Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Shout Out from Rowdy Roddy Piper

At the recent Days of the Dead convention, Rowdy Roddy Piper was very busy with his consistently long line of fans.  Roddy is such a great guy though.  He made sure to make each moment special for each fan.
We knew that we could not get an interview with Roddy because of the time constraints, but we did ask him if he would give us a shout out.  He quickly obliged.  The video of Roddy is about 4 seconds, but these four seconds represent a lot to me.
I first became a big fan of his in the early 80's.  During the Saturday Night Main Event years, my (now late) mother became a fan of his, too.  She wasn't much of a wrestling fan, but the charismatic Scot caught her attention and she actually would tape his matches so we could watch them later.  I specifically remember watching the segment where Roddy destroyed the Flower Shop of Adrian Adonis.
Years later, I contacted Roddy about appearing in a literacy ad campaign for Lerner Newspapers.  Not only did he appear in three ads, he grave me an hour long phone interview.  It doesn't get much better than that.
Actually it did get much better.  I finally got to meet him when Laurie and I went to Wrestle Reunion in 2005.  By this time, I had also exposed her to the wonder of Roddy and she was intrigued.  Meeting him with her was another magical moment.
I have met him several times since and he always remembers me with a big hug.  He is just that kind of guy.  For all of the rowdiness, he is really a sweetheart of a guy.
At the recent Days convention, I added another great moment, when Matt joined me in meeting him again.  Matt is certainly too young to have watched Roddy in his prime, but he knows enough wrestling and definitely knows Roddy.
That brings us to the infamous four seconds.  Knowing an interview was impossible, Matt suggested we just ask him to do the JohngysBeat.com promo.  I know enough to listen to Big Money (which is just one reason why he is the Contributor Extraordinaire).
So here it is.  Four seconds of Roddy Piper.  Four seconds which represents so much to me.  Four seconds which will make me laugh and cry (mom) and be proud forever.  Rowdy Roddy Piper is the best and he always checks out JohngysBeat.com.

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