R.I.P. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (April 17, 1954 - July 31, 2015)

[Anders JP Eskilsson]

This is a devastating news. According to TMZ, wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper has passed away at the age of 61 in his Hollywood home. TMZ reports it is of “natural causes” even though he was “diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2006 … but last November he said he was cancer free.”

UPDATE — Here’s the official statement, via TMZ:

Roddy’s rep tells us, “I am devastated at this news. Rod was a good friend as well as a client and one of the most generous, sincere and authentic people I have ever known. This is a true loss to us all.”
Piper had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2006, but last November he said he was cancer free. A family source tells us he was “cancer free” at the time of his death.
A family member tells us, “Our family is saddened by the sudden passing of our father and beloved husband, Roderick Toombs aka Rowdy Roddy Piper.”

Roddy Piper was one of the greatest heels of all time. Two years ago I had a chance to talk on the phone with him while he on a media tour for Klondike Bars. Piper’s Pit was one of my favorite things about wrestling. Our gracious and candid conversation was one of the highlights of my careers — I always loved his “I don’t give a fuck” attitude towards, well, everything.

Go read the whole thing. In his own words:

You’ve played a heel for most of your career, rather than playing a face. Did that ever bother you? Or did you decide you were just going to own it?
Well, I’m a born heel. In the third round at Nassau Coliseum for WrestleMania 2, they just started chanting my name. I don’t know why. I whipped Mr. T. I spit on him. I did everything I could think of and they started chanting my name. As far as I’m concerned, I had a lot of pent-up anger before I started professional wrestling. I had two years on the street. All the sudden, I had a lawless stage where I could do anything I wanted if I could get away with it and live through it. I wasn’t afraid of a lot of things. Either that or how you can be so afraid that you’re afraid of nothing.

Being a renegade was natural to me. I wasn’t really born anywhere or raised anywhere. I was born in the coldest place on earth, a town called Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, but I couldn’t tell you anything about it. From there I went to one of the toughest Indian reservations in Canada. I never really had a place. There’s no school reunion or a buddy that I grew up with. That makes you a loner. So if you’re a loner and you’re in a business like this, that kind of makes you the Outlaw Josey Wales, in a younger form. Then when I got older and was encouraged to do, that was the last thing I needed. I’d torture you with bagpipes, too, just to get creative with it. So I’m a naturally-born heel.

Speaking of Piper’s Pit, you were back on WWE RAW just a month ago. Do you enjoy coming back for a Piper’s Pit segment?

No. It’s easy to pick apart something, but building it is another thing. The company — as much as I’m a fan of it, and I don’t always express that — they’re getting to the point where they’re forgetting who started things. They want to write something and have me memorize it and go out. A lot of times they’ll give me something five, 10 minutes before I’m going out. And I don’t know who else is going out. That doesn’t bother me, but the other guys all might be on different pages. They’re all great, but it doesn’t allow the best performance for the fan watching. Even if I don’t do as well as I want to, I can try my best and be happy with that. But don’t give me a piece of paper and have big expectations.

No one tells me anything to my face, but I heard they weren’t happy with my last one. It’s like, “why don’t you come and tell me?” Vince was going to come down. And I’m like, “Well, come on down!” But I don’t even know if any of that is true.

All I know is this: If you want me to do a Piper’s Pit, there’s a reason they call it that. My last name is Piper, so I don’t need you to write anything. Don’t tell me what you’re looking for. They’re getting anal about it. You can’t just stamp people out, otherwise you’ll never find anyone special. You’ve got to give them some kind of license to perform. With that license to perform comes failure, but you’re going to give it as hard of a try as you can because no one wants to go out and fail. They’ve lost that concept. They think that if you give them that license, it will mess up their show. That’s not true. I have no idea how many I’ve ever been on, but I’ve never messed up anyone’s wrestling show in my life. It’s not a sensible claim unless they’re brand-new and have never done an interview before. I don’t need the help, just let me go. I’m doing it for you guys, the fans, not the office.

I’ve given a lot of my life for this business. I’ve been stabbed three times. I had cancer. Went down in an airplane. Been electrocuted. The list goes on, but I’ve never missed a gig. No matter what they say about me, never drank before getting in the ring. I must have drank once to know I didn’t like it, but it was never my M.O. I’m really proud of what I do when I go out there and I think they need to get back to that. Because it gets boring…
I’m going to try to stir it up once more time, champ. I can’t help myself.

I’m deeply saddened by Roddy’s passing. When I talked to Ric Flair earlier this year at Madison Square Garden, he mentioned that his comeback match against Roddy Piper was one of the highlights of his career.

[sassy69]

Dang .. this is a rough year for classic wrestlers. I guess an era is truly approaching an end.

RIP RRP!

[carrie ann simmons]

Awwww!!!! He was one of my favorites. RIP Roddy.

[Maniacal]

This fucking sucks.

[Curt James]

Damn. Sad to see another legend pass. :-(

[Rocky3]

Prayers go out to family and friends

[cook]

Nooooooo!

[Ronnie Rep]

Rip!

[cook]

I grew up watching wrestling in the d/fw area.A guy named Jack Adkisson ran the local promotion and wrestled under the name Fritz Von Erich.It was in the early 80s that they started televising Macmahon's WWF in our area.Hogan was the star but for some reason Rowdy Roddy Piper became my favorite.I saw him on Piper's pit talking to Superfly Snuka and all of a sudden he starts beating the shit out of Snuka with a coconut.It was the most bizzare thing I ever saw.I loved it.R.I.P. Rowdy Roddy

[Maniacal]

I 2ND, that.

That's the only '2nd' place you'll ever see.

[Ibarramedia]

Rip