“[Piper] really wanted me to respect him as a wrestler first,” recalled DeBro. “He didn’t think I was doing that and so, he started asking me, ‘So what makes a professional wrestler successful?’ Displeased with what he thought were generic answers from DeBro, with the camera now pointed at the filmmaker, Piper drilled down deeper, “No, really. What makes professional wrestling?” before letting him off the hook and providing his own definitions, which led to them reaching an understanding.

“He wasn’t pleased with me in the beginning and made it clear,” said DeBro, “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.” Coming out of their exchange, which also detailed Piper’s legendary feud with the Guerreros including Piper’s infamous rendition of “La Cucaracha” in place of the Mexican National Anthem, DeBro seemed honored to have spent time with the late Piper, who died in 2015.

“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.” Piper’s death surprised DeBro, as he was one of the younger interviewees for the film, though he recalled noticing his pain during their time together as something they needed to get through to accomplish their shared goal for the movie. “I could tell he was in a lot of pain. That was clear to me when he came in but I looked at it as a chance [to show that] history has a lot to teach us.

If you use quotes in this article, please credit “Talk Is Jericho” and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.