A man has died at the age of 61, and if wrestling was the real world, you might be glad and cheer a little, for he was one of wrestling's greatest villains ever. But that was make believe, and the man behind "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Roderick George Toombs, was a remarkable human in the real world. So, by all means cheer. Celebrate. The world is a far better place because it had "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in it. While his body may no longer be of this earth, his gregarious and infectious spirit will be forever with us.
The golden age of wrestling was truly the 1980s. Say what you want about the '50s, '60s, or even today, when the annals of history are poured over, when it is all said and done, the golden age of professional wrestling occurred from 1983 to the mid to late '90s. A big player on the scene was Piper. Even though he quite often played the villain, you couldn't help but root for him because he was the every man's man.
Although no slouch athletically speaking, Piper's character went into the den of steroidal giants and made a home for himself. Ask even the most die-hard fan what Piper's wrestling style was and he'd be hard pressed to answer you. Randy Savage had the flying elbow, Hulk Hogan the leg drop, Brutus Beefcake the sleeper and Roddy Piper ... he just did what it took. Because he had the brains and the wit.
As Bleacher Report says:
A virtuoso performer on the microphone, the opinionated Piper had the uncanny ability to talk audiences into the arenas that very few could match. Most of the time, those fans were paying their hard-earned money to see the rowdy one get his butt kicked by the biggest heroes in the sport.
"But Piper was more than just a great heel. He was a scrappy, fiery, passionate babyface antihero fans had no trouble supporting when he filled that role."
His wit has since become immortalized by lines like:
"Just when you think you've got the answers, I change the questions!"
"I don't need to know how tough I am to know how tough I am.
Those are the types of comments that made Roddy Piper immortal and gave all of us hope that we didn't have to be the biggest or strongest to succeed. Roddy Piper gave us a lot, even though sometimes, we didn't like him.
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