10 WWE Superstars Who Turned Heat Into Magic

Every great hero needs a villain, and it’s a great role to play.. In Rock and Wrestling era, Hulk Hogan ruled the industry as the top babyface - but “Rowdy” Roddy Piper was having a whole load more fun as the bagpipe-playing, short tempered faux-Scotsman in the iconic t shirt and kilt combination.

Piper is remembered as one of the business’ greatest ever heels, and in the WWE’s first glory years, no one could bait a crown through sheer belligerent blabber like him. Recognising his skills on the mic, Vince McMahon quickly handed Piper his own talk show segment, in which Roddy would berate fellow superstars and the typically white hot crowd, before the confrontation inevitably turned physical. Piper parlayed his heel heat into the villain’s role at the first Wrestlemania, and a high profile if ill thought out clash with non-wrestler Mr T at Wrestlemania II.

A man with Piper’s charisma was never going to remain heel forever, but even as a mid-noughties nostalgia act, Roddy stayed true to his tried and tested tactics of whipping the audience up with the sheer fury of his gabbing abilities. When you’ve got the level of crowd control he had, the job is an easy one.