We said goodbye to far too many pro wrestling greats this year. Just when you thought your wrestling heart was ready to heal, it seemed like something else came along to tear it in two again. One of the hardest things of 2015 for a lot of wrestling fans was the loss of ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.
Piper managed to transcend the often insular world of wrestling to become a pop culture icon, and it seems fitting that we relive one of those moments. While I’d love to link to the entirety of They Live and spend the next few hours watching it, I’m referring to something distinctly festive, definitely Canadian, and pure Roddy Piper.
The skit was produced for the annual Royal Canadian Air Farce New Year’s Eve special. For those curious, sketch comedy programming in Canada power rankings are:
1) Kids in the Hall
2) CODCO
3) SCTV
4) Four on the Floor
5) the rest
…so you definitely don’t need to feel bad for not diving into the rest of the Air Farce repertoire. The important thing is they gave us this moment in time, and that moment is wonderful.
There’s something about the warm way Piper greets you off the top of the video that encapsulates just how easy it is to love Piper, and why it’s so hard to believe (or want to believe) that he won’t be around anymore. He left behind one hell of a legacy, so let’s take a few minutes and enjoy all of these warm fuzzy feelings while it’s festively appropriate before it makes us sad all over again.
