RIP 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by David Campbell, Jul 31, 2015.

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  1. motionoftheocean

    motionoftheocean Senior Member

    Location:
    Circus Maximus
    same here. that moment is emblazoned in my brain and without exaggerating too much, it was among the first instances of what one might call a loss of childhood innocence.

    and you are absolutely right about referring to that period as wrestling's golden age. for as much effort as is expended by the WWE in trying to rewrite history to present the "Attitude" era as the pivotal moment, and that the company is virtually run by a guy from that era (and the closest friend of other guys who made their names in that era) probably has something to do with this revisionist history, the late 90's filth crusade of the WWE doesn't hold a candle to the name when Hogan, Piper, Savage et al. rule the roost.
     
  2. jmobrien68

    jmobrien68 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toms River, NJ
    Is there a wrestling fan out there that does not appreciate the greatness of The Hot Rod? I loved him. I need to get one of those red superman shirts with the bad seventies lettering on the back that said Rowdy Roddy Piper in a rainbow shape on the back.

    I spent a few hours Friday night going through a bunch of old Piper's Pits on you tube and came across one of my favorites... an impromptu one when Piper and Ace took the Haiti Kid from the ring (talk about an un-PC visual... just look at Piper and Orton on each shoulder while the poor 'Kid's' feet are running a mini marathon in the air). Then they proceed to force him into a chair and cut his hair because he likes Mr. T. Maybe we don't have heels like this today because you just can't do this stuff anymore. Also came across a Pit with The Rock's dad, Rocky Johnson, where a brawl ensues after Piper removes part of his shirt and flings it at Johnson telling him he should be shining shoes, and I think he even called him 'Boy'.

    Bit of a tangent... but I was a little offended by Hogan's tweet on Friday... claiming Piper was his best friend... seemed very disingenuous... I don't think Piper was his 'best friend'.
    I actually felt a little bad for The Hacksaw... I loved the little friendship that developed between the two of them on the network's 'Legend House'. Loved the scene where Piper & Hacksaw tried to cheat to win a game show but the Hacksaw blew it and Piper just gave him a look like 'what the f**k is wrong with you'... the kinda look only a buddy could shoot at you.

    Hope Piper's family is hanging in there and that the Hot Rod is at peace.
    Best tweet I saw on Friday night was from James Storm who posted a picture of Roddy & Dusty laughing real hard together with the caption "Just when you think Heaven is calming down... in walks these two"... that was great!
     
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  3. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    What I loved about that fight scene was that both of them were utterly exhausted at the end. It was one of the few that acknowledged that beating somebody up is hard work.
     
    MaltairX likes this.
  4. Bobby Buckshot

    Bobby Buckshot Heavy on the grease please

    Location:
    Southeastern US
    Why in the world I wrote "THEM" when I meant "THEY LIVE" is a mystery to me. It was Piper's charisma that carried that movie and makes it infinitely rewatchable.
     
  5. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    and it was quite humorous as well...just when you thought it ended it started all over again. Damn! I love that movie.
     
  7. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    ...and the reason for the fight was classic "Put on these glasses!" "No!"

    Normally you have to hang out at bars in the bad part of town at closing time to witness that kind of well-reasoned debate.


    Note: Bad language, not safe for work. But what are you doing watching stuff like this at work for, you slacker!
     
    Bobby Buckshot and JamieC like this.
  8. R. Totale

    R. Totale The Voice of Reason

    Look around somewhere and there's a synchronized picture in picture with scenes from this fight in the corner of the Cripple Fight from South Park, where they reproduced a lot of it shot for shot.
     
    heatherly likes this.
  9. davidshirt

    davidshirt =^,,^=

    Location:
    Grand Terrace, CA
    For me his passing is sadder than most wrestling losses over the years because Piper was one of the '80s guys that to me seemed so much larger than life due in part to his charisma and overall character. It' funny, when I started watching in '89 right before Wrestlemania 5 I'd see the WM 5 reports and they'd advertise him coming back and I remember thinking "I kind of know who he is" because I'd catch glimpses of him on tv in the mid '80s. When the wrestling bug bit me my mom told me stories about her, my dad, and her mom, going to the local San Bernardino wrestling arena on Saturday night's in the late '70s and catch guys like Piper, Andre The Giant. Gene Lebelle (who trained Piper) etc, on the Southern Cslifornia wrestling circuit before WWF took over everything by '85.

    My dad told me about how obnoxious Piper was and he saw a wrestler get pissed off at Piper over something and he did a move that seemed like a shoot move (as we'd describe it today) where he stomped Piper's throat and Piper ended up puking in the ring. The San Bernardino arena was kind of legendary for the time, and when I was able to finally watch Piper's 1987 movie "Body Slam" it was actually kind of awesome to see the scenes in the movie shot at the San Bernardino arena. It must have been suggested by Piper as a nod to the area and maybe those days. My mom says Piper was hilarious and charming when he wasn't playing the heel and told a story about when she'd go backstage to meet the wrestlers and Piper asked her out on a date. Of course my dad was there...
     
  10. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Just watched the fight scene I posted, and it is really unlike how fights are staged today - loads of long, nearly full height shots so you can really appreciate the effort put into it.
     
  11. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    whoops! there it is!
     
  12. Zep Fan

    Zep Fan Sounds Better with Headphones on

    Location:
    N. Texas
    Being from the Dallas area, my favorite wrestler(s) are local, The Von Erichs. Their battles with The Free Birds were legendary!
     
    Moonbeam Skies likes this.
  13. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    I grew up watching wrestling. From the old Olympic Audtorium with Freddie Blasey, Bobo Brazil etc. Kept right on watching thru the 80's. Pretty much stopped in the early 90's. With Roddy's death i can honestly say I haven't watched this much wrestling, via youtube, in 20 years. I had no idea that Pipper's Pit was still a semi on going thing. All those episodes were so and still are entertaining. Just started listening to his last couple of podcasts too. Damn I miss that guy already. RIP.
     
    Moonbeam Skies likes this.
  14. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    Roddy was talking about this very incident on his podcast! You must hear him tell it for total entertainment. "I love me some blueberry pie."
     
  15. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
    The only time I ever got to see him in the ring in person was WrestleMania 3 against Adrian Adonis. We had pretty good seats in the Silverdome and were not far from the ring. It was his "retirement" match. A few years later he appeared on Larry King Live to promote "They Live" and I called the show. The screener asked what my question was and I said "Is he ever going to return to wrestling?". So they put me thru and I could hear the audio on the phone as it played thru the TV. I was on hold for a while but they never got to my question before they ran out of time so I came close to asking him a question. Luckily he did return to the ring a few years later.
     
    Bobby Buckshot likes this.
  16. davidshirt

    davidshirt =^,,^=

    Location:
    Grand Terrace, CA
    How funny! I hate to say it, but I never listened to his podcast

    My dad has some good stories of seeing wrestling in San Bernardino.
     
  17. maclen

    maclen Senior Member

    I never listened either till a couple days ago. He tells the story on the Ronda Rousey episode.
     
  18. MikeInFla

    MikeInFla Glad to be out of Florida

    Location:
    Kalamazoo, MI
  19. jmobrien68

    jmobrien68 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toms River, NJ
  20. JPagan

    JPagan Generation 13

    Location:
    South Florida
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