Just days after Roddy Piper died, a memorial service was held at the Portland Sports Arena, which is not home to the Mt.Olivet Church. The church's Pastor, along with Billy Jack Haynes, and the Grappler,among others,spoke at the service. This video has a good portion of that service and some additional interviews. Some nice stories and rememberences of Roddy. I wish I had known this was happening.
I only met Roddy a few times over the years, but he was always happy and kind to everyone that came to see him. I went and saw him perform his one man show at Harvey's Comedy Club years ago. When they opened the doors, after the show, everyone stayed so they could see,talk to and shake hands with him. That was the first time I had ever seen him quiet and reserved. He seemed so humbled that people enjoyed his show. I think it may have been one of his first performances of the show.
I also met him during an autograph session at the Sports Arena during the angle with Nord the Barbarian in the late 80's. He was at the special event, I believe it was a Tuesday night event, signing autographs. After the show, the entire sold out arena stood in line to get his autograph. Even the old timers who professed to hate his guts, stood in that line for hours. I don't think we got out of the arena until about 2am and there were still lots of people in that line. He didn't just rush people through because it was late. He chit chatted with everyone. Shared old memories and made new friends. He couldn't just sign and autograph and let someone walk away. He asked me if I liked wrestling or if I loved it. He asked me who my favorite wrestler was. I told him Steve Doll and he laughed and said I was the first person tonight who didn't say it was him!
No comments:
Post a Comment