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AS I SEE IT 8/3: Farewell to the Hot Rod

Posted: Aug 3rd 2015 By: Bob Magee

I wasn't sure what I was writing about this week....until 6:00 pm Friday.

The news came from Casey Carver at TMZ.com that Rowdy Roddy Piper had died in his sleep Friday at age 61.

It's been a rough summer for us old school wrestling fans. Two of the greatest wrestling talkers...storytellers...and teachers in our lifetime have died within a little over a month with Dusty Rhodes's death on June 11, and Roddy Piper's on July 31.

Even if you weren't a wrestling fan, but followed movies...Roddy Piper was part of one of the greatest fight scenes in movie history, with the 1988 movie "They Live", a John Carpenter science fiction film with Piper, Keith David and Meg Foster. Piper played a drifter never named in the movie ("John Nada" in the credits), who figures out after getting a hold of a special pair of sunglasses, which shows that the ruling class are in fact aliens who conceal their appearance and manipulate the public to "spend money, breed, and accept the status quo" through subliminal messages on TV and other media of the time. It might have been a science fiction film, but was really a John Carpenter allegory for society in general.

But we know Roddy for his time in and around the ring.

From Don Owen in the Northwest...to the Carolinas...to WWWF, Piper was the cool wrestler to like for those wrestling fans who were turned off by the Hulkamania super-hype.

There were the great matches: the Dog Collar Match: Roddy Piper vs. Greg ?The Hammer? Valentine at Starrcade 1983, matches in for Don Owen against Lord Jonathan Boyd and "Playboy" Buddy Rose; his time on WTBS and Georgia Championship Wrestling, including his babyface turn when broadcast partner Gordon Solie was jumped by Don Muraco and Ole Anderson.

Then, of course, there's the WWF... WWF appearing on MTV with The War to Settle the Score together with Lou Albano and Cyndi Lauper, Wrestlemania 1...the Intercontinental title match with Bret Hart at WrestleMania VIII....and so many more.

But here's my great Piper story.

You all know Philadelphia's legendary for its wrestling fans. The hardest core of those fans were NWA fans, who religiously went to NWA shows at the Philadelphia Civic Center, and ignored WWF as pretty much Titan Toon Adventures. But we made an exception on one March 1992 Saturday afternoon matinee house show at the Philadelphia Spectrum which had a main event of Hulk Hogan/Roddy Piper vs. Ric Flair/Sid "Justice" Vicious.

We Civic Center fans managed to get ringside popping for Piper and Flair in their old school identities, with signs asking them to go old school. Flair laughed his ass off at the signs, and audibly yelled at Piper to "look", pointing to the signs. Sid walked around pretty much going "duh", and Hogan wondered why we weren't popping for him like all the other sheep...er, WWF fans. Then he looked.

Ronda Rousey dedicated her UFC 190 fight to Piper (who died the day before the fight) before the fight, and in the post-fight interview, dedicating the win to Piper and her late father. If you don't know, Rousey got the nickname "Rowdy" from friends, didn't want to use it formally out of respect. Coincidentally, Gene LeBell who had a hand in training both Roddy Piper and Ronda Rousey, heard...then asked Piper himself if Rosey could use the name...and got an enthusastic yes from Piper.

But a touching stories about Piper that is only just now going public, came on Facebook from a group called Stand for The Silent. It's a group for children who are being bullied, who are considering suicide and/or self-harm to "talk with others who are willing to listen, accept you and offer their love and advice. A place you are safe to say how you feel without the fear of being judged."

"Today we lost a great man, a huge supporter of stfs [Stand for The Silent} and the most wonderful generally good hearted man a person could ever meet. I like to call him my friend.... Our hearts and love and prayers go out to Rowdy Roddy Piper and his family.... We love you....I love you Hot Rod. My heart is broken...."

I wasn't aware of his support of this group until Friday. But Rob Ferry (one of the group in the above story) found a PSA that Roddy Piper had cut for Stand For The Silent just this April:

It shows the man behind the TV character; husband to Kitty Toombs since 1982, and father to Ariel Teal Toombs, Anastacia Shea Toombs, Falon Danika Toombs, and Colton Baird Toombs.

Roderick Toombs...Roddy Piper... couldn't bear to see a child like his commit suicide because of bullying. So he did this PSA on their behalf. Turns out that one of the funniest, loudest, controversial wrestlers of them all on TV and in the ring... in real life had one of the kindest hearts of all.

I'm sure tonight that WWE will do its usual masterful job of memorializing wrestlers when they put their mind to it, as they did recently for Dusty Rhodes. With the work WWE has done on behalf of children through Make A Wish and pediatric cancer through Connor Michalek...and the work with Be A Star; it'd be nice if they could run this PSA on RAW, even if just once (it's apparently aired on some syndicated Ring of Honor telecasts). But If anyone with a connection to WWE is reading this...here's a chance to bring something good from Roddy Piper's death.

Until next time...