10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Stayed Retired
5. Roddy Piper
"Diminished returns" are always the central theme of lists such as these, but Roddy Piper was the sort of performer who never allowed any part of himself to look diminished. That, regrettably, became a big part of the problem with each return he made following his mid-1990s peak.
Realistically, Piper couldn't ever touch the mastery he achieved at any of his iconic peaks between 1983 and 1992, but an alignment-flipped run against Hulk Hogan for WCW in 1996 and 1997 proved that he had box office muscle even if match quality had died on the vine. What tanked the 'Hot Scot' in his latter years was his inability to back up his ever-powerful promos. A microphone maestro right up to his last appearances on screen, few talked as good a game or at least with the sort of machismo Piper exuded.
And then the bell rang.
His 2006 nostalgia run alongside Ric Flair skewed more sad than sweet, as did his well-intentioned face off with Jimmy Snuka at the 2008 Royal Rumble. A legends bout against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania was saved by Ricky Steamboat, not Rowdy Roddy. Nobody cares now and nor should they, but the best days of Piper's final decade were comfortably spent on the stick rather than the mat.