R.I.P., Roddy Piper

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Roddy Piper, the mouthiest, funniest, most cheerfully annoying wrestler in the old WWF, has died.

Apparently, he died at home, of a heart attack in his sleep.

His beloved wife Kitty, whom he always spoke of with

love and respect, survives him, and their four children as well.

The film he made with John Carpenter, 'They Live' is a classic, and his line 'I have come here to chew

bubblegum......' is one of THE best lines ever.

He was one of a kind and deserves to be remembered.

Even the other wrestlers, who he absolutely drove crazy with his insults and antics, have expressed sadness at his

passing.

Wow, haven't seen this until just now. Roddy was an amazing character, one of greatest of all time.

Rowdy Roddy Piper had been my favorite wrestler of all time. Back when I was in junior high, I started - and kept - watching pro-wrestling, not for Hulk Hogan, but for the loud guy in the kilt. Part of my youth has seriously died.
RIP Roddy.

I was a bit shocked when I saw this in the news earlier today. I loved watching wrestling when I was younger. Roddy was one of my favorite wrestlers from those days. He will be missed. R.I.P.

Rowdy Ronda Rousey has dedicated her fight against Bethe Correia tomorrow to Roddy Piper.

OMG, Piper had to be about the most macho man ever to sport a kilt...

He was the pro "Hot Rod" during my own heyday as an amateur freestyle wrestler, but all this time I assumed he was a Scotsman by the way he dressed. In his online obits I see he was Canadian, so I guess the kilts and so forth had something to do with the Piper name and not his origin. (I.E. bagpiper).
I did not know he appearently had a boxing career as well...

(With plaid shorts instead of kilt.)

Last edited by Rockymtnchris on 01 Aug 2015, 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

His ancestors had actually come from Scotland to Canada.

Literally not a mere hour before I heard the news I was talking to somebody about Rod's role in the 'Billy Owens' movies, a series of really bad and really low-budget Canadian 'Harry Potter' rip-offs he inexplicably starred in. I can't help but feel really bad that that's how I was last remembering his legacy.

While I do have a great affinity for the "golden age" of WWF of which Piper was a part of, I'd be lying if I said my greatest respect and admiration for his work didn't come from 'They Live' and 'Hell Comes to Frogtown'. He just oozed charisma and badassery, one of the greatest personalities to ever come out of professional wrestling. It's a little sad his career ended up in a slump, but he was still capable of delivering great work on screen: his cameo in 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' a few years back was hilarious.

I still have my (empty) bottle of "Rowdy Roddy Piper's 'All Outta Bubble Gum' Bubble Gum Flavored Soda", which I have to give credit as being one of the better-tasting novelty sodas on the market.

Skibz, I would have loved to have tried one of those. I must have "blinked" along the way and missed it...

I have tasted the blueisheh Jones bubblegum pop, and it's not too bad.
http://www.jonessoda.com/beverages/pure ... -soda.html

I bought mine at BevMo. I don't quite remember what the Jones one tasted like, but the Rowdy Roddy one was really good...it was sweet rather than tart, and legit tasted like actual bubblegum instead of artificial bubblegum-like flavoring.

I remember interviews with him in his later years discussing his life as a pro-wrestler, and what struck me was just how depressed he was. Especially while talking about his drug problems while younger, how so many of his friends in the wrestling business have died before their time, and how men and women in the business are blatantly exploited by promoters like Vince McMahon. He had talked about what he called "the silent scream": that is, sitting in a hotel room for hours in tears, and how that had been a common experience for wrestlers constantly on the road, worked to death night after night, while encouraged to let off steam with illegal drugs by the likes of Vince McMahon. I hope he's found the peace he so sorely lacked in life.

I had known that he was raised by an abusive, alcoholic father, until he left at a young age, but I never knew that

Roddy himself developed a substance problem....I would like to know about how/when he got clean; did his wife

Kitty help him off the drugs, I wonder?

He accomplished so much, had a great home, a family who loved him, has never, ever been accused of cheating on

his wife...he was a much better actor than numerous young 'stars' in films now.

And he was funny, and seemed to be having such a good time when he drove other wrestlers crazy!

His substance abuse happened when he was in pro-wrestling, and drugs were everywhere in the locker room. Part of it, I'm sure, was getting hooked on legal pain killers, as wrestlers are constantly getting injured (one former pro wrestler talked about taking up to 200 pain pills a day). But illegal drugs and alcohol are also major problems among wrestlers, as they work hard, and so feel they have to party hard. But more than that, Billy Graham (the wrestler, not the religious huckster) claimed that Vince McMahon would supply drugs to his wrestlers. I'm not sure when Roddy had kicked the habit, but luckily enough, he had. I suspect being a family man was a major impetus for it.

Piper also hit his peak around the time almost all pro wrestlers were way into 'roids.
(They will "pump...you up"!)