Roddy Piper Is One Of Only Nine Legends Who Appeared On WWE And WCW's Biggest Shows In The Same Year

"Rowdy" Roddy Piper may have never won a world title, but it's a broad consensus that "Hot Rod" never needed gold to cement his legacy. Piper has done plenty that only few wrestlers can claim and he joins a rare list of eight other names to appear on wrestling's biggest shows in the same year: WWE WrestleMania and WCW Starrcade. Back in 1983, Starrcade became the first pro wrestling event to air on pay-per-view, two years before WrestleMania premiered with Piper and Paul Orndorff teaming up to fight Hulk Hogan and Mr. T in the main event. Piper also has the honor of competing at that first-ever Starrcade, facing Greg Valentine in an infamous Dog Collar Match.

Although Piper became one of the first to main event a WrestleMania, he wasn't actually the first to appear on both WrestleMania and Starrcade in the same year. That designation belongs to Arn Anderson, who in 1989 appeared both at WrestleMania 5 and at that year's Starrcade. The Enforcer teamed with Tully Blanchard as The Brainbusters to defeat Strike Force in WWE, while later in the year he appeared at Starrcade to help Ric Flair defeat The Great Muta.

The next legend to do both was Randy Savage. The "Macho Man" fought Crush at WrestleMania 10 in 1994 before Savage left WWE and showed up at Starrcade to fend off the Faces Of Fear in an effort to help his fellow Mega Power, Hulk Hogan. The first star to actually compete at both pay-per-views in the same year was Lex Luger. As a member of The Allied Powers with Davey Boy Smith, Luger defeated The Blu Brothers (aka The Harris Brothers) at WrestleMania 11 in 1995. He then competed in the World Cup Of Wrestling tournament at Starrcade.

Piper was joined by two other legends to work both WrestleMania and Starrcade in 1996. In one of the most historic years in pro wrestling, Kevin Nash fought The Undertaker as Diesel at WrestleMania 12 before becoming an "Outsider" in WCW to take on Meng and The Barbarian with his best friend Scott Hall. Piper had a marquee match-up to end his 1996 as he took on "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan in the main event of Starrcade. Earlier that year, he became the replacement for the aforementioned Hall (aka Razor Ramon) as he took on Goldust in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl. The third legend happened to be in the corner of two game-changing names of the late '90s. The "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase supported Steve Austin against Savio Vega at WrestleMania and later supported the NWO at Starrcade.

In 1997, Bret Hart was the lone wrestler to appear at both pay-per-views. Following the notorious Montreal Screwjob, "The Hitman" jumped ship to guest referee the main event of Starrcade between Hogan and Sting. Before that, however, he and Steve Austin competed in their iconic WrestleMania 13 submission match, often heralded as one of the greatest matches of all time.

The final two to complete the feat were Dustin Rhodes and Jeff Jarrett in 1999. The two squared off against one another at that year's Starrcade, but before that, Jarrett successfully defended the WWE Tag Team Championship with Owen Hart against Test and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania 15. Meanwhile, Rhodes (as Goldust) aimed to reclaim his Intercontinental Championship in a fatal four-way, but was unsuccessful.