Lovely sentiment, wrong country.
In fairness to Ronda Rousey, she probably too polite to correct the mistake made by her interviewer.
The WWE-loving world will mourn the loss of Roderick Toombs, a.k.a Rowdy Roddy Piper, this weekend after the veteran wrestler passed away at the age of 61.
Piper, from Sakatoon, Canada, played off his Scottish heritage during the four decades in which his wrestling career spanned. He died, on Friday, following a cardiac arrest.
UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey was a huge fan of Piper, having been taught judo by Gene Lebell, the wrestler’s old mentor.
After making her first strides in MMA, five years ago, Rousey contacted Piper to ask permission to use his nickname.
Upon learning of his passing, last night, Rousey posted this Instagram message.
https://instagram.com/p/50l2UsBEal/
To give greater insight to Rousey’s connection with Piper, MMA expert Ariel Helwani tweeted out a link to a 2011 interview he conducted with the fighter back in November 2011.
Asked if she would ‘leave the Irish gimmick’ of bagpipes and kilts to Piper, Rousey replies, ‘I’m not the least bit Irish.
‘I’m half Venezuelan, quarter English and quarter Polish. So I think that would piss off some Irish if I was pretending to be.’
Helwani was quick to clear up the Irish/Scottish confusion, however.
@mcarle17 yes I know
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 31, 2015
