Wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper has passed away at the age of 61 due to cardiac arrest.

I will never be able to fully explain my love for professional wrestling. I know many people will quickly try to ruin my day and say that it's "fake," "scripted," "waste of time," or "waste of perfectly good money." Fact is, the entertainment value of it has been a part of my life since I was two years old.

Growing up in the 1990s, I became a huge fan of Roddy Piper. I knew Piper as the fun loving babyface that was, at that point, seemingly on the tail end of his career. His match at Wrestlemania 8 against Bret Hart in Indianapolis remains one of my favorite matches to this day.

He was a trendsetter. Piper helped write the book on how to be an effective bad guy in the industry. He had crowds wanting to KILL him on a nightly basis in the 1980s based on his comments or his actions. Piper was essentially perfect in that role.

I luckily had the opportunity to watch Piper wrestle one time in my life. He made a special one time appearance in Houston, Texas at Wrestlemania 25 in a match against Chris Jericho. Piper didn't have "it" that night, but he didn't need to. It was perfect.

Roddy Piper Wrestlemania 25
Jerry Palleschi/ESPN 99.1
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RIP to one of pro wrestling's best performers of ALL TIME.

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