Rate The Gimmick: Roddy Piper - Scottish Brawler

[Ferbian]

It's time for another installment in the Rate The Gimmick series. The purpose of this series is for me to choose a gimmick, and for you to rate it from 1 to 10, 1 being awful and 10 being awesome. Simple right?

This week we'll look into a guy who I've often expressed to be the Ric Flair of WWF. The one guy that could actually contest Ric Flair's microphone skills. Pretty revealing right?

Yep, it's true. Rowdy Roddy Piper.

Piper debuted in WWF back in late 1983, where he started out as the manager for Paul Orndorff, whom he eventually began to wrestle alongside with.

Quickly afterwards Roddy Piper were given his very own interview segment, called the Piper's Pit. A segment which has revolutionized the interview segments across the wrestling promotions of the world. Roddy Piper was often said to be completely unscripted within the Pit. And it showed, the guy ruled the microphone as he generated more and more heat by having various wrestlers on his show, from Andre The Giant to Hulk Hogan.

These segments occasionally sparked for feuds to begin, or to continue feuds.

Roddy is known to be pretty much a loud-mouth brawler. However Roddy certainly had his charms in the ring, being able to wrestle just as well. Generally he was one of the few perfect heels of the 80's (At least if you ask me). And he continued to play on his loud-mouth persona, who didn't take shit from anybody.

Roddy Piper's accomplishments are long, however this is one of the few greats to never have held a world title in his career (What a shame). His list of accomplishments in the WWF however aren't ecstatic. One Intercontinental championship and one Tag team Championship.

Roddy Piper eventually left for WCW, where the gimmick pretty much continued in it's own form. He were still wearing his kilt, and he were still talking trash from left to right.

Roddy Piper continued throughout the 00's to make sporadic appearances in the WWE, with numerous rather hilarious segments with the likes of Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero to name a few.

Roddy retired in mid 2009.

There's a lot more to be said about this guy, who is definitely one of my favorite wrestlers of the 80's, as well as the 90's.

Where do you rank this guy? Is his gimmick worthy of a 1? a 5? a 10? Remember to give your reasons.

 

[Ming]

9/10

I loved the gimmick and I loved his ability to generate heat with other wrestlers in the Piper's Pit. He was also very good in the ring and impressed nearly every match. His "in your face" style of brawling was pretty awesome too.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

9/10

Often I say how glad I am that I grew up during the Attitude Era but just to see this man in his prime, I would love to have grown up in the Federation Years.

His promos had so much emotion and intensity it was unbelievable!!
Just like Ric Flair, this man could steal the scene with just his facial expressions.

Very few men come close to his promo cutting skills.
I remember how at WM21, Stone Cold came down to the Piper's Pit and looked second-best on mic-skills when holding the stick across this legend of a man.
And Hot Rod completely owned the irritating 'What?' chants!!!

The Rowdy One has been one of my favorite characters, however, I must admit the only match I really remember of his is against Bret Hart at WrestleMania, (that too I haven't seen in its entirety), but whenever he would step through the curtain, I would just await his old-school ripping apart of the guy standing in front of him.

Never will be another...

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Ferbs is finally appreciating true great Scots Of course Piper was a Canadian but he truly suited his character. He didn't just pretend he was this mad Scottish bastard; He WAS the Mad Scot he claimed to be.

The character itself was really very basic. All Piper had to do was act mad and wear lots of tartan, but he took it to another level. Using his great combination of ring skills and mic skills, Piper delivered.

Piper's Pit was a natural extension of his character. A controversial man who would ask not only questions that he wanted the answer too but the questions the audience wanted to know (‘Just When They Think They’ve Got the Answers, I Change the Questions!’). He was a loose cannon of sort. He was Brian Pillman before Brian Pillman if you would.

Overall, the gimmick was effective BUT I felt it was more Piper's doing that it worked so well. I'll give it a 7/10.

 

[Judah's Lion]

at the minimum, this is a 9/10 guy. the reason i say that is because when i was in school, a 90% still counted as an A, and for sure, Roddy Piper is an "A" guy.

he has everything. mic skills, good look, passion, brawling, wrestling, believability, credibility, name recognition, fan heat (both heel and face), etc.

he headlined a couple of Wrestlemania's, including the first two. that's no small feat. his storyline with Bret Hart and the Mountie and the IC Title was very good, eventually culminating at Mania. his matches at Mania with Bad News Brown (when Roddy painted himself half black) and Goldust in the parking lot brawl were both very well done.

and there's something to be said that he won the Tag Titles in the WWF the way that he did; at Cyber Sunday after being VOTED IN BY THE FANS to team with Flair. this guy always had the fans in the palm of his hand. amazing cheers as a face, amazing boos as a heel, but reactions either way. very strong reactions.

there was a thread months ago about the greatest to never hold the WWF/E World Heavyweight Championship. Hot Rod belongs at the top of that list. but, he is like HBK in that he can have meaningful and passionate matches and feuds without the belt and still have the most entertaining match and moments of the night.

his brawling style was awarded many times and paved the way for other great brawlers to follow, including one of my favorites in Mick Foley.

his interview segments have been imitated a billion times, but never duplicated. if it weren't for Piper's Pit, we might not have ever had a Barbershop Incident with a young HBK, or a Jeri-Tron Incident with an older HBK and a turning heel Chris Jericho. there would be no Snake Pit, Carlito's Cabana, Cutting Edge, Peep Show, Heart Break Hotel, Love Shack, etc. this one paved the way, as did the character itself.

many have said that the best gimmick is really just an extension, if not exaggeration of the person behind it. that fits Piper pretty well as i generally took the guy as someone that was very passionate, vocal and even controversial that i could either love to hate or love to cheer, and that he could possibly care less either way and beat the crap out of me if i got in his way.

as a 9/10 gives this Hot Scot the lowest possible A grade allowable, and i believe that he is above that minimum score, i'll go old school with a decimal point and say that Rowdy Roddy Piper is a 9.7/10.

 

[billm75]

Rate the Gimmick - 10/10 His gimmick simply worked. He was a loud, brash, brawling scotsman. He owned that gimmick.

Rate the Wrestler - 9/10 While he put on fantastic matches, he didn't make tons of memorable moments that you can recall like you can Hogan moments. That's why the 1/10 is missing on that side of the equation for me. I am personally the BIGGEST Roddy Piper mark there ever was. HOWEVER, I can't sit here and list off his in-ring moments like I could with Hogan. Of course, I was a kid when Roddy was in his WWF prime, I wasn't lucky enough to know him from the territory years.

 

[Shakin' Abe]

I was just a kid when I saw Piper for the first time in the 70's in Los Angeles. He was always the guy you loved to hate! When he turned face in the WWF, he still kicked ass and chewed bubble gum minus the bubble gum. He sold his character as good as anyone in the business. He was the attitude area before they ever thought of it. His mic skills were just as good as his matches. Does anyone remember his dog collar match with Greg Valentine? Awesome stuff!

 

[legendkiller1979]

I'm not going to repeat anything that's already been said. Piper was truly awesome. He is quite possibly the best heel ever. I will say that for the people not entirely familiar with him, go to youtube. Type in "Trick or treat roddy" This is so so funny. If Roddy and been around 10 years later and done the same stuff he would have never been able to be a heel because people would have loved him.

 

[mrhexum]

Piper was/is a 10 for sure. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of him is watching Piper's Pit as a kid at my grandmas. My grandma didn't watch wrestling, but, everytime she would see him or hear him she'd say "oh, that asshole". This was during his heel time, and to me that is what a heel should do. Draw that kind of reaction from anyone, fan or not.

He played his roll to perfection and it even translated well into the movies he did. Hot Rod will forever be one of wrestlings most entertaing performers.

 

[CyDeez]

12

LOL... He is an easy 10 for the reasons you listed yourself. He was great on the mic and was The Heel of ALL Heels!!

Played a part in pushing numerous talents, including The Almighty Hulk Hogan.

I personally was and am a big fan of his.

It is a shame that he didn't ever become WWE Champion. He totally deserved it!!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd have to give the guy a 9 overall. In terms of in-ring work, Piper didn't necessarily shine during his time in the WWF overall but he did everything that a good heel is supposed to do. Not only that, but he arguably did it better than any other heel in wrestling at the time.

Roddy Piper was a great talker. Once he got going, you just couldn't help but be entertained by him. He'd just think so quickly while he talked and when he got all torn up during his promos, it just made me laugh when I was a kid. When I was 5 years old, I knew Piper was a bad guy but I loved seeing him.

I think Piper's contribution to wrestling, particularly the WWF during the mid 80s, tends to get overlooked due to Hulk Hogan but it really shouldn't. Piper was a great opponent for Hulk Hogan. He was the perfect villain for the heroic Hogan to have in his face during the mid 80s.