Background and career
Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), known by his ring name "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. 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, Scotland and was known for his signature kilt and bagpipe entrance music, in reference to 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". As one of wrestling's most recognizable stars, Piper headlined multiple pay-per-view 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". 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 deranged professional wrestler Da' Maniac on the FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Roderick George Toombs was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on April 17, 1954, the son of Eileen (née Anderson), a Scottish-Canadian and Stanley Baird Toombs, an Anglo-Canadian. He had family roots in British Columbia and Wisconsin, and was of partial Scottish descent on his mother's side. He was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and attended Windsor Park Collegiate. His father was an RCMP officer while they lived in The Pas, Manitoba. After being expelled from junior high school for having a switchblade 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. Piper was an amateur boxer before he became a professional wrestler. He sometimes claimed to have won a Golden Gloves championship, though their lists of champions do not include any of his names. He was awarded a black belt in Judo from Gene LeBell.
He started wrestling under the care of promoter Al Tomko in Canada, his first match involving "midget wrestlers" in front of a lumberjack audience in Churchill, Manitoba. He soon began earning money wrestling while still going to school. His first match in a famous organization was with Larry Hennig in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). Friends of his played the bagpipes during his entrance while he was handing out dandelions. Meanwhile, the ring announcer had to announce something, but all he knew was that Piper's name was Roddy. Subsequently, after seeing the pipe band, he announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, here comes Roddy the piper." This gave birth to the name "Roddy Piper". From 1973 to 1975, Piper was a jobber in the AWA, NWA Central States territory surrounding Kansas City, and Eastern Sports Association in the Maritimes. He also worked in Texas for Paul Boesch's NWA Houston Wrestling promotion, and in Dallas for Fritz Von Erich's Big Time Rasslin.
By late 1975 and early 1976, Piper was a top villain for Mike and Gene LeBell's NWA Hollywood Wrestling. In 1977–78, he also started to work for Roy Shire's NWA San Francisco Wrestling in addition to remaining with the Los Angeles office, where Piper developed his Rowdy character. During this time, he made continuous insults directed at the area's Mexican community; he later promised to make up for this by playing the Mexican national anthem on his bagpipes only to anger the fans further by playing "La Cucaracha" instead, which in turn caused a riot. Piper also managed a stable of wrestlers in California. In the Los Angeles area, Piper feuded with Chavo Guerrero Sr., and his father Gory Guerrero. Piper and Chavo Guerrero faced each other in several matches for the Jules Strongbow Memorial Scientific Trophy. Piper also defeated Chavo for the Americas Heavyweight Title. During the feud, Piper lost a hair match and had his head shaved. Piper appeared in several loser leave town matches and was forced to leave the territory. He also appeared in the territory as The Masked Canadian. In his first televised match as The Masked Canadian, Piper teamed with Chavo in a match against Black Gordman and Goliath for the Americas Tag Team Championship. Piper and Guerrero lost the match and faced each other two days later, with Piper defeating Guerrero for the Americas Heavyweight Championship. Piper wrestled as The Masked Canadian for several months until he was unmasked by Hector Guerrero. By late 1978-early 1979, Piper left the California promotions for even more fame in Don Owen's Portland-based Pacific Northwest territory. He teamed with Killer Tim Brooks and Rick Martel to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship. Piper also won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship with victories over both Lord Jonathan Boyd and "Playboy" Buddy Rose.
In the early 1980s, Piper ventured to Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling where he beat Jack Brisco for the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship. He also defeated Ric Flair for the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) which turned into a feud. From 1981 to 1982, Piper served as a commentator on Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) and feuded with the likes of Bob Armstrong, Dick Slater, and Tommy Rich. During the summer of 1982, Piper became a fan favorite after knocking out Don Muraco and Ole Anderson to save broadcast partner Gordon Solie from Muraco, who had grown angry at Solie questioning his tactics. In Wrestling to Rasslin, Gerald W. Morton and George M. O'Brien described the transformation: "the drama finally played itself out on television when one of his [Piper's] hired assassins, Don Muraco, suddenly attacked the commentator Gordon Solie. Seeing Solie hurt, Piper unleashed his Scottish fury on Muraco. In the week that followed, like Achilles avenging Patroklas, he slaughtered villain after villain.... In the arenas fans chanted his name throughout his matches." In 1982, Piper was fired because of showing up late for a match. He went to Puerto Rico for a month and was booked by Jim Barnett shortly thereafter. Piper returned to the Georgia area in the summer of 1983 to aid Tommy Rich during his rivalry with Buzz Sawyer. Eventually, Piper moved back to Jim Crockett Promotions. As a fan favorite, Piper feuded with Sgt. Slaughter, Ric Flair, and Greg Valentine. Piper's feud with Valentine culminated in a dog collar match at Starrcade '83: A Flare for the Gold. Valentine broke Piper's left eardrum during the match, causing Piper to permanently lose 50–75% percent of his hearing. This became known as "The Year of the Ear".
Piper debuted in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in August 1977 as part of its Toukon Series, teaming with Blackjack Mulligan in a loss to Antonio Inoki and Riki Choshu. Over the following weeks, he faced opponents including Inoki, Choshu, Seiji Sakaguchi, Kantaro Hoshino, and Osamu Kido. Piper returned to NJPW for a second tour in March 1978 as part of its Big Fight Series, this time wrestling under a mask as the "Masked Canadian". His bouts during the second tour included teaming with Masked Superstar in a loss to Haruka Eigen and Strong Kobayashi at the Tokyo Summerland and teaming with Ivan Koloff to defeat Haruka Eigen and Riki Choshu in Tokyo's Kuramae Kokugikan.
