The Essential Heel: ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper Paved The Way

Roddy Piper’s untimely passing brings about a greater appreciation for “The Essential Heel.” 411Mania’s Greg DeMarco expands…

Friday brought another dose of sad news in the world of professional wrestling—news that “Rowdy” Roddy Piper passed away as a result of a heart attack earlier in the day.

One month after losing the legendary “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, the wrestling world has recovered and was focused on the build to The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar at WWE SummerSlam, NXT’s show the night before, the rise of Ring of Honor, the fall of TNA, and the likely amazing conclusion of Lucha Underground’s Ultima Lucha.

To summarize, things were looking up. In a big way!

Debuting in 1969, Roddy Piper had a very successful career before becoming a WWF mainstay in the 80’s. He was used as a top villain nearly everywhere he went, climbing the ladder in the National Wrestling Alliance before finally heading to the WWF in 1984.

Despite debuting in the WWF as a manager, it took less than a year for Piper to be a fulltime performer and have his own interview segment, titled “Piper’s Pit.” It was here where Piper would shine, irritating the faces who stepped into the pit. Piper used his segment as a catalyst for a legendary feud with “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, one with Bruno Sammartino, and of course Hulk Hogan.

Less than a full year into his WWF run, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper made it to the company’s top storyline, feuding with Hulk Hogan in the main event of “The War To Settle The Score,” the precursor to the first WrestleMania. His interactions with Mr. T lead to their WrestleMania 2 showdown, a boxing match that Piper lost by disqualification.

By August 1986, Piper was turned face in the WWF, feuding with Adrian Adonis over his rival “Flower Shop” segment, which debuted during a short absence for Piper.

From 1986, onward, Roddy Piper mainly performed as a face, giving his heel run at (or near) the top of the WWE a timespan of less than two full years.

Think about that…arguably the greatest heel in professional wrestling history performed as a heel in the WWF for less than two full years.

The Essential Heel

I titled this column “The Essential Heel” after Piper’s role during his first two years in the WWE. Piper was, in fact, the Essential Heel.

The Essential Heel is defined (by me) as the heel you can’t live without. He (or she) is the heel that is required to get a babyface over to the point of selling out the arena. Wrestling has been rooted in good versus evil for over a century now, and it’s most successful when primarily focused on that formula. The hero is usually great and all, but if there is no evil to overcome, why in the heel do we want to buy a ticket? The rare John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan SummerSlam main event aside, it takes one performer from each imaginary “side” to capture the fans’ attention.

Wrestling today tends to be all about the chase. The face chasing the heel champion until finally winning “the big one,” then often times left asking “what’s next.” That’s where the essential heel comes into play. Without one, a company could see less success, and in some scenarios, perish.

Roddy played evil better than anyone. He never needed to win a championship. And when he did win the Intercontinental Championship, he did so as a face and lost it to a face. But when he and Hogan built WrestleMania, Piper was in all of his heel glory.

You can point to many characteristics of “The Essential Heel,” but first and foremost is a desire to be hated. You can’t be a “cool heel” and be an essential heel. That’s what led to the downfall of the NWO. They wanted to be loved by the fans, they wanted to be cool. They started to believe their own hype, and set up a scenario where even losing wouldn’t take them down. Which is why it ended with a whimper.

Roddy Piper loved being hated. He wanted nothing more than to be hated. To the Roddy Piper of 1984-1986, fans jeering and throwing garbage into the ring was a greater victory than winning the world championship ever could have been. He was amazing at it, he could hold thousands of people in the palm of his hands with just a few words, and if I were a face in the WWF locker room at the time I’d do everything possible to be booked opposite Piper.

Piper was such a great heel that many people actually appreciated the performer behind the character. That tends to happen with Essential Heels. Such is why, when Piper returned as a face against Adrian Adonis in 1986, the fans has no problem supporting him—both in that feud and for the near 30-years that followed.

The Rated R Essential Heel

Edge is probably this generation’s greatest Essential Heel, following in the footsteps of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper before him. And it makes perfect sense, too: Hulk Hogan needed Roddy Piper, and John Cena needed Edge.

John Cena defeated JBL to become the WWE Champion at WrestleMania 21 and start his climb to becoming the next generational mega-star. On that same night, in the second match on the card, Edge outlasted five other men and became the first ever holder of the WWE Money In The Bank briefcase. Edge would later cash in on John Cena at New Year’s Revolution, after Cena survived a 30-minute Elimination Chamber Match, and become WWE Champion for the very first time.

Edge, as his Essential Heel, helped define the John Cena we know today. Edge’s performance as an essential heel also caused him to receive a thunderous ovation when he returned to the ring as the 29th entrant in the 2010 Royal Rumble.

While Edge helped build John Cena into the Superman babyface he is today, being an “Essential Heel” helped Edge become an eleven time world champion, and a WWE Hall Of Famer.

The Next Great Essential Heel

Roddy Piper has since passed and Edge is retired. That leaves a void in the world of professional wrestling—we need our next great Essential Heel.

Who should it be? While the picture above gives away my answer, there are many great candidates of men who simply do not care about the respect and adoration of the fans. Men like Kevin Owens and Rusev immediately come to mind—guys who are so good at being so bad.

But they’ve had some obsessions that might take away from their “essential heel” status. Edge used his heel status to become world champion, and for that reason he sits at #2 on the list of essential heels behind Roddy Piper. Piper never became world champion, and he never needed to. While it would have been insanely entertaining for him to in his prime, there would have been no reason for Roddy Piper to ever hold a Money In The Bank briefcase.

Bray Wyatt is wrestling’s next great Essential Heel. Much like Piper, Bray is crazy. And as my Greg DeMarco Show cohost Patrick O’Dowd could easily remind you, crazy don’t care. Bray Wyatt isn’t obsessed with being a world champion—or any champion—he’s obsessed with being evil. He cuts promos about being evil. He has evil followers. He even sets followers free and smiles when they come back.

Bray is evil.

Bray torments.

Bray does things that confuse his opposition.

Bray reviles in the plight of his foe.

Bray loves to be hated.

Bray Wyatt is professional wrestling’s next great Essential Heel, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper paved the way for a man like Bray Wyatt.

Greg DeMarco is a wrestling fan of over 30 years and has worked on the independent circuit as a promoter, announcer, character and booker. Greg is a weekly contributor at 411Mania.com, applying his opinionated style to the world of pro wrestling as often as possible.

He began writing for 411Mania in October 2010 and has been pissing readers off ever since!

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And as always…