"Rowdy" Roddy Piper

I watched his two hour Biography a couple nights ago on A&E. Very interesting life as is the case with many of the professional wrestlers of that era. He was a good dad and pretty likable guy outside of the ring. Anybody else watch it?

I don't have cable but, .. my grandma didn't like him

I did. I missed some of the beginning. It was interesting on how some decisions he made had some repercussions in his career. I don't watch much TV but it caught my attention I wasn't a huge fan of wrestling, but I actually liked They Live.

I watched it.

As a kid, Rowdy Roddy was my hero. I always rooted for the underdog and really couldn't stand Hulk Hogan. Roddy's character always seemed a bit crazy and I loved it!

I saw him on an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" a few years ago. He played a washed up wrestler living out of his station wagon. I was thrilled to get to see him again.

I remember him in the Portland area years ago. I think he ran the Portland wrestling scene for a few years or something. His name was always popping up around here.

I wasn't a huge wrestling fan either but these documentaries have been great and this one especially. I was always athletic and played baseball and weight lifting. So watching these guys and their demanding workouts and working through injuries and the toughness is really interesting! Roddy was a real tough guy and I admire him for be a good loving dad. Seeing all the bruising and injuries that he worked through for his job including the long scar down his hip from a hip replacement that he worked right on through was pretty darn inspirational. Roddy was always the antagonist but really one of the nicer guys out there.

I like how in his many notes he had jotted down "You need a license to hunt, you need a license to fish, any jerk can have a kid, it takes a man to be a dad." That said something about who he was.

My favorite rassler of all time. 805pm Saturday nights on cable. Piper's Pit was the best.

The ESPN 30 for 30 on Ric Flair is also really good. These guys go through hell. Pro wrestling isn't fake. It's staged. Big difference. Fake = I swing at you with a chair and miss, and you fall down. Staged = I actually hit you with the chair, but you knew it was coming. You still got hit with a chair.

Did you guys ever see him in the movie Hell Comes To Frogtown ? It was mildly entertaining in a B-movie genre.

Gus

They talked about one of his movies but I don't recall the name now. It was a John Carpenter movie and it was funny that John Carpenter used some of Roddy's lines from his scribblings from his wrestling years. One was "you don't throw rocks at a man with a machine gun"!

Don't remember that line, but "They Live" was a John Carpenter movie starring Rowdy Roddy Piper. Here's a link to it on ok.ru

They Live on ok dot ru

Yep that's it I remember "John Nada".

I think it was hilarious the way he yelled "I came to chew bubble gum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubble gum"!

First Wrestlemania

It's a disappointment he was Canadian.

I was obsessed with WWF from 1984 to about 1990 (age 7 to 13) and I liked Roddy Piper because he was unpredictable and had a unique gimmick. Unlike others on here, I was admittedly 100% a Hulkamaniac though!

There's an interview on Youtube where Roddy shares about young talent coming in to the business in the 70s and 80s and being sexually taken advantage by men of influence within the company. He began crying during this admission and it was clear he was a victim himself. It was pretty disturbing, but I give him credit for not being afraid to shed light on this really messed up time in the industry. I know it came to light eventually, but by the time our society was willing to listen, too many years had passed and it was swept under the rug.

It's a 8 part series. I saw 5 of the 6 that have aired so far. They are entertaining.

Shows so far:
1) "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
2) "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
3) "Macho Man" Randy Savage
4) Booker T - I missed this one
5) "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels
6) The Utlimate Warrior

The remaining 2 are on Mick Foley and Bret "The Hitman" Hart

'Dark Side of the Ring' on Vice is pretty interesting too. Lots of crazy stories.

Roddy talked about living on the streets when he left home as a teenager and his son mentioned he fought a lot then mostly because of people trying to sexually abuse him. There weren't any other comments on sexual abuse on the Biography but several comments about his dark past and a lot of demons he faced. The one thing that stood out is that nobody had anything bad to say about the man himself. Vince McMahon and him battled many times and he came the closest to saying anything bad but everyone else talked about what a good hearted man he was and a great father and family man.

I'll look for this

Sgt. Slaughter told a story of how Roddy, Bret Hart, himself and I think one other were driving after partying it up one night and all but Slaughter pretty wasted and they pulled off a highway and all were pissing on side of road and Rowdy Roddy being "in one of his wild moods" went running to the drivers seat and was going to take off and leave them all stand there on side of highway thinking it would be hilarious....he told how it took the three of them to wrestle him out of driver's seat and it wasn't easy! I can just imagine driving past that scene!!!

The family man Roddy