From Rowdy Roddy Piper's passing to Titus O'Neil taking the homeless to dinner.
The past two weeks have been long, weird, and admittedly sad for the world of wrestling—and I’m not even talking about anything that went down in the ring!
Deaths! Incidents at 30,000 feet! Jon Stewart! And that’s not even mentioning the Japanese dummy! Yes, you read that correctly.
Here’s a list of five things that happened outside the ring in the world of wrestling these past two weeks... and one thing that happened six years ago, but is just too fucking weird not to share.
Rowdy Roddy Piper died.
My Uncle John took me to my first-ever wrestling match sometime in the mid-'80s. It was in a smoky, dimly lit building in downtown Milwaukee that no longer exists, and the main event was a tag-team match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton versus Paul Orndorff and...someone.
All of this is to say one thing: Rowdy Roddy Piper was a big part of my childhood. So it should come as no surprise that his passing last week shocked the hell out of me. And oddly enough, it seemed to have that effect on a lot of people.
Some friends of mine—people who are nowhere near being wrestling fans—expressed their sadness over Piper's death on both Facebook and Twitter. Even my mom and sister—two women who admittedly have no interest in wrestling whatsoever—posted about it.
I bring up all of this to illustrate that, in many ways, Rowdy Roddy Piper helped define wrestling and, in the process, the childhoods of a lot of kids.
This is how WWE chose to say goodbye to Piper this past Monday on Raw.
But personally, I think he deserves to go out on this clip.
Sheamus made an emergency landing.
On July 22nd, Sheamus was flying on United #447 from Denver to Los Angeles when some passengers started passing out from what the airline referred to as an “oxygen problem.” Uh, yeah. I'd say so.
The oxygen masks were deployed and the plane was diverted to Grand Junction, Colorado to make an emergency landing. Sheamus shared this photo on Twitter as he waited for the plane to land.
Emergency landing in Colorado on a @united flight. Not many brave lads when the masks drop from overhead. pic.twitter.com/Z4Um2uYhuD
— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) July 22, 2015
In the end, everyone made it safely off the plane... without Sheamus having to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase.
Seth Rollins showed up on The Daily Show.
WWE’s World Heavyweight Champion is no stranger to Stewart's The Daily Show. Rollins first showed up on the show this past March in the lead-up to WrestleMania 31, and Stewart even reciprocated by making an appearance on a follow-up episode of Raw.
But now that Stewart’s run on the show is officially upon us, Rollins stopped by to give him a fond farewell.
What The Daily Show didn’t air, however, was the real reason Rollins stopped by: to give Stewart an honorary, specially made Championship belt.
Rey Mysterio says he’s open to a return.
This past February, WWE announced that Rey Mysterio’s contract had expired and that he wouldn’t be returning to the company, officially ending his 13-year run with the company in the process.
Mysterio, who has since shown up on Lucha Underground/AAA (Asistencia Asesoría y Administración), has kept mostly quiet about the end of his WWE run. But in a recent interview with Ring Rust Radio, Mysterio said there were no hard feelings on either side, and that the decision to end his run was amicable.
But Mysterio fans will be excited to hear he’s keeping his options open when it comes to a possible return: “If the opportunity came to come back to the WWE with a 50/50 terms base, I would do that as well. It’s good to know you have options, and when the options come I will be the first to jump on it as long as it favors both parties involved.”
Titus O’Neil took the homeless to dinner.
O’Neil, who is one half of tag-team champs The Prime Time Players, was named Celebrity Dad of the Year this past May, but his “stellar human being” run doesn't end there.
Over the weekend, O’Neil decided to treat a group of homeless strangers to dinner while in San Diego. Twice.
O'Neil is a class act, folks!
And finally, this!
This clip is actually from 2009, but I don’t give a shit. It’s that amazing. Enjoy!
