Roddy PiperThe best part about being a professional wrestler is that you never die. You always live on through the moments and matches that made your professional wrestling career. Rowdy Roddy Piper will be no different. His legacy will be celebrated forever. In a career that spanned more than four decades, Roddy was part of some of WWE’s iconic moments.He helped shaped the wrestling business that we see today and there wouldn’t be a better time to look back into his career and cherish all those memories that he gave us. So here are some of the most memorable moments that defined Roddy Piper’s wrestling career.
#10 YOU DO NOT THROW ROCKS AT A MAN WHO\'S GOT A MACHINE GUN
Roddy Piper was not known for being an excellent ring worker. However, Piper was simply gold when it came to the microphone. He was often tagged as one of the greatest talkers in the business and rightfully so. Piper had so many good quotes from his promos and the best one from the lot was probably this.
He was having a feud with Andre the Giant at one point and when Roddy mouthed off too much. Andre lifted Roddy up and placed him on the table. Once Andre left, Roddy came up with this classic line that will be remembered for the years to come.
#9 Most Hated Man in America
Roddy Piper was a great heel. In fact, he was one of the best heels that professional wrestling ever saw. He was an expert in drawing heat and he once again proved his worth as a heel when he kicked Cyndi Lauper. Cyndi, who was mainstream hit artist during that time showed up in Madison Square Garden for the WWE show. It was supposed to be a good moment for the fans but Piper had no such plans.
He came out and kicked Cyndi. He made the kick so real that everyone started jeering him. A lot of people say that Piper became the most hated man in America that night after what he did to Cyndi.
#8 Intercontinental Champion
The year 1992 saw one of the loudest pops in WWE for a title win. And it came due to none other than Roddy Piper. By 1992, Piper had spent almost eight years in the WWE but was yet to win a major championship. That changed at the Royal Rumble when he defeated The Mountie. Piper enjoying his first title win was a great moment.
He did not win any other singles championship in the WWE afterwards and this made the importance of this title win skyrocket. He later dropped the title to Bret Hart at WrestleMania and that match is worth including in the list as well.
#7 Fire extinguisher on Morton Downey Jr.
Roddy Piper took a short break from WWE back in the late 80s. When he came back, WWE wanted to bring back the Piper’s Pit Segment as well. They booked the segment for WrestleMania V and decided to bring in controversial talk show host Morton Downey Jr. Downey was a chain smoker and had a habit of smoking cigarette almost everywhere.
And when he came up for the interview, Downey somehow thought that it would be a good idea to smoke inside the ring. Piper, however, had a different plan. When Downey lightened the cigarette, Piper grabbed the hidden fire extinguisher. It turned out to be one of the most memorable moments in WrestleMania history.
#6 Tag Team title win with Ric Flair
We’ve already seen Piper’s Intercontinental Championship win that happened in 1992. It took him almost 14 years to win another title in WWE. It was the World Tag Team Championship and he won it alongside Ric Flair. The two legends defeated the Spirit Squad at Cyber Sunday to win the titles.
Piper was 52 years old at that time while Flair was 57. Their combined age was 109 years old and it made them the oldest tag team champions ever. The team then dropped the title to Edge and Randy Orton at Monday Night Raw. It was good to see two legends win the title once again and for Roddy, it proved to be his last title in WWE.
#5 Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 8
Roddy Piper is a legendary wrestler, period. However, throughout his career, Piper was criticized for not being a great ‘technical’ wrestler. Of course, he was no Bret Hart or Kurt Angle but Piper did have some tricks up his sleeve. The biggest evidence for this came in WrestleMania 8 when Piper faced off with Bret Hart for the Intercontinental championship.
Piper showcased some excellent wrestling skills throughout the match and since he was between the ropes with Bret Hart, the fans found it easier to know how good Piper was. This was probably the best ‘wrestling’ match in Piper’s career and should be enough to silence his critics.
#4 Retirement match
WrestleMania 3 will be remembered for the match between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. WWE claims that nearly 93,000 fans packed up inside the Silverdome to see the clash between Hogan and Andre but the WrestleMania 3 card had another match which was good enough to draw a big crowd. It was Roddy Piper’s retirement match.
Roddy faced Adorable Adrian Adonis in the match. It was not a great match to be precise, but it was memorable. Roddy took a break from professional wrestling afterwards and completed his return later. And again, the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant match was not the only reason why there were so many fans for the show that night.
#3 Going up against Jericho at WrestleMania 25
2009 saw WWE celebrate the 25th anniversary of WrestleMania. And since they wanted to decorate the pay-per-view with some good old nostalgia and star power, WWE decided to have a match which involved legendary names from the past. This idea morphed into a 3 legends vs. Chris Jericho match and one of those legends was Roddy Piper.
Piper, who headlined the first WrestleMania (we’ll see it soon) coming out and wrestling on the 25th anniversary of the show was a great moment. Although the match was forgettable, Roddy managed to add another match to his long decorated career.
#2 Piper\'s Pit with Jimmy Snuka
Piper’s Pit is responsible for a lot of great moments in WWE’s history. But the Piper’s Pit that had Jimmy Snuka will clearly stand out from the rest. Piper went on to insult Jimmy Snuka throughout the segment and once Snuka became tired of the same, he decided to react. Before Snuka could do anything, Piper smacked him in the head with a coconut.
The way in which the coconut exploded on Snuka’s head became a memorable sight and it went down into the historic books as ‘the’ greatest Piper’s Pit moment. TNA tried to recreate the magic years later, but failed to do the same because the original was so good.
#1 Headlining the first WrestleMania
The first edition of WrestleMania was pretty important for Vince McMahon. It had the ability to make or break WWE and McMahon needed to make all the right moves. He had no space for any kind of an error and when deciding the main event, he rested his trust on four men, Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper.
Roddy was the biggest heel that WWE had at their disposal that time and Vince could not find someone better to go up against Hogan and Mr. T. It was a great match in the end and the success of the event helped WWE move forward faster than they expected. Headlining the first WrestleMania was a great privilege and it shows how good Roddy Piper was.
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