5 Most popular wrestlers of the 1980s

#3 Rowdy Roddy Piper

The "Hot Rod"!

Here is another wrestler who spent much of the 80s as a bad guy. Doesn't matter, fans still loved him. His Piper's Pit segment was the greatest thing on TV, from the instant fans heard his theme song's intro, so when he walked out, to the guests, it rocked.

But what really made Roddy Piper so popular was his energy. Honestly, can you name another wrestler who was as hyper, all-out, pure adrenaline-laced as the Rowdy one? You didn't know whether he was going to wrestle or be put in a straight jacket and taken off to the loony bin at any given moment. He had that innate charisma.

Another reason that he was so popular was that he was original. He was a normal guy. He wasn't much bigger than your average man in the audience, but he put all he had into each match, no matter who he faced.

His approach to wrestling Andre The Giant was the same way he would approach wrestling The Haiti Kid. He didn't discriminate. He never shied away from a fight. He wanted to fight more than he wanted to win. It was the enjoyment of the experience that mattered to him.

He couldn't care less about having a championship belt around his waist. He just wanted to kick some ass and chew bubble gum, and he was always out of bubble gum. Roddy was the Chuck Norris of wrestling. He wasn't the biggest, he wasn't the strongest, but for some reason, you feared and respected him the most.

Maybe it was his unpredictable nature? Who knows? The wrestling world had never seen anybody like him when he came along, and sadly we still haven't seen somebody like him since. He was one-of-a-kind.