So Long, Hot Rod

I was very sad yesterday to learn that "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had passed away at the age of 61.

Piper, one of my very favorite WWF wrestlers of all-time, made a huge impact on impressionable wrestling fans like myself when we were growing up and following Hulkamania right through to the nWo and into today's still stupidly named "WWE".

My earliest memories of Hot Rod were that he was the bad guy. 

I first discovered wrestling in the mid-80s on the Hulk Hogan's Rock N' Wrestling cartoon.  Week after week, the Hulkster would have to foil the dastardly plans of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and The Iron Sheik.  I knew Hogan was the champ, and that he bodyslammed Andre The Giant.  I also knew that Piper was the bad guy, because he was on the cartoon.  Little did I know that at this point Roddy had already begun his transformation from wrestling heel to crowd favorite. 

I just can't bring myself to type that Piper was a babyface.  I imagine he wouldn't have wanted to be called one either.

I was a wrestling mega-fan from 1989 to about 1994.  I ate, slept, and breathed wrestling.  It was in the Spring of '89 that Piper returned to the WWF to begin his second career there.  At first I still thought he was one of the bad guys, because I had such fond memories of the old cartoon and the sticker album that went along with it.  But then he started feuding with guys like Ravishing Rick Rude and The Mountie and he was clearly over with the crowd.

But he wasn't a babyface.  After all, color-commentator Jesse "The Body" Ventura would praise Piper's wrestling from the booth while he was quick to denounce Hulkamania.  And the real wrestling fans loved The Body because he told the truth.

I only got to see Piper fight live once in my life.  I was at Wrestlemania VI when he fought Bad News Brown, and had painted himself half-black.  That was something.

But looking back on Piper's career, what's interesting is what he taught us - that sometimes the 'bad guy' isn't really all that bad.  Sometimes he's just misunderstood in a world where he doesn't really fit in anyway.  And as time goes on, that misunderstood character can break through and get past other peoples' perceptions while not deterring from what he ever was in the first place.  In time, he isn't just accepted but actually revered and beloved by many, simply for being himself and telling it like it is.

In today's wrestling world I find something similar with Dean Ambrose.  Only time will tell if he's the real deal like Piper was or if he's trying to do a really solid Hot Rod impression for a new generation.

Piper taught us many things over the years.  That it's not just okay to wear a kilt but highly respectable, and that you can stop an alien invasion with a cheap pair of sunglasses, and most importantly that you never throw rocks at a guy who has a machine gun.

So long, Hot Rod.

- ryan