Roddy Piper

Hulk Hogan lost a great deal of his reputation this past week when racist remarks he made, on tape, were released to the public. Commentators were saying he was personally responsible for the wrestling boom of the 1980's.

I beg to differ.

Hulk Hogan was the "Real American" hero that got people to watch of course. But every hero needs a villain and Roddy Piper was THAT villain. Without Roddy Piper's smarmy attitude, and heelish behavior, most fans would have never given the great cheers to Hogan.

Batman would never have been as popular if the Joker had never existed either.

Hogan AND Piper put Vince McMahon on the map and set the course for his billion dollar empire.

Roddy died last night in his sleep. He was 61.

Here's a drawing I recently did of him.