RIP 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper

Piper was just one the guys that made it all go. Great showman.

 

I guess he's all out of "kick ass" now, too.

Rest easy, Mr. Piper.

 

Dang he was only two years older than me. Never cared about wrestling, but I always enjoyed "They Live".

 

John Ritter
Robert Palmer
Luther Vandross
John Hughes
Davy Jones
Whitney Houston
James Gandolfini

 

RIP

The 80's was a great time to be a wraslin' fan.

 

This has upset me in a way I've not yet completely grasped. Piper was the first heel who really made an impression on me as a kid, mostly because he was so good at being bad that I, as a little kid obsessed with Hogan and every other face, couldn't quite understand my morbid fascination with him. When I got a little bit older, all of a sudden it was like, "ohhhhhhhh" and I realized just how important he was to the success of guys like Hogan could never have been as good as they appeared without Piper. So many have tried to imitate him since and no one has come close. The absolute best.

 

I never click "like" for anything here and I clicked like for your post. Excellent stuff.

It's great too because I was watching Piper smash the coconut over Snuka's head with my wife earlier tonight, and all the while he's calling Snuka a piece of garbage, and while he was a master a generating real heat for a feud, the irony is that Piper was the better human being of the two. You'd never get an inkling of that watching the character whipping "the islander" with his belt and taunting him with lines like, "You think you're big time, huh? Everybody wants to be big time, but you are nothing but garbage." But all the stories from folks over the years about how good Piper was to them, actively trying to help them and take them under his wing, how much he loved his family, and so forth...just nothing at all like the dirtbag he portrayed to make other wrestlers (and often lesser men) look better than him.

 

Yep, I agree. I would add John Entwhistle to that list (heart attack from cocaine), as well as Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers (ditto), plus Jeff Porcaro from Toto. I worked on a John Ritter TV movie in the mid-1980s, and -- I think the statute of limitations has lifted -- the director complained to me that Ritter was way too wired on coke for some of the scenes and had difficulty giving him the performance he wanted. I thought it was fine, but I only saw the shots that wound up in the finished show.

 

Another classic Piper's Pit. "Just when they think they got the answers....I change the questions."

 

Wasn't there an HBO "Real Sports" segment a few years that featured Piper and talked about how wrestlers died 400% faster than normal?

 

Wait, are you saying john Ritter did a lot of coke?? If so, I honestly had no idea. Be had such a wholesome image

 

Just checked his Wikipedia page and didn't see anything about cocaine use. That would be news to me as well. I don't believe that he was a user.

 

Very sad yes..... I love his 1996 movie MARKED MAN (Have it on VHS )

 

He was probably my second-favorite wrestler growing up after Hulk Hogan. People forget he also starred in Hell Comes To Frogtown, a fairly entertaining b-movie. He's the main reason worth watching it.

http://www.doblu.com/2014/02/15/hell-comes-to-frogtown-uk-region-b-blu-ray-review/

 

I saw his Piper's Pit with Snuka as it first happened. The coconut bit was a brilliant piece of heeldom.

The Golden Age of wresting had some colorful and unforgettable characters.
I can highly recommend the documentary on The Iron Sheik, The Sheik, for a look back at this era.

 

Oooh, I saw that one and forgot all about it until I read the description. Thanks, have to chase it down.

 

Same here... I actually can't stand wrestling, but I enjoyed listening to the commentary that Carpenter/Piper did for "They Live".... they sound like they're having a great time.

 

Roddy probably had the longest fight scene in a movie...They Live it went on forever! gotta love 'em.

 

What a drag. 'Piper's Pit' was always a highlight of the old-school WWF.
Roddy was also impressive in John Carpenter's '80s sci fi/conspiracy film
They Live, which contained the most drawn-out fight scene I've ever
seen in any American film:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/08/roddy-pipers-anti-epic-fight-scene-in-they-live.html

"I came here to chew bubblegum and kick a**...and I'm all out of bubblegum."

 

"That's Incredible!!!"

 

One of the best heels ever!
Let us not forget the parking lot attack on Dusty Rhodes in Atlanta, with the help of Ole Anderson. I believe a lead pipe may have been involved.

 

total blow. he was one of my favorites

 

I think I've only seen "They Live" twice, and not for many years, yet it still sticks in my memory as the best fight scene I've every seen in any movie.
I think I'll have to track it down and watch that movie again. I enjoy John Carpenter movies: Christine, Dark Star, The Thing
I once had the LP for "Christine" in my hands but passed on it at the time. Been keeping my eye open for it ever since.

 

The Iron Sheik's Twitter posts are hysterical, but not for family viewing.

Beyond the Mat is another great record of that era.