I hated Rowdy Roddy Piper.
I loved Rowdy Roddy Piper.
That’s the way it goes when a wrestling heel captures your heart. Piper, who died this week, was one of the great performers in the history of professional wrestling.
Piper was the kind of guy who just got under your skin and made it crawl – kind of like poison ivy.
My favorite Piper moment came in the 1980s when Vince McMahon, the promotional genius who ran what was then called the World Wresting Federation, gave Piper his own interview show, called “Piper’s Pit.”
Rowdy donned his red Scottish kilt, lace white shirt and nasty, insulting attitude for his show.
One day rocker Cyndi Lauper showed up. She was riding high on the charts at that time with such hits as “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” and “Time After Time.”
Famed wrestling manager Capt. Lou Albano appeared in Lauper’s video, so Cyndi turned up to talk to Lou and the Hot Rod Man.
Rowdy was nice at the start.
“We both have something in common,” Piper told Lauper. “We’re both No. 1 at what we do.”
Cyndi smiled, but the Rowdy One was only warming up for the kill. “Lou Albano is your manager and brought you up from nothing,” Piper said.
“I love Lou but he’s not my manager,” Lauper said.
“Wait a second,” Hot Rod said, “You’re not calling Lou Al-bino (sic) a liar?”
Fat Lou suddenly entered the set and told Lauper: “Tell them how I made you a superstar and wrote the words (to your songs)…Tell them Cyndi, that no woman’s ever accomplished anything without a man.”
Lauper looked as mad as her flaming red hair. Lauper kicked away the interview table, stood up and started whacking Albano in the head with her purse.
That was classic WWF hype and classic Roddy Piper. To see it, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTOTop3At1c
Lauper went on to manage Wendi Richter to the women’s WWF championship in a match against the dreaded, “Fabulous Moolah,” managed by Albano and Piper.
Rowdy kept wrestling, made some movies and in his own way, became a cultural icon. He even turned up a few years ago at a Wrestlemania event.
One of Piper’s biggest fans is Ronda Rousey, women’s UFC fighting champ. Her nickname is Rowdy. She asked Piper to use his nickname and has said he told her, “You go, girl.”
Rousey was scheduled to fight Saturday night and, after his death on Thursday, said she would dedicate the bout to Piper.
“Thank you for the name and so much more,” Rousey wrote on her Web page. “Will do it justice and do you proud. This one’s for you, Roddy.”
Rest in peace, Roddy.
You were the best heel I ever saw.
Tony Violanti writes for Villages-News.com
