Roddy Piper predicted he wouldn’t live to age 65

MANILA, Philippines – The pro wrestling world was rocked as news of World Wrestling Entertainment legend Rowdy Roddy Piper’s death spread throughout the world on Saturday, August 1 (Friday night U.S. time).

Piper, the kilt-laden, Canadian-born wrestling bad guy known for his sharp-tongue promos and Sleeper Hold finishing maneuver, died in his sleep at age 61.

Considered by many to be one of the best – if not the best – wrestler to never win the WWE championship, he carved out a legacy built on the unforgettable moments he created instead of the belts he wore around his waist. 

His controversial feud with Fiji-born Jimmy Snuka, whom he hit over the head with a coconut before shoving a banana in his mouth, set the bar for “heat” (negative reactions for a bad guy’s action) in a pro wrestling angle.

Piper coined the catch phrase “Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions,” influencing a new generation of “heels” like CM Punk, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens who forced wrestling fans to think harder about their bad guys than they were comfortable with.

He teamed up with “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff to face Hulk Hogan and Mr T in the main event of WrestleMania I in 1985. In later WrestleMania appearances he faced Bret Hart and Goldust (a parking lot brawl that included a mock OJ Simpson car chase) in matches that remain among the most talked about by wrestling nostalgists to this day.

Piper moved to World Championship Wrestling in 1996 where he took on the role as protector of tradition against Hulk Hogan and the New World Order (better known as the nWo). He never won the championship in that promotion either, but beat then-champion Hogan in a non-title match at Starrcade ’96.

But while Piper was paving the way for pro wrestling to become a major cultural phenomenon, he knew that his lifestyle on the road would one day catch up with him.

In a 2003 interview with HBO’s Real Sports on the contributing factors to many early deaths in pro wrestling, a 49-year-old Piper discussed the fast life he lived with cocaine, pills, steroids and alcohol.

“Wrestling, it has a tremendous entrance plan. You come in…you’re rock and rolling and everything’s wonderful. It’s got no exit plan,” said Piper in the interview.

Piper had resumed his in-ring career by then, putting his body on the line once more. He could feel the toll he had exacted on his body, and made an eerie prediction that rang true earlier today.

“What would you have me do at 49, when my pension plan I can’t take out until I’m 65. I’m not gonna make 65. Let’s just face facts, guys.”

WWE legend Rowdy Roddy Piper, who died earlier today at age 61, in a 2003 interview saying he wouldn’t live to 65 pic.twitter.com/8SPA4W1r7a

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) August 1, 2015

Piper, who threw a chair at Mr T during their boxing match at WrestleMania 2 because the actor wasn’t hitting him hard enough, never stopped fighting in life, too. He overcame a battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006, a year after being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

He outlived many of his contemporaries, including The Ultimate Warrior, Dusty Rhodes, Rick Rude, “Mr Perfect” Curt Hennig and the plethora of other wrestlers who seemed to die suddenly and without warning.

In recent years Piper had made sporadic appearances at WWE events, often to confront misguided bad guys in need of a reality check in his Piper’s Pit segment. 

Piper made it cool to be a bad guy, rocked the boat against the wrestling establishment before becoming part of the bedrock of the modern industry.

And now he rests. An entertainer. A rebel. And in the saddest sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy. –Rappler.com

Ryan Songalia is the sports editor of Rappler, a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and a contributor to The Ring magazine. He can be reached at ryan.songalia@rappler.com. Follow him on Twitter: @RyanSongalia.