland with water, which resulted in Piper being in “blackface” for over a month. Okerlund and Orndorff ask Piper if he did anything or confronted Andre about this; Piper looks at them and says, “yeah, right.”
The gang exchange goodbyes and Okerlund jokes about going out to get a drink; Piper then says, “Well, it’s 5 0’clock somewhere!”
Overall, this episode was a good place to start. The episodes have gotten better and better every week, and they only get better from here, but this was a solid, light-hearted episode of three icons talking about the business. I recommend you take the time to watch this debut episode of “Table for 3.”
Thanks for reading!