Okay, so I was thinking about old-school wrestling the other day, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper popped into my head. What a character he was! Then I remembered he passed away some years back, but for the life of me, I couldn’t recall exactly what happened. It felt sudden at the time, back in 2015.
I decided I needed to clear that up for myself. So, I sat down and started digging around online a bit. Didn’t go to any specific site, just sort of searched for the details surrounding his death, trying to piece together the story from what different reports said back then.
What I Found Out
Alright, here’s the gist of what I gathered from my poking around:
- When and Where: He died on July 31, 2015. He was pretty young, only 61. Apparently, he passed away in his sleep while he was at his summer place out in Los Angeles.
- The Official Cause: The official documents, like his death certificate, listed the cause as cardiopulmonary arrest. That basically means his heart and breathing stopped. This was brought on by hypertension, which is just high blood pressure.
- Another Factor: There was also mention of something else contributing to it – a pulmonary embolism. That’s a blood clot, usually one that travels to the lungs. Serious stuff.
So, it seems the high blood pressure was the main underlying issue that led to his heart stopping. But this embolism thing was also a factor involved in it all. Some news outlets at the time, I saw mentions of TMZ reporting it simply as a heart attack caused by that clot. So you had slightly different headlines floating around, but the core issues were the heart stopping, high blood pressure, and that clot.
Thinking back on his career, man, he put his body through a lot. All those bumps, those wild matches – remember the dog collar match? Brutal stuff. You gotta wonder how much toll that takes over the years. It wasn’t listed as the cause, of course, but it makes you think.
Anyway, that’s what I managed to piece together from my quick look back. It was a combination of factors, mainly his heart giving out due to high blood pressure, with that clot playing a role too. Sad way to go for such a legend.
