A Moment in Time: ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka Appears on Piper’s Pit

Brian Damage

In this latest ‘A Moment in Time‘ we look back at one of the most iconic moments in wrestling history: when ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka appeared on Piper’s pit, a segment that created a memorable feud that lasted for many years.

The Venue: The Field House

The Location: Hamburg, Pennsylvania

The Date: March 28, 1984

During the a television taping for the WWF’s syndicated show All Star Wrestling, it was a talk show segment that stole the entire show. The segment was the infamous ‘Piper’s Pit’ hosted by ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper. His guest was the extremely popular Jimmy ‘Superfly’ Snuka. The reason for the segment was to set up a program between the two stars. The set up for this edition of Piper’s Pit was because Piper had Snuka on another Pit show and Piper did all the talking. Snuka requested to be the guest a second time to speak his mind.

From the get go for this new segment, Roddy Piper again did not let Snuka get a word in edge wise. Instead, Piper kept pulling the microphone away from Snuka and talking over him before he could speak. In reality, WWF management knew that Jimmy Snuka was not a great talker and that Piper would be the one responsible for generating the build up. The Hot Rod brought out a grocery bag and inside it was a few items to make Snuka feel more at home in the Fiji Islands.

First, Piper took a pineapple out of the bag…to remind Snuka of the Fiji women. Bushy on the top and round all over. Then Piper brought out bananas and starting flinging them at Superfly. Lastly, Piper started taking out coconuts and dropping them on a table. when Snuka finally had enough of Piper’s antics, he went to put his microphone down. Piper took the opportunity to grab a coconut and smash it upside the head of Snuka.

Snuka responded by falling into the Piper’s Pit set and bringing it crashing to the ground. Roddy then spit on Snuka and took off his belt and proceeded to whip Snuka repeatedly with it. Jimmy Snuka would eventually clear the cobwebs and charge after Piper…who ran into a nearby room. Snuka had to be held back by several WWF wrestlers and officials and the segment ended.

The taped segment would not air for another three months until June. The only exception, was when the WWF aired the segment in May in the St. Louis area before they did a house show. Never the less, the Piper’s Pit spot helped ignite a red hot feud between the two stars. It has gone down as one of the most famous spots in pro wrestling history.

Years later, both wrestlers (who have since passed away) have given their takes of what happened before and after the coconut incident. Jimmy Snuka said that he knew that a coconut would be used and that WWF road agent ‘Chief’ Jay Strongbow was responsible for gimmicking the coconut to make sure it shattered upon impact. Strongbow shaved one side of it to make it easier to break on Snuka’s head. The problem was, when Piper hit Snuka on the head…he accidentally hit him on the wrong side of the coconut. The cocunut did in fact break apart, but the blow to the head was much more severe.

Snuka admits the hit to the head knocked hurt a great deal and even made him loopy for a period of time. He was thankful that he was wearing a head band at the time, because it softened the blow. Snuka did have some after effects from the spot and needed some time to recover after the taping. He did wrestle a match afterwards on that show and won.

On the other side, Roddy Piper was pretty sure that the coconut wasn’t rigged at all. The part of the spot where Jimmy Snuka tore down the set wasn’t planned at all, because he had two other Piper’s Pit segments to tape that day. The set had to be reconstructed for his other segments which included interviewing wrestler Terry Daniels and another with Strongbow. The whipping of Snuka with his leather belt was also ad-libbed and that apparently pissed off Snuka the most.

Roddy Piper insists that the coconut smash changed Snuka in real life. He stated that Jimmy was never really the same after that. Piper said that Snuka who was generally such a sweet guy behind the scenes…became more reserved and would often stare blankly into space. He also said that one night after one of their matches, Snuka attacked him unprovoked in a hotel hallway.

Regardless of the situation behind the scenes, Piper and Snuka both admitted they loved each other as brothers and were close friends. The Piper’s Pit that set up this legendary feud will always be memorable in of itself. A true masterpiece in building up a red hot program.

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You can read all previous ‘A Moment in Time’ pieces here.

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