The Rock pays an emotional tribute to the late great ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper

Published 20:30 31 Jul 2015 BST

Updated 12:35 1 Aug 2015 BST

Tony Cuddihy

The Rock pays an emotional tribute to the late great ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper

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The Rock has paid an emotional tribute to legendary wrestler 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper, who sadly died on Friday at the age of only 61.

Piper, born Roderick Toombs in Canada, won more than 30 titles in his time and was inducted into the WWE's Hall of Fame in 2005. The Rock, aka Dwayne Johnson, wrote on Instagram: "RIP legend. "I first met this wrestling icon when I was 12yrs old when he was wrestling my pops (in) the WWE. "For weeks and weeks after that meeting I would have my mom set up a video camera in the kitchen as I would "become" Hot Rod and mimmic (sic) and emulate his every word, style, swag, heat, cool cockiness and all delivered with his classic smile (and my awful 12yr old afro). "He was a huge influence on me as a kid and an even bigger one when I became The Rock in the WWE. Thank you Roddy for all the talks, all the stories (especially the crazy ones about my grandfather and grandmother) all the advice and most importantly.. all the memories of you entertaining us fans. You're missed my friend. Heaven just got a lil' rowdier... Rest in love ~ DJ."

RIP legend. I first met this wrestling icon when I was 12yrs old when he was wrestling my pops the WWE. For weeks and weeks after that meeting I would have my mom set up a video camera in the kitchen as I would "become" Hot Rod and mimmic and emulate his every word, style, swag, heat, cool cockiness and all delivered with his classic smile (and my awful 12yr old afro).He was a huge influence on me as a kid and an even bigger one when I became The Rock in the WWE. Thank you Roddy for all the talks, all the stories (especially the crazy ones about my grandfather and grandmother?) all the advice and most importantly.. all the memories of you entertaining us fans. You're missed my friend. Heaven just got a lil' rowdier... Rest in love ~ DJ #JustWhenTheyThinkTheyHaveAllTheAnswers #HotRodChangesTheQuestions

A photo posted by therock (@therock) on Jul 31, 2015 at 4:36pm PDT