Professional wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper passed away Thursday night of cardiac arrest in his sleep according to TMZ. He was 61 years old.
Born Roderick Toombs on April 17, 1954 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Piper was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a teenager he became entangled in professional wrestling and made his wrestling debut at the age of 15 against Larry “The Axe” Hennig, the father of Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig and grandfather of current WWE superstar Curtis Axel. He also spent time as an amateur boxer and amateur wrestler.
“Roddy the Piper” soon shortened to Roddy Piper would work his way up through the ranks and in the NWA and AWA territories, beginning as an enhancement talent (jobber) before making a name for himself in the NWA territories of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Piper made his name on being one of the most hated villains of the west coast, especially in his feuds with the Guerrero family. Just before the end of the 70s he made his way into the Mid-Atlantic territory of the National Wrestling Alliance, feuding with The Nature Boy Ric Flair, who ended up becoming a close friend of Pipers. After being blackballed in the Georgia territory, Piper moved onto Puerto Rico before making it back into Jim Crockett Promotions, working the first ever Starrcade event in a dog collar match against Greg “The Hammer” Valentine.
Piper soon made his way to the World Wrestling Federation where he had to first work as a manager due to still healing from injuries sustained in the dog collar match. He soon started The Piper’s Pit, one of the most popular wrestling segments of the 1980s, which not only helped fuel Piper’s feuds with other wrestlers but helped other wrestlers gain heat and success in their programs. It was through these that Piper became the quintessential heel and one of the most popular professional wrestlers in North America. The best known moment was when Piper cracked a coconut over the head of “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, a feud that moved Piper up the ranks and eventually face to face with Hulk Hogan. Piper was in the main event of the first Wrestlemania, in the tag match featuring Piper and Paul Orndorff taking on Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Piper would face Mr. T at the second Wrestlemania in a boxing match.
Now one of the best known stars in the WWF, Piper turned babyface. His popularity soon led him to working in Hollywood, as he starred in the John Carpenter film They Live in 1988. While it did not launch Piper’s movie career, it’s considered a cult classic with lines quotable to this day. Piper would be in and out of the WWF for several years, including his feud with Bret Hart at Wrestlemania VIII where he dropped the Intercontinental championship to Hart in the first time he lost a match by pinfall in the World Wrestling Federation. Piper did it as a favour to Bret and a passing of the torch in possibly the best match of his career. Piper eventually moved to doing more colour commentary than wrestling but still made an appearance in the ring in 1996 for Wrestlemania XII when Razor Ramon was pulled off the card and Goldust needed someone to wrestle.
It was soon after this that Roddy Piper went to World Championship Wrestling. In World Championship Wrestling, things had shifted with Hulk Hogan now the heel and Piper treated as a hero. The two squared off in a singles match at Starrcade 96 where Piper beat Hulk Hogan, but not for the WCW World Heavyweight championship. Piper would also feud with Ric Flair later on as well as another program with Hart. Piper’s contract was terminated by WCW in the fall of 2000.
Piper made a surprise return to the WWE at Wrestlemania XIX to interfere in a match between Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon. He included the return of the Piper’s Pit and was positioned as the manager of Sean O’Haire. Piper also feuded with a young one legged wrestler named Zach Gowen and Chris Jericho. Piper ended up being let go by the WWE for an HBO interview with Bryant Gumbel for speaking about the dark side of the business.
Piper would spend some time in NWA: Total Nonstop Action before returning to the WWE to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005. He would continue to make sporadic appearances for the next 10 years, including appearing on the WWE reality show Legend’s House filmed for the WWE Network. He had most recently been working on a podcast called Piper’s Pit with Roddy Piper which had a tumultuous time recently for PodcastOne.
Piper was married to Kitty Toombs and had four children.
