Roddy Piper facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roddy Piper
Piper in 2009
Birth name	Roderick George Toombs
Born	(1954-04-17)April 17, 1954 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died	July 31, 2015(2015-07-31) (aged 61) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cardiac arrest caused by hypertension
Spouse(s)	Kitty Jo Dittrich ​ (m. 1982)​
Children	4, including Teal Piper
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	The Masked Canadian Piper Machine ”Rowdy” Roddy Piper
Billed height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Billed weight	230 lb (104 kg)
Billed from	Glasgow, Scotland
Trained by	Gene LeBell Leo Garibaldi Tony Condello Joe Fiorino Stu Hart
Debut	1969
Retired	2011

Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor.

Outside of wrestling, Piper acted in dozens of films and TV shows. Most notably, he took the lead role of John Nada in the 1988 cult classic They Live and a recurring role as a deranged professional wrestler called Da' Maniac on the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Early life

Roderick George Toombs was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on April 17, 1954, the son of Eileen (née Anderson) and Stanley Baird Toombs. He was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and attended Windsor Park Collegiate. His father was an officer with the CN Rail Police (Canadian National Railway) while they lived in The Pas, Manitoba. After being expelled from junior high for having a switchblade in school and falling out with his father, Toombs left home and stayed in youth hostels. Several professional wrestlers hired him to run errands as he picked up odd jobs at nearby gyms. As a young man, he became proficient in playing the bagpipes, though he repeatedly stated that he was unsure exactly where he picked them up. His childhood (and lifelong) best friend was ex-NHL player Cam Connor.

Professional wrestling career

In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) between 1984 and 2000. Although he was Canadian, Piper was billed as coming from Glasgow and was known for his signature kilt and bagpipe entrance music; this was because of his Scottish heritage. Piper earned the nicknames "Rowdy" and "Hot Rod" by displaying his trademark "Scottish" short temper, spontaneity, and quick wit. According to The Daily Telegraph, he is "considered by many to be the greatest 'heel' (or villain) wrestler ever".

One of wrestling's most recognizable stars, Piper headlined multiple PPV events, including the WWF and WCW's respective premier annual events, WrestleMania and Starrcade. He accumulated 34 championships and hosted the popular WWF/WWE interview segment "Piper's Pit", which facilitated numerous kayfabe feuds. In 2005, Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Ric Flair, who dubbed him "the most gifted entertainer in the history of professional wrestling".

Other media

Piper in May 2015, two months before his death

Music videos

In the 1980s, Piper also appeared in singer Cyndi Lauper's music video for the song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough". Piper performed the song, "For Everybody", on The Wrestling Album (Columbia Records, 1985). He also appeared as a guest VJ on MTV in 1988. In 1992, he released a UK only single and music video for his song, "I'm Your Man". The single came with the B-side, "Judy Come Back".

Acting and hosting

Deadline Hollywood wrote, "During and after his wrestling days, Piper racked up dozens of film and TV credits, starring in numerous action B-movies and later doing voice work". The most famous of Piper's acting exploits was in the 1988 science fiction film They Live, directed by John Carpenter, which spawned the long fight scene over sunglasses against Keith David which took three weeks to rehearse. The fight scene has since been parodied in Duke Nukem, South Park and Adventure Time. Entertainment Weekly wrote that Piper's role in They Live made him a "cult icon" and "some kind of legend". Rolling Stone wrote that Piper "had a memorable career as a cult actor", citing They Live and the 1987 film Hell Comes to Frogtown.

Piper was a guest on a 1985 Saturday Night Live episode, tormenting hosts Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, and appeared as a special guest on MADtv along with Bret Hart. In the early 1990s, Piper made guest-star appearances on two episodes of The New Zorro on The Family Channel. Piper had a role in a fourth season episode of the Superboy television series as an immortal Alchemist stealing the youth from his gym patrons. In 1991, Piper and Jesse "The Body" Ventura starred in Tag Team, a television film about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers. Piper appeared as a wrestler loosely based on himself in an episode called "Crusader" from Walker, Texas Ranger. Piper also appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits series.

Piper was the host of ITV's Celebrity Wrestling in the United Kingdom. Piper appeared on RoboCop: The Series.

Piper appeared in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia as professional wrestler named "Da' Maniac" during season 5 and reprised this role in season 9. Although the character was a parody of Mickey Rourke's role in The Wrestler, Piper had previously endorsed The Wrestler and Rourke's performance during an appearance with Rourke on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He appeared as Mr. Thurgood in the low-budget film The Mystical Adventures of Billy Owens in 2008 and its sequel Billy Owens and the Secret of the Runes in 2010. On March 14, 2010, Piper appeared in "One Fall", an episode in CBS's Cold Case, playing a wrestler named Sweet Sil. In September 2010, Piper appeared in a FunnyorDie.com video, fighting against childhood obesity in a PSA parody. The clip included him using wrestling moves on children eating junk food and the parents who feed junk food to their kids.

In 2012, Piper appeared on a Season 4 episode of Celebrity Ghost Stories, in which he conveyed a story of being visited by the ghost of Adrian Adonis. In May 2013, Piper appeared in "Barry's Angels"— episode 12 of the fourth season of the A&E reality show, Storage Wars —in which he appraised a set of Scottish kilts purchased by Barry Weiss. In June 2013, Piper appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap, where he swapped wives with Ric Flair.

Piper appeared as himself in the video game Saints Row IV. He also played himself as the protagonist in the 2013 film Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies. In April 2014, Piper appeared as a regular cast member on the WWE Network original reality show Legends' House. He also started a podcast; Piper's Pit with Roddy Piper, in association with PodcastOne.

Voice acting

In 2006, Roddy Piper ventured into the realm of voice acting, providing the voice of himself in "Metal Militia"—an episode of Cartoon Network's animated series Robot Chicken—and the voice of The Pyro Messiah in the Night Traveler multimedia adventure series produced by Lunar Moth Entertainment. He provided the voice of Bolphunga in Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, and the voice of Don John in the Adventure Time episode "The Red Throne". He also voiced his own likeness in the 2013 video game Saints Row IV.

Toys

Piper is one of several real people to be immortalized with a 3.75 in (9.5 cm) G.I. Joe action figure of himself, as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, the Iron Grenadier Trainer. The figure was released as an exclusive for the 2007 International G.I. Joe Convention from the Official G.I. Joe Collectors' Club. Piper appeared at the convention to sign autographs.

Video games

Piper is a playable character in 14 wrestling video games. He made his first appearance in WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge. He later appeared in WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW/nWo Thunder, Legends of Wrestling II, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, Showdown: Legends of Wrestling, WWE Day of Reckoning, WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and WWE All Stars as a legend. He also appeared in WWE 2K14 as a hidden character in the Superstar Head Creation mode. He was later included in WWE 2K16 as DLC. He also appears in WWE 2K19 as DLC in the game's Ric Flair-themed "Wooooo!" Edition, as well as in WWE 2K20, WWE 2K Battlegrounds, WWE 2K22, WWE 2K23, and WWE 2K24.

Outside of wrestling games, Piper voices a fictionalized version of himself in 2013's Saints Row IV. In the story, Piper helps the player rescue Keith David from a simulation by recreating their fight scene from They Live, and can be recruited as an ally during missions. Piper also made a cameo appearance in Abobo's Big Adventure.

Personal life

Toombs was a Christian. Toombs' last film that was released in his lifetime, The Masked Saint, was a Christian film. Toombs and his wife Kitty Jo Dittrich were married from 1982 until his death in 2015. They had four children. His daughter Teal Piper made her professional wrestling debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in August 2019 at the All Out pay-per-view. Shortly after that announcement, it was revealed that she had signed a contract with Women of Wrestling (WOW).

In his autobiography, Toombs claimed to be a cousin of Bret Hart, which would make him a relative of the Hart wrestling family. This fact was once used as a trivia question on Raw. Hart also revealed that Toombs was the only wrestler to visit him in the hospital after his stroke. Bruce Hart has stated that they were second cousins.

Death

Roddy Piper's grave in 2021

On July 24, 2015, Piper appeared as a guest on The Rich Eisen Show. He had trouble collecting his thoughts and staying focused, often rambling and not answering Eisen's questions.

One week later on July 31, 2015, Piper died in his sleep at the age of 61 at his summer residence in Los Angeles, California.

News of his death broke minutes before the Hall of Heroes dinner to cap off the Mid-Atlantic Wrestling Legends FanFest in Charlotte, North Carolina, where about 600 current and former wrestling personalities and fans had gathered. He received a ten-bell salute after the planned salute to fellow former professional wrestler Dusty Rhodes, who had died the previous month. Another ten-bell salute was given at the beginning of the August 3, 2015, episode of Raw.

Piper was cremated and his ashes laid to rest at Crescent Grove Cemetery in Tigard, Oregon.

Legacy

Piper was posthumously awarded a bronze statue in his likeness by WWE in April 2019 for his contributions to wrestling

Piper is considered one of the greatest talkers and heels in wrestling history. Piper's Pit interview segments were considered innovative, especially in an atmosphere where only the people like the world champion got to talk, and the wrestlers were the interviewees—never the interviewers. According to Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, he could just leave Piper in a room and return twenty minutes later with Piper having done a class-A promo. WWE named him the greatest villain in wrestling history.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter described Piper as "one of the key figures in the growth of WWF. In particular, he helped power the success of the first WrestleMania: the most important show in company history".

Piper was one of the first wrestlers to have his entrance music played by a live band. At the War to Settle the Score in February 1985 before his WWF Title match with Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden, Piper's theme was played by the NYPD Pipes and Drums out to the ring.

Mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey was nicknamed "Rowdy" by her friends. She initially rejected using it professionally, feeling it might disrespect Piper. After being introduced to him through Gene LeBell, Piper gave her his approval to use the nickname. On the day of his death, she dedicated her next day's UFC 190 title match with Bethe Correia to him. After quickly winning it, she noted him first in her post-fight interview. In 2018, when Rousey made her full-time WWE debut, she wore the jacket that Piper wore, which was given to her by his son. She also used a move called Piper's Pit, a reference to the talkshow he held during the WWF.

In April 2019, Piper was honored with a statue as part of WrestleMania Axxess in Brooklyn, New York.

Filmography

Film

Television

Online streaming

Games

Championships and accomplishments

• Big Time Wrestling (San Francisco)
  • NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time)
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) (1 time) – with Ed Wiskoski
• Canadian Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2022
• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Reel Member Inductee (2001)
• George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2008
• Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling/World Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • NWA Television Championship (2 times)
  • NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
• NWA All-Star Wrestling
  • NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (1 time) – with Rick Martel
• NWA Hollywood Wrestling
  • NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (5 times)
  • NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Crusher Verdu (1), Keith Franks (1), Pak Choo (1), Ron Bass (1), and The Hangman (1)
  • NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Pacific Northwest Wrestling
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Killer Tim Brooks (1), Rick Martel (3), and Mike Popovich (1)
• Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
  • Legends Battle Royal (2011)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1982)
  • Match of the Year (1985) with Paul Orndorff vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at WrestleMania I
  • Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1984, 1985)
  • Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1986)
  • Stanley Weston Award (2015)
  • Ranked No. 45 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1992
  • Ranked No. 17 of the 500 singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2007
• World Class Championship Wrestling
  • NWA American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bulldog Brower
• World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
  • WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ric Flair
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)
  • WWE Bronze Statue (2019)
  • Slammy Award (1 time)
    • Best Personality in "Land of a Thousand Dances" (1986)
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Best Heel (1984, 1985)
  • Best on Interviews (1981–1983)
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1986) vs. Mr. T in a boxing match at WrestleMania 2
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997) vs. Hollywood Hogan at SuperBrawl VII
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Luchas de Apuestas record

Gallery

• 

  Mr T. hoists "Rowdy" Roddy Piper up onto his shoulders as Hulk Hogan cheers in the background during the main event of WrestleMania I in 1985

See also

In Spanish: Roddy Piper para niños