One of the most iconic wrestler vs. celebrity WWE feuds of all time saw main event heel Roddy Piper, around the peak of his powers, squaring off against actor Mr. T. It was a hot enough issue, featuring compelling enough names to factor into the original WrestleMania main event.

Related: 10 Things Fans Forgot About Roddy Piper's WWE CareerDespite Mr. T and Piper not exactly creating magic in the ring together, they performed well enough around T’s limitations. Moreover, the issue between the two took on a life of its own with Piper and others speaking over the years to Hot Rod genuinely not liking T or that he had to work with him in the ring.

UPDATE: 2022/11/23 07:30 EST BY JOEY HAVERFORD

Newer fans will likely not understand the importance of Mr. T feuding with Roddy Piper, but the loud fan reactions watching back may help put it into perspective. WWE has used so many great celebrities over the years that the earlier ones like Mr. T don’t get the credit they deserve. Piper feuding with Mr. T ensured WWE could present something you couldn’t find anywhere else.

The merging of mainstream pop culture and pro wrestling represented Vince McMahon’s vision for the future of the industry. These were likely the most financially-lucrative years of Piper's career as he was WWE’s top villain. Both talents tried their best to do something that had never been done before. Mr. T and Piper’s feud deserves an even deeper glance at the dynamic.

13 Roddy Piper Attacked A Little Person Wrestler To Upset Mr. T

WWE often tried to book new dastardly ways for Roddy Piper to get heat as arguably the greatest heel in wrestling history. The program with Mr. T saw Piper picking on someone that wasn’t his own size when targeting Haiti Kid.

There was an established friendship between Mr. T and the little person wrestler to give Piper an idea. Piper attacked Haiti Kid during one of his Piper’s Pit segments and shaved his head to match Mr. T’s style as a way to get into the head of his rival ahead of their big boxing match.

12 Mr. T Boxed Bob Orton Before Roddy Piper

Most fans forget that Mr. T had one singles boxing match in WWE before he faced Roddy Piper. The tag manager of Piper and Paul Orndorff from WrestleMania 1 had the first crack at Mr. T. “Cowboy” Bob Orton faced Mr. T in a boxing match to open a Saturday Night’s Main Event show.

The debut singles match for Mr. T saw him winning when Piper failed with a sneak attack and Orton was counted out leaving the ring. WWE used this as a great way to build the bigger match and gave Mr. T a huge victory.

11 Main Evented The Nassau Coliseum Portion Of WrestleMania 2

WrestleMania 2 may have been WWE’s most unique presentation of a major event by having it take place over three different venues. Fans attended PPVs in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles with portions of show jumping from one to the next.

Mr. T and Roddy Piper having their infamous boxing match closed the event in the Nassau Coliseum before the Chicago and Los Angeles matches took place. WWE recognizes Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy in Los Angeles as the main event of WrestleMania 2, but Piper and Mr. T closed their show.

10 WWE Introduced Mr. T As A Ringside Spectator Who Came To Hulk Hogan’s Aid

Mr. T became a major actor off a combination of his villainous turn playing Clubber Lang in Rocky III, as well as the success of The A-Team television series. It helped his case in pro wrestling that he looked the part of a professional fighter, thus making him that rare celebrity who was a near-perfect fit for WWE. So it was that the company sought out his services to bolster one of their top angles.

At the War to Settle The Score, Mr. T appeared in the front row to watch Hulk Hogan defend the WWE Championship against Roddy Piper. Things broke down when Paul Orndorff and Bob Orton helped Hot Rod brutalize Hogan, only for T to jump the railing and come to Hogan’s aid, setting an angle in motion.

9 Roddy Piper Worried About It Hurting Him And The Business If Mr. T Pinned Him

Roddy Piper has a longstanding reputation for being hesitant about taking losses, specifically in his heyday in the 1980s when he was careful to protect his character’s status as a main eventer. The old school mentality made Piper look at wrestling through a real perspective.

Related: 8 Most Embarrassing Moments Of Roddy Piper's CareerPiper was purportedly especially reticent about how and the degree to which he might put over Mr. T. As a celebrity visitor who wasn’t even a professional wrestler, Hot Rod thought it would look terrible for not only himself, but wrestling as a whole, if Mr. T picked up a pin.

8 Roddy Piper Did Not Enjoy Working With Mr. T

Roddy Piper pulled few punches in criticizing Mr. T over the years to follow their on-screen feud. The claims of Piper suggested a certain arrogance and lack of proper respect for the wrestling business from the actor.

In other interviews, he suggested T was only invested in how he looked and how he could benefit from his stint in wrestling. Piper believed T was opposed to considering how he might help wrestling itself or the men he was in the ring with.

7 Mr. T Claimed He And Roddy Piper Actually Got Along Fine

In a 2021 interview with Wrestling Inc., Mr. T spoke to his time in wrestling, and his rivalry with Roddy Piper was a natural point of discussion. Interestingly enough, T suggested he actually got along just fine with the Rowdy one, and that Piper’s claims to the contrary were about pushing the storyline and protecting kayfabe.

While there may be some truth to Mr. T’s understanding of the situation, it also seems a bit odd given some of Piper’s comments came years after he and the actor were involved in storylines together. Piper had, of course, passed on by the time Mr. T made these claims, so there was no way of checking Piper’s perspective.

6 Mr. T And Hulk Hogan Hosted Saturday Night Live The Night Before Battling Roddy Piper And Paul Orndorff At WrestleMania

There's only a small proportion of wrestlers who can connect with a mainstream audience. It's a testament to both how hard WWE worked to promote the original WrestleMania and the degree to which wrestling had crossed over to a general audience in 1985 that one half of the WrestleMania main event—Hulk Hogan and Mr. T—hosted Saturday Night Live the night before their big match.

The effort surely drew additional eyes to the biggest event WWE had ever staged to that date. Future eras would see The Rock and John Cena hosting SNL to continue the short list of wrestlers to hold that mainstream honor.

5 Roddy Piper Vs. Mr. T Was The First Feud To Get Two Matches At WrestleMania

Nearly four decades deep, WrestleMania is now well solidified as the biggest annual event in professional wrestling. Indeed, it’s only the biggest rivalries that have garnered multiple matches at this show, like when John Cena facing The Rock, Triple H, and Bray Wyatt each twice at the event, or The Undertaker and Kane having matches at WrestleMania 14 and 20.

Particularly iconic rivalries like Steve Austin vs. The Rock, The Undertaker vs. Triple H, and Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns have even warranted WrestleMania trilogies. The first feud to ever get two prominent WrestleMania matches, though, was Roddy Piper vs. Mr. T as they squared off on opposite sides of the original ‘Mania main event tag match and clashed again in a boxing match that headlined one leg of the three-city WrestleMania 2 event.

4 The Fans Wound Up Siding With Roddy Piper, Leading To His Face Turn

While Roddy Piper’s character was a clear-cut heel for the length of his feud with Mr. T, fans weren’t oblivious to Hot Rod’s hard work or ability to entertain. Moreover, as the feud with Mr. T drew on, the WWE audience may well have experienced one of their earliest cases of resenting a celebrity visitor or part-time talent who wasn’t a consistent presence in the ring.

The fans grew more and more vocally behind Piper in this feud, which may explain The Rowdy Scotsman’s face turn. It set Piper to play the good guy for the first time at a WrestleMania one year after his boxing match with Mr. T, opposite the heel Adrian Adonis.

3 Roddy Piper Commented On The Night Of Mr. T’s WWE Hall Of Fame Induction

One of the more interesting moments of the 2014 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony saw Roddy Piper get a bit of mic time, as his interviewer asked him what he was most excited for in the evening’s proceedings. Hot Rod said he was interested to hear what Mr. T had to say.

A kind interpretation of this comment might suggest he was burying the hatchet by expressing interest in what his old rival had to say. A less positive perspective might suggest Piper wanted to hear what T might say about him, or perhaps even anticipated one of the worst received Hall of Fame induction speeches of all time.

2 Roddy Piper And Mr. T At Last Made Storyline Peace At WrestleMania 30

A backstage segment during WrestleMania 30 saw all four participants from the original WrestleMania main event converge, appearing ready to brawl like they had twenty-nine years earlier. Even the referee from their match, Pat Patterson, got in on the scene.

Related: Why WrestleMania 30 Was The Best One In the 2010s (& Why It Was WrestleMania 31)Cooler heads prevailed, though, with The Hulkster initiating handshakes for the warring parties to at last make peace with one another. The segment provided a feel good moment paying tribute to the show's past in between the present athletes facing off in the ring.

1 The Drawing Power Of The Roddy Piper Vs. Mr. T Feud Set A Template

While WWE isn’t the only wrestling promotion to use celebrities to its advantage, it is a signature element of the company’s history. Their less strict adherence to believability or tendency to give entertainment value at least equal weight as "sport" led to a number of celebrities being welcomed into the fold in the early years of WWE’s operating on a truly national level. The famous faces helped generate extra buzz and mainstream attention.

Mr. T was among the key figures to bridge the gap, though, looking the part of a wrestler, and getting his hands dirty in actual matches. The success of his issue with Piper at drawing live attendance, and pay-per-view and closed circuit buys established a formula for success. It’s very reasonable to draw a line from T’s performances to WWE booking other major celebrities for WrestleMania like Lawrence Taylor, Floyd Mayweather, Snooki, Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, and Johnny Knoxville across decades to follow.