Rowdy Piper

Roderick "Roddy" George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler, film actor and podcast host.

In professional wrestling, he was best known for his work with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Although he was Canadian, due to his Scottish heritage he was billed as coming from Glasgow in Scotlandand was known for his signature kilt and bagpipe entrance music. He earned the nickname "Rowdy" by displaying his trademark "Scottish" rage, spontaneity and quick wit. Despite being a crowd favorite for his rock star-like persona, he often played a villain. Aside from his ring name, he was also known by the nickname "Hot Rod".

Piper headlined several major pay-per-view events; he participated in the main events ofWrestleMania I and WrestleMania X – as a special guest referee in the latter. Never a world champion, he nevertheless accumulated 34 championships in various promotions during his career. Piper's most notable rivals included Greg Valentine, Adrian Adonis and Hulk Hogan, with the feud against the latter also involving Captain Lou Albano and singer Cyndi Lauper.[2]Piper was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 and named as the top villain in wrestling history by WWE.

Piper acted in dozens of films and TV shows, including the lead role in 1988's They Live.

Early life

Toombs was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on April 17, 1954 and was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was of majority Scottish descent, with some Irish on his mother's side. He attended Windsor Park Collegiate. His father was an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while they lived in The Pas, Manitoba. 

After being expelled from junior high and having a falling out with his father, Piper hit the road and stayed in youth hostels. He picked up odd jobs at local gyms running errands for several professional wrestlers. 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 is ex-NHL player and Stanley Cup winner Cam Connor.

Independent circuit (2005–2015)

In February 2005 at WrestleReunion, Piper teamed with Jimmy Valiant and Jimmy Snuka against Colonel DeBeers, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and "Playboy" Buddy Rose. On January 29, 2011, Piper made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) during the WrestleReunion 5weekend, defeating nineteen other men, last eliminating Terry Funk, to win the Legends Battle Royal.

Piper's last documented match occurred on August 12, 2011, at the JCW Legends and Icons event. What was originally a match for Piper against Terry Funk was altered mid-match to a tag match between Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton against Funk and Mick Foley, which Piper's team won.

In 2012, Piper, along with Don Coss, created Portland Wrestling Uncut, a revival of the original Portland Wrestling, with new and old wrestlers combined. Playing prominently in the show is Piper and Coss as announcers, The Grappler (Len Denton) as a manager, guest appearances by the like of Matt Borne (among others), rewind segments that show partial matches from the original Portland Wrestling (owned by Don and Barry Owen), and Piper's son, Colt Toombs.

Legacy

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. Many of the people on Piper's Pit never got to be World champion, but were main eventers. 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".

Mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey was nicknamed "Rowdy" by her friends, however she initially rejected using it professionally feeling it would be disrespectful to Piper. After being introduced to him through Gene LeBell, Piper gave her his approval to use the nickname.

Other media

Music videos

In the 1980s, Piper also appeared in singer Cyndi Lauper's music video for the song "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough." He also appeared as a guest VJ on MTV in 1988.

In 1992, he also 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.com 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".[49] The most famous of Piper's acting exploits was in the 1988 science fiction film They Live, directed by John Carpenter, which spawned the catchphrase Piper came up with - "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. And I’m all out of bubble gum." - as well as the long fight scene over sunglasses against Keith David which took three weeks to rehearse. The line and 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 an 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 onMADtv along with Bret Hart. In the early 1990s, Piper made guest-star appearances on two episodes of The New Zorro on The Family Channel. In 1991, Tag Team, a television film about two ex-professional wrestlers turned police officers, starred Piper and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.[14] Piper appeared as a wrestler loosely based on himself in an episode called "Crusader" from Walker, Texas Ranger. Piper appeared as a prison antagonist in an episode of The Outer Limits series.

Piper was the host of ITV's Celebrity Wrestling in the UK. Piper also appeared on RoboCop: The Series. Piper appeared as a choice in the "Wheel of Destiny" segment of The Man Show.

Piper appeared in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, as professional wrestler named "Da' Maniac" during season 5 and 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 ofAdrian 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.

In August 2013, Piper appeared in as himself in the video game Saints Row IV and there is an unlockable Roddy Piper outfit the Protagonist can wear called "Rowdy Roddy Piper Suit".

Piper plays 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. In 2015, Piper starred in the Independent film Portal to Hell.

Voice acting

In 2006, Roddy Piper ventured into the realm of voice acting, appearing on Cartoon Network's animated series Robot Chicken (as himself), as well as providing the voice of The Pyro Messiah in the Night Traveler multimedia adventure series produced by Lunar Moth Entertainment. He also did a voice for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. He appeared as himself in the 2013 video game Saints Row IV in a parody of They Live alongside his co-star Keith David also playing himself.

Personal life

Piper and his wife Kitty lived on a mountain in Portland, Oregon. They had four children: daughters Anastacia Shea, Ariel Teal, and Falon Danika, and son Colton Baird. Anastacia has a child, making Piper a grandfather. Colton is an aspiring mixed martial artist and also wrestles for Portland Wrestling Uncut. Ariel is following her father's lead in Hollywood as an actress. Piper and Ariel acted together in the film Legion: The Final Exorcism. Falon is a college student; Piper regularly noted this on his podcast, and joked that she's becoming a psychiatrist "so she can fix her old man". Piper was notable for wearing his wedding band during his matches, a rarity among professional wrestlers.

In 2005 he suffered injuries in a car crash.

On November 27, 2006, it was announced on WWE.com that Piper had Hodgkin's lymphoma; he finished radiation therapy on January 15, 2007. This was also confirmed on Piper's official website, where he posted messages of thanks to all his fans and stated that, had the fans not chosen him as Ric Flair's partner at Cyber Sunday, he would not have been taken to the hospital and diagnosed as having his disease in time.

In November 2008, a video spread around the internet showing Piper smoking pot and taking a hit from a bong in front of a crowd cheering him on, although he later acknowledged his use of medicinal marijuana "to alleviate the symptoms associated with cancer". This was reiterated on a blog from Jim Ross.

His great-great grandfather was Robert Toombs, the first Confederate States Secretary of State.

Death

On July 31, 2015, Piper died in his sleep after a heart attack, at the age of 61, in his home in Hollywood, California. Vince McMahon said "Roddy Piper was one of the most entertaining, controversial and bombastic performers ever in WWE, beloved by millions of fans around the world. I extend my deepest condolences to his family". Director John Carpenter said "Devastated to hear the news of my friend Roddy Piper’s passing today. He was a great wrestler, a masterful entertainer and a good friend."

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 originally planned salute to fellow Professional Wrestling and WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes.

Piper was survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.