Roddy Piper's Cause Of Death Revealed

News on what caused the death of a wrestling legend.

By John Canton /

Wrestling legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper died of a blood clot in his lungs, reports TMZ. Piper passed away at his home in Los Angeles on July 31. TMZ obtained a copy of the death certificate. It showed that Piper had a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot and that triggered a heart attack. The death certificate also noted that Piper suffered from hypertension for many years, resulting in chronic high blood pressure. Due to the high blood pressure, clotting can occur. It was also interesting that the death certificate noted that Piper's occupation stated that he was a Professional Wrestler for 45 years. Piper died at age 61 and he started wrestling around 16, so that number is pretty accurate, even though he didn't wrestle much in the last few years of his life.

Following Piper's death, WWE paid tribute to him on Monday Night Raw with a ten bell salute as well as a graphic of him on the video screen and wrestlers were wearing "Hot Rod" t-shirts on August 3 episode of Raw. Piper's funeral services took place last Tuesday in Portland when the WWE roster was in town. There was also a tribute to him in Hollywood this past week because he had so many ties with people in the movie and television industry.

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