Piper, Roddy 1954–

(Rowdy Roddy Piper)

PERSONAL

Original name, Roderick George Toombs; born April 17, 1954, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (not Glasgow, Scotland, as sometimes cited); father a police officer; married Kitty, 1979; children: six (some sources cite four). Religion: Christian. Avocational Interests: Playing the bagpipes.

Career: Actor. National Wrestling Alliance, professional wrestler, 1973–87; World Wrestling Federation (later known as World Wrestling Entertainment), began as professional wrestler, became color commentator, then interim president, c. 1995–96, and affiliated with the organization in later years; World Championship Wrestling, interim commissioner, 1997, storyline vice president, 1999; Extreme Wrestling Federation (also known as XWF; some sources spell name Xtreme Wrestling Federation), president, beginning c. 2000, and trainer of wrestlers; sometimes wrestled as the Masked Canadian early in his career. Appeared in commercials and appeared on various forms of merchandise. Mentor for other wrestlers. Also a boxer and installed billboards.

Awards, Honors: Named Americas wrestling champion, 1976–77, Americas tag champion, 1976–78, U.S. champion, 1978, Pacific Northwest tag champion, 1978–80, Pacific Northwest champion, 1979–80, Canadian tag champion, 1980, mid-Atlantic television champion, 1980, mid-Atlantic champion, 1981–82 and 1983, and U.S. mid-Atlantic champion, 1981 and 1983, all National Wrestling Alliance; named intercontinental champion, World Wrestling Federation, 1992, and U.S. Champion, World Championship Wrestling, 1999; inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, 2005, and the SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame.

CREDITS

Television Appearances; Series:

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) World Wide Wrestling, syndicated, 1980–84.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) Himself and host of "Piper's Pit" segments, WWF Superstars of Wrestling, TBS and syndicated, beginning 1984.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) Performer in live action segments, Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling (live action and animated; also known as Rock 'n' Wrestling Saturday Spectacular), CBS, c. 1985–87.

Cohost, Saturday Night's Main Event (also known as Saturday Night Main Event), NBC, c. 1990–92, Fox, c. 1992.

WWF Monday Night RAW, USA Network, 1994–96.

WCW Thunder, TBS, 1998–99.

WCW Monday Nitro (also known as nWo Nitro, WCW Monday Nitro Live!, and World Championship Wrestling Monday Nitro), TNT, 1998–2000.

Himself and host of "In the Pit with Piper" segments, TNA Impact! Wrestling (also known as TNA Xplosion), Spike TV, 2004–2005.

Celebrity Wrestling, Independent Television 2, beginning 2005.

WWE A.M. RAW, USA Network, beginning 2005.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Preacher, The Highwayman (also known as Terror on the Blacktop), NBC, 1987.

Maurice "The Brute" Steiger, The Love Boat: A Valentine Voyage (also known as The Love Boat: A Summer Cruise), CBS, 1990.

Ice, No Contest, HBO, 1994.

Randy, Hard Time, TNT, 1998.

Detective Deeks, Jack of Hearts, Aquarius (Greece), 2000.

Pastor Robert, Three Wise Guys, USA Network, 2005.

Television Appearances; Specials:

StarrCade, 1983.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) WrestleMania (also known as WWF WrestleMania), 1985.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) WrestleMania 2, pay-per-view, 1985.

WWF Wrestling Classic, pay-per-view, 1985.

WrestleMania III, pay-per-view, 1987.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) Summerslam, pay-per-view, 1988.

Survivor Series, pay-per-view, 1989.

WrestleMania V (also known as WWF WrestleMania), pay-per-view, 1989.

Royal Rumble, pay-per-view, 1990.

WrestleMania VI, pay-per-view, 1990.

Summerslam (also known as Summerslam '91), pay-per-view, 1991.

Survivor Series (also known as WWF Survivor Series), pay-per-view, 1991.

WrestleMania VII, pay-per-view, 1991.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) Royal Rumble, pay-per-view, 1992.

Summerslam, pay-per-view, 1992.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) WrestleMania VIII, pay-per-view, 1992.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) King of the Ring (also known as WWF King of the Ring), pay-per-view, 1994.

WrestleMania X (also known as WWF WrestleMania X), pay-per-view, 1994.

WrestleMania XI, pay-per-view, 1995.

Starrcade (also known as WCW Starrcade), pay-per-view, 1996.

WrestleMania XII (also known as WWF WrestleMania XII), pay-per-view, 1996.

Himself, WCW Great American Bash, pay-per-view, 1997.

Halloween Havoc, 1997.

(In archive footage) Himself, Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows, Arts and Entertainment, 1998.

WCW Fall Brawl, pay-per-view, 1998.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) WrestleMania XIX, pay-per-view, 2003.

WWE Backlash, 2003.

WWE Judgment Day, pay-per-view, 2003.

TNA Wrestling: Victory Road, pay-per-view, 2004.

TNA Wrestling: Final Resolution, 2005.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) Himself, WrestleMania 21, pay-per-view, 2005.

(In archive footage) Himself, WWE Unforgiven, pay-per-view, 2005.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

(Uncredited) Himself, Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's "Saturday Night," Saturday Night, and SNL), NBC, 1985.

Himself, Saturday Night's Main Event (also known as Saturday Night Main Event), NBC, multiple appearances, beginning 1985.

Himself, "Rowdy Roddy's Rotten Pipes," The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (animated and live action), syndicated, 1989.

Bishop, "Broken Heart, Broken Mask," Zorro (also known as The New Zorro and Les nouvelles aventures de Zorro), The Family Channel, 1990.

Adrian Temple, "Metamorphosis," Superboy (also known as The Adventures of Superboy), syndicated, 1992.

Jimmy Snow, "Wild Card," Silk Stalkings, USA Network and CBS, 1992.

Anthony Gallen, "Epitaph for Tommy," Highlander (also known as Highlander: The Series), syndicated, 1993.

Commander Cash, "Robocop vs. Commander Cash," Robocop (also known as RoboCop: The Series), syndicated, 1994.

Cody "The Crusader" Conway, "Crusader," Walker, Texas Ranger, CBS, 1998.

(Uncredited) "Wrestling" (also known as "Professional Wrestling"), Weird Weekends (also known as Louis Theroux's "Weird Weekends"), BBC-2 and Independent Film Channel, c. 1998.

Marlon, "Small Friends," The Outer Limits (also known as The New Outer Limits), Showtime, Sci-Fi Channel, and syndicated, 1999.

Guest, Mad TV, Fox, 1999.

Daniel Boone, "The Rescue," Mentors, The Family Channel (Canada), 2000.

Coach Harold, "Grudge Match," The Mullets, UPN, 2003.

Himself, "The Man Show Boy Apologizes," The Man Show, Comedy Central, 2003.

WWE Velocity (also known as Velocity), Spike TV and Internet broadcast, 2003, 2005.

(As Rowdy Roddy Piper) WWF Smackdown! (also known as Smackdown!, Smackdown! Xtreme, World Wrestling Federation Smackdown!, and WWE Smackdown!), UPN, 2003, 2005, 2006.

Himself, "WrestleMania," Hogan Knows Best, VH1, 2005.

WWE Monday Night RAW, USA Network, multiple appearances in 2005.

Television Appearances; Pilots:

Rick McDonald, Tag Team, ABC, 1991.

Sergeant Lundy, Daytona Beach, ABC, 1996.

Film Appearances:

(Uncredited) Leatherneck Joe Brady, The One and Only, Paramount, 1978.

Quick Rick Roberts, Body Slam, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group/Worldvision Enterprises, 1987.

Sam Hell, Hell Comes to Frogtown, New World Pictures, 1987.

Nada (some sources cite Nana), They Live (also known as John Carpenter's "They Live" and They Live!), MCA/Universal, 1988.

Cowboy, Buy & Cell, Empire Pictures/New World Pictures, 1989.

Frank Rossi, Back in Action, Shapiro-Glickenhaus Home Video, 1994.

John Keller, Immortal Combat (also known as Resort to Kill and Viaje para matar), A-pix Entertainment, 1994.

Bartel, Terminal Rush, Triboro Entertainment Group, 1995.

Elmo Freech, Tough and Deadly, MCA-Universal, 1995.

Frank Gibson, Marked Man, LIVE Entertainment/Starlight, 1995.

Lieutenant Jacob "Jake" Cornell, Jungleground, Norstar Releasing/Starlight, 1995.

Himself, The Misery Brothers, 1995.

Detective Cameron Grayson, Sci-Fighters, Triboro Entertainment Group, 1996.

First Encounter, Leo Home Video, 1997.

Mick Leddy, Dead Tides, LIVE Entertainment, 1997.

Dash Simms, The Bad Pack, Showcase Entertainment, 1998.

Nick Ford, Last to Surrender, New Films International, 1998.

Legless Larry, Legless Larry & the Lipstick Lady, 1999.

Miles, Shepherd (also known as Cybercity), Danforth Studios/VCL Communications, 1999.

L. T. Tyrell, Honor, Birch Tree Entertainment, 2005.

Yokum, Shut Up and Shoot, Birch Tree Entertainment, 2005.

Bronco Bill, Domestic Import, 2006.

Chief Fred Mears, Blind Eye, Skylight Films, 2006.

Jackson Smith, Urban Legends: Goldfield Murders, 18th Avenue Productions, 2006.

Trent Polly, Sin-Jin Smyth, Classic Pictures/Sunn Classic Pictures, 2006.

Some sources cite an appearance in Dilemma, c. 1999.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

Pro Wrestling Illustrated Presents Lords of the Ring: Superstars & Superbouts, Avid Video/Live Video, 1985.

Wrestling's Country Boys, Coliseum Video, 1985.

WWF Wrestling's Hottest Matches, Coliseum Video, 1992.

The Best There Is: Bret "Hitman" Hart 2, 1994.

WCW/nWo Superstar Series: Diamond Dallas Page—Feel the Bang!, Warner Bros., 1998.

(In archive footage) Nada in They Live, Ultimate Fights from the Movies, Flixmix, 2002.

(In archive footage) Himself, The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection, World Wrestling Entertainment, 2003.

Ultimate Pro Wrestling: Rage at the River (also known as UPW: Rage at the River), 2003.

(In archive footage) Himself, The Monday Night War: WWE RAW vs. WCW Nitro (also known as The Monday Night War: WWE RAW Is WAR vs. WCW Monday Nitro), World Wrestling Entertainment Home Video, 2004.

The Damn! Show (animated), Studio Works Entertainment, 2005.

Overload (also known as UPW: Overload), 2005.

WWE Hall of Fame, World Wrestling Entertainment Home Video, 2005.

WWE Legends: Greatest Wrestling Stars of the '80s, World Wrestling Entertainment Home Video, 2005.

Music Videos:

Cyndi Lauper, "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough," 1985.

Meat Loaf, Cyndi Lauper, and Rick Derringer, "Land of 1000 Dances," 1985.

Screamin' DeVilles, "Drive Drive 105," 2002.

WRITINGS

Nonfiction:

In the Pit with Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy (autobiography), Berkley Publishing, 2002.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Lentz, Harris M., Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, McFarland & Company, 1997.

Morton, Gerald, and George M. O'Brien, Wrestling to Rasslin': Ancient Sport to American Spectacle, Bowling Green State University Press, 1985.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, St. James Press, 2000.

Periodicals:

Entertainment Weekly, August 11, 1995, p. 61.