Before their time in the WWF, Roddy Piper was regularly challenging Ric Flair for his United States Heavyweight Championship.
From November 1980 to June of ’83, Roddy Piper and Ric Flair faced each other over 40 times in singles competition and another 40-plus in tag matches.
This feud came at a critical time, as Flair was being groomed for his first National Wrestling Alliance World Championship reign.
As a result of his big year, Flair was voted "Wrestler of the Year" for the first time by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
Ric Flair: “Piper was the greatest bad guy in the history of the business!” Although Roddy Piper gets credit for propelling Hulk Hogan into sports-entertainment supremacy (though arguably not enough), the story of how he helped lay the foundation for the rise of Ric Flair is far less familiar.