Filmmaker Recalls Earning Roddy Piper’s Ire While Interviewing Him For Documentary

Steve DeBro interviewed Roddy Piper for his 2021 documentary about Los Angeles’ Olympic Auditorium, and he recently recalled how he ended up on Piper’s bad side. DeBro spoke with the late WWE Hall of Famer for 18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story and he recalled the experience on a recent episode of Talk is Jericho. You can see highlights from the discussion below, per Wrestling Inc:

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper was forever protective of the wrestling business, and that was made very clear to filmmaker Steve DeBro, who was dressed down by Piper while interviewing him for a documentary on Los Angeles’ Olympic Auditorium. Appearing on “Talk Is Jericho,” DeBro detailed his initial encounter with Piper, who quickly became irked at the interviewer’s use of what “Hot Rod” deemed to be insider wrestling terms as part of his series of questions.

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,” he said. “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.”