The 411 Staff Remembers Roddy Piper

On July 31st, 2015 Roderick George Toombs, known to wrestling fans as Rowdy Roddy Piper, passed away at the age of 61. The charismatic performer died in his sleep due to a cardiac arrest, and once again the wrestling world was rocked as another legend is gone, and a huge void was left. His fans, his contemporaries, journalists and historians heralded him as one of the best talkers and heels in the history of the business. Roddy Piper made wrestling cool for so many during the Rock and Wrestling boom, to many he was the architect of what the heel commentator would be and was the man everyone who tried to do a wrestling talk show strived to be. There was and only will be one Roddy Piper, and today some of the 411 staff gets together to share their thought son his passing…

Dino Zee: Roddy Piper has always meant something to me as a fan. As a child, he was the unbelievable jerk who was always messing with Hulk Hogan. Then, one day, he was attacked by Adrian Adonis and his goons, and we had a new face. From that point on, Roddy Piper was a-okay with me. His feuds with Rick Rude and Ric Flair in the WWF, his Intercontinental Title reign, his incredible match with Bret Hart at WrestleMania VIII… Piper was amazing. The mouth that roared, and the man who was never afraid to speak his mind, even if it was to his own detriment.

For me, my personal favorite Roddy Piper moment is a larger scene, and that was his rooting for Virgil to break away from the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase. From screaming at him to “do it!” at the 1991 Royal Rumble, to being in his corner at WrestleMania VII, culminating in his absolutely incredible commentary during the DiBiase/Virgil match at SummerSlam 1991. His iconic “COME ON, VIRGIL!!!” scream as Virgil gets to his feet still lives in my head, and really, Piper may be the reason Virgil got so over with me. I had someone rooting for him just as hard as I was, and if he was cool with Piper, he had to be pretty damn cool.

This is a tough loss. Piper certainly wasn’t the most popular guy in recent years in many circles, but he’s a legend, and a timeless piece of my history. I watched Piper in the WWF, in WCW, and again in WWE, and he was always a fun guy to have around. I’m not gonna lie when I say I’ll miss the man, Roderick Toombs, almost as much as I’ll miss his character of Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Thank you, Roddy.

Greg DeMarco: The news that Rowdy Roddy Piper has passed away is sad, but not unsurprising. I should be shocked, but I am not.

What these men did to their bodies in the past caused irreparable harm. Look at Eddie Guerrero. He completely cleaned himself up, but still passed due to the effects of his past. Roddy Piper is also a likely victim of years of abuse–physical, mental and emotional. While I am definitely referring to drug and alcohol abuse, I am also talking about years of taking bumps. Their bodies weren’t prepared in the ways that the superstars of today prepare their bodies.

As for Roddy Piper the performer, I hope we can remember just how truly great he was. He was the quintessential heel–fans loved to hate Piper. He drew the house, because people wanted to see him get his comeuppance. And he almost always did.

He also set the trend for turning heels face, something that continues to happen today. Heels have to be such great performers, and fans usually fall in love with the performer. It happened to Edge, it happened to Chris Jericho, and it even happened to Brock Lesnar. Roddy Piper started that trend over 20 years ago.

I will remember Roddy Piper as a man who paved the way for the essential heel, and the babyface turn. I learned to appreciate the work of the heel thanks to Roddy Piper. If I were a heel breaking into the business today, I’d study him more than any other performer. He’ll never be replaced.

Mike Hammerlock: I was a teenager when the WWF kicked into high gear in the 1980s. I was too damn old and way too cynical to be a Hulkamaniac. The Hulkster was for the crowd the was also watching The Smurfs. The guy who resonated with me and my circle of friends was Roddy Piper. We were hooked from the moment we saw the Frankie Williams interview – “Just when they think they’ve got all the answers, I change the questions!” I know people who made that their high school yearbook quote. Cracking Jimmy Snuka over the head with a coconut, legendary. Assaulting Cyndi Lauper, changed the world as we knew it.

Mind you, my introduction to Piper was via Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he pulled one of the great face turns in history. He was brash and funny and people loved him. He was the antidote for “square” wrestling. Yet Piper was not your average babyface. He was a blood-soaked babyface. Piper wouldn’t bother with a cause for which he couldn’t bleed. His masterpiece was the 1983 Starrcade dog collar against Greg Valentine. Thanks to the magic of UHF television I got to see it. Still can’t believe they allowed it to be sent out over the airwaves.

And then Piper got even cooler in the late ’80s when he went into the movie business. They Live is an absolute classic. Hell Comes to Frogtown is a camp favorite of mine – “I gotta tell you, you are one weird dude.” Piper couldn’t make a normal movie. It would have felt wrong. He was an underground hero for a decade that was all about glitz and glamour. Sir Roderick Toombs had a kind of cool that was a decade ahead of its time.

Justin Watry: Wow, 2015 has been quite the year. Shocking does not even begin to describe the feeling I had Friday upon learning of Rowdy Roddy Piper passing away. It was more of acceptance and sadness all wrapped into one. He had been battling health issues for years now but seemed to be in the clear. However, his WWE appearances became less and less in recent months while his Rich Eisen interview appearance last week was downright scary/embarrassing to watch.

Piper now joins Dusty Rhodes and Ultimate Warrior who helped shape wrestling as it is and left us way too soon. Not only do I expect Rhodes to get a tribute statue (or something) at the Performance, I expect some kind of WrestleMania tribute for Piper next year. It is only fitting for what he did for the industry in the 1980’s. You have to remember in order for the hero to be so beloved in a story (Hulk Hogan), the villain has to be just as believable. Being my #4 greatest Canadian born wrestler ever in a recent column, he is more than a legend. Rowdy Roddy Piper is a true WWE Hall of Famer… and I’m all out of bubblegum…

Kevin Pantoja: I’m writing this and I don’t know exactly where to stay or go with it. I think I’m just going to talk about Roddy Piper. No real direction behind it or anything like that. Just simply Roddy. Now I have to get something off my chest before this goes any further. I have never considered myself a big Roddy Piper fan. Growing up, I only saw most of Roddy’s WCW run, which honestly wasn’t very good. However, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gone back and educated myself on the man and in doing so, I discovered some of his greatness.

Despite seeing him mostly in WCW, my oldest memory of him was in the WWF. You see, as a kid, I used to rent Royal Rumble 1992 all the time. It just so happens to be a historic show in the career of Piper. For someone who played a pivotal role in the wrestling boom of the 1980’s, it wasn’t until 1992 that Piper won gold. He defeated the Mountie to win the Intercontinental Championship after one of my favorite promos of his. In response to Mountie saying he was going to take his manhood, “I come here to fight, I don’t know what you come here to do. I came here to win two titles, I can’t do that til I win the first one. I think you’ve been dreaming, I think it’s been all wet, too.” Classic. I’ve seen this title win too many times to count, but it’s always fun. My favorite memory of Piper also comes from 1992. At WrestleMania VIII, Piper defended that Intercontinental Title against Bret Hart. Bret was my favorite growing up and this is my favorite Piper match. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest that you do. I won’t go into detail, since that’s not what this is about, but it’s a classic.

A lot of people get called legends and don’t really deserve the accolade, but Roddy Piper certainly does. Hot Rod has no qualms with playing the villain, relishing in it even. He loved being the bad guy because he was so damn good at it. Part of the reason that Hulkamania and WrestleMania were the successes that they were was because Piper was the perfect foil. He wasn’t some campy cartoon like character. He was real. There was something about him that was different. He was intense, he was in your face and he seemed like he was legitimately out of his mind. He set the tone for a lot of future heels in the business. Piper was a major star and trailblazer. He set an incredibly high bar that honestly, hasn’t been reached often.

Even when he returned in his later years, Roddy Piper was entertaining. Whether it was winning the Tag Team Titles with Ric Flair for a short while in 2006, competing at WrestleMania 25 or helping Cyndi Lauper on the road to Raw 1000, Piper was must see TV. I mean, he was even one of the most entertaining guys I saw on TV all of last year on Legends House. Watching his friendship with Jim Duggan blossom was an absolute joy. It’s the only thing my girlfriend remembers from catching bits of Legends House in the background while I watched it. He had a charisma that made you stop and see what he was doing. No matter how you slice it, this is one of the biggest losses in an industry full of them. I don’t know exactly what to say here or if this even makes for a good read. I just know that I’ll miss Roddy Piper.

Mike Chin: I know that Roddy Piper was a great heel. That said, as someone born in the early 1980s, I have just a few first-hand, in-the-moment memories of Piper as a bad guy (not counting his run circa-2003), and many more of him as a lovable legend.

I remember Piper on commentary. I remember him supporting Virgil’s bid for independence against Ted Dibiase. I remember him as a rival of clout, who helped establish Ric Flair as a big deal in the WWF. I remember him passing the torch to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 8. I remember his fun spell as WWF President and chasing down a highway after Goldust as part of their Back Lot Brawl.

I remember Piper surfacing in WCW and how, though the angle grew tired, he posed a meaningful challenge to big bad Hollywood Hogan. And I remember sporadic returns to WWE and Piper’s Pit segments that tended to add a special brand of gravitas to big-time programs via Piper’s gift for verbally constructing monumental moments.

The news around Piper hasn’t been great as of late. His recent string of podcast and Twitter controversies opposite the likes of Kevin Nash and Steve Austin hinted that something wasn’t quite right with him, and it’s been sad to see him on the short end of these public disputes.

Just the same, when I think of Piper, more than anything, I’ll remember the time I got to meet him. WrestleMania 25 weekend, I made the rounds of WWE Axxess signings. I met Nick Bockwinkel, Harley Race, and Chavo Guerrero, and they were all friendly enough. But it was Piper who really took the time to talk with me. He sounded like he meant every word of it when he thanked me for being a fan, and, in a funny moment, even asked me if I were training to be a wrestler. It’s rare that you meet someone famous and he makes you believe—even for a second—that he’s just as happy to be meeting you.
Piper was that sort of guy—a man with the ability to connect with tens of thousands of fans in a stadium, and the ability to connect with just one fan in a heartfelt snippet of conversation.

RIP, Hot Rod. You’re one of a kind, and you will be missed.

“Hug somebody you love today. Be kind to somebody you don’t know. Walk a mile in someone’s shoes you don’t like. Wish them well. Takes a man.” – Rowdy Roddy Piper