Back during the eighties Rock And Wrestling boom period, there was no bigger heel than Rowdy Roddy Piper. A true heel in every sense of the term, Piper would do whatever he could to get the crowd ready, willing, and able to open their wallets and pay to see whomever he was feuding with pay to see him get his clock cleaned.
Nowhere in the world today could any superstar get the kind of heat that Piper got - just watch a few minutes of his “Born To Controversy” special to see why. Over the course of his career, he was able to use his mouth to have some major league feuds and wars in the ring.
10 Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
Some of Roddy’s greatest moments came as he was the host of the greatest wrestling talk show of all time - Piper’s Pit. Aside from the Andre-Hogan face-off that kicked off the build to WrestleMania III, perhaps one of the biggest moments in WWE history came at the hands of Piper when he leveled Jimmy Snuka with a coconut.
The momentum made him a mortal enemy of Snuka’s and became an indelible part of WWE lore. So much so, that when both men were in the ring at the same time for the 2008 Royal Rumble, everyone else in the ring stopped what they were doing to watch these two legends engage in their final battle.
9 Greg Valentine
Piper used to like to say he was in WrestleMania before there was a number. He was also part of Starrcade before there was a number.
When Greg Valentine used the ring bell on Piper, costing him the NWA US Title, Hot Rod challenged The Hammer to a Dog Collar match at the inaugural Starrcade. The two gladiators left each other battered and bloody, but Roddy was able to hook Valentine’s leg with the chain for the pinfall victory.
8 Adrian Adonis
During a hiatus from WWE shortly after WrestleMania 2, Adrian Adonis emerged as WWE’s resident talk show host with The Flower Shop. It made him a natural enemy of Piper’s when he finally returned. The stage was set for WrestleMania III and Hot Rod’s “Retirement Match.” Over 90,000 people came to see Piper’s last stand, which they got alongside the birth of Brutus The Barber Beefcake, who helped Piper win the match.
7 Bad News Brown
Nobody likes getting eliminated from the Royal Rumble, but they all generally accept it, head to the back, and move on with their lives. At the 1990 event, Bad News Brown couldn’t do that. After Hot Rod eliminated him, Bad News reached for Piper and yanked him over the top.
The two brawled to the back and then all the way to WrestleMania VI, where Roddy famously painted himself half black to try and get under Bad News Brown’s skin, which didn’t take much to do. Tensions boiled over and both men battled on the outside, causing a double count-out.
6 Bobby"The Brain" Heenan
It was a war of words, but it was a good one. Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Roddy Piper were two of the greatest guys on the microphone of all time and would each trade barbs on the old Prime Time show. They both also had a unique chemistry with Vince McMahon and Gorilla Monsoon respectively. It all came to a head on a Christmas edition of Prime Time.
Heenan, dressed as Santa, had been making a mockery of Christmas for the entire show, with Piper defending the kids and the spirit of the holiday. Towards the end of the show, Heenan was supposed to take off the costume and reveal who he was and Piper would kick the stuffing out of him. He missed his cue and it looked like Hot Rod was really beating up Santa.
5 Ric Flair
With both men being career-long friends since their days in Mid-South when Flair came to the WWE, Roddy was there to greet him with a big program. The two would clash several times before meeting at the 1991 Survivor Series with their respective teams in tow.
Several months later at the Royal Rumble, with Flair alone and spent in the ring, the next number was Piper who rushed to the ring to continue to pound on The Nature Boy. Several years later, they resumed their feud in WCW for control of the company.
4 Goldust
On the road to WrestleMania XII, Piper found himself as the interim president of WWE. But Goldust was trying to get a rise out of The Hot Rod as well. ‘Dust would show up in a makeshift kilt and try to recreate Piper’s Pit. The two wrestled in what was WrestleMania’s first-ever cinematic match - The Hollywood Backlot Brawl.
They fought for a few moments in a Hollywood Backlot before Goldust escaped in a gold caddy with Piper in hot pursuit. It culminated when both men made it back to the arena, shortly before the main event, where Piper continued to beat ‘Dust and as he said it “makes a man out of him.”
3 Bret Hart
While the raucous Roddy Piper was known more for his brawling antics, he was able to have one of the greatest wrestling matches in WrestleMania history. After filling in for Bret Hart at the Royal Rumble to defeat The Mountie for the IC Title, he would attempt to defend it against the former champion, Bret Hart, at The Show Of Shows.
The build-up for the match featured both men nearly assaulting the other and pointing out that they would have had the other. At WrestleMania VIII, Piper nearly had Bret by using the ring bell, but he decided to throw it away and not take the cheap way out. Bret would reverse the Sleeper into a pinning combination and reclaim the Intercontinental Title.
2 Mr. T
The heat between "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and television star Mr. T was very real. Piper, like many other wrestlers, didn’t understand why a TV star was getting main event spots, especially at the first-ever WrestleMania.
Plenty of the boys backstage were hoping Piper would go into business for himself. Thankfully that didn’t happen and the two would meet up again one year later in a boxing match at WrestleMania 2. The duo’s heat would continue for 28 years until they came to a peaceful truce at WrestleMania XXX.
1 Hulk Hogan
For years, Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan were the perennial feud of the entire industry. It’s the feud that sold The War To Settle The Score, the Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, and, of course, the first WrestleMania.
Years later, Piper came to WCW to try and stop Hogan and the nWo and our Bischoff as the brains behind the nWo. Hot Rod even shockingly made his return to WWE at WrestleMania XIX to try and help Vince McMahon take Hogan out.