Los Angeles-based producer and director, Stephen DeBro (Steve DeBro) interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper for his 2021 documentary about Los Angeles’ Olympic Auditorium, and he recalled ending up on Piper’s bad side.
DeBro spoke with the late Piper for the “18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story” and he shared the experience on a recent episode of the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Piper coming annoyed at him during the interview: “Roddy was annoyed at my line of questioning, and he turned the camera on me. [It] wasn’t my thought to take on Roddy, but it was certainly his thought to teach me a lesson which was really uncomfortable… Before I’d interviewed Roddy, I’d interviewed The Destroyer. He was openly using terms like ‘babyface’ and ‘heel’ so, I had started to use insider terms [with Piper, who] was all about protecting the business. He felt like I hadn’t earned the right to start talking about those kinds of terms.”
On Piper turning the interview around on him: “[Piper] really wanted me to respect him as a wrestler first. He didn’t think I was doing that and so, he started asking me, ‘So what makes a professional wrestler successful?’… He wasn’t pleased with me in the beginning and made it clear. But it made for an incredible interview in the end and I was really honored to meet him and get a chance to see that brilliant mind at work.”
On his respect for Piper: “I worked with some really smart, brilliant people, like George Carlin. I consider Piper’s brain to be on that same level of just someone who was sparkly sharp, how he understood wrestling, how he understood character development, how he understood the work.”
