Training and early career (1969–1975) 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 also worked in
Texas for
Paul Boesch's NWA
Houston Wrestling promotion, 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. 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. In 1982, Piper was fired because of showing up late for a match.
World Wrestling Federation (1979, 1984–1987) Early appearances (1979) Before entering the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) full-time in 1984, Piper wrestled five matches with the WWF under
Vince McMahon Sr. in 1979 at
Madison Square Garden. His first match in WWF he defeated jobber
Frankie Williams on January 22. On an August 11 episode of All-Star Wrestling, Piper was presented as a babyface, wrestling Jose Estrada to a time-limit draw, and featured an appearance outside the ring by Captain Lou Albano who briefly attempted to taunt Piper. Before one match,
Freddie Blassie stuffed Piper's bagpipes with toilet paper, so they would not play in front of the Garden crowd.
''Piper's Pit'' (1984–1987) In 1983, WWF owner
Vince McMahon contacted Piper, who insisted on serving out his contract with Jim Crockett before starting his WWF run in 1984. Piper debuted in the WWF as a manager, working with
"Dr. D" David Schultz and
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, but eventually Piper's run as a manager quietly ended and he started wrestling full-time. Focusing on one of his strengths as a wrestler, the microphone, he was given his own interview segment called ''Piper's Pit
on Championship Wrestling and Wrestling at the Chase in 1984, starting a run of the segment that ended in 1987. During one Piper's Pit'', Piper insulted
Jimmy Snuka's Polynesian heritage and attacked Snuka by smashing him over the head with a
coconut. . hoists "Rowdy" Roddy Piper up onto his shoulders as
Hulk Hogan cheers in the background during the main event of
WrestleMania I in 1985 Piper's next major storyline was with
Hulk Hogan and also involved pop singer
Cyndi Lauper. Piper spent weeks crashing Adonis' show and trading insults, leading to a "showdown" between the two segments that ended with Piper being assaulted and humiliated by Adonis, Orton, and
Don Muraco and the destruction of the original Piper's Pit set, resulting in Piper's face turn and the construction of a more permanent Piper's Pit set. In response, Piper stormed the set of Adonis' show and destroyed it with a baseball bat. This led to their
Hair vs. Hair match at
WrestleMania III, which was billed as Piper's retirement match from wrestling before he left to become an actor full-time. Two weeks later at WrestleMania V he did make his official return with another live ''Piper's Pit'', where he hosed down a smoking
Morton Downey Jr. with a fire extinguisher. He made his return to the ring on May 12, substituting for Jake Roberts and pinning
Ted DiBiase on a house show in Los Angeles. Piper would gain several more victories against DiBiase that month, and also against
Randy Savage in June. After this, Piper co-hosted
Prime Time Wrestling from July 17, 1989, to December 25, 1989, with
Gorilla Monsoon, feuding with
Bobby Heenan,
"Ravishing" Rick Rude, and
Brother Love, he would return to the show in 1991 as well. He then feuded with
Bad News Brown who was upset at being eliminated by Piper at the 1990 Royal Rumble. Brown would go on to mock Piper for wearing a "skirt". At
WrestleMania VI in April 1990, Piper cut a promo towards his opponent Bad News Brown before the match with half his face and body painted black, and also wrestled Bad News while painted this way. Bad News would take this display of
blackface as being offensive behind the scenes. Subsequently, the match would end in a Double Count Out, with the issue between the two never being resolved despite plans to the contrary. According to a behind the scenes interview, neither man was willing to lose to the other. In 1991, he supported
Virgil in his feud against
"The Million Dollar Man" (Ted DiBiase). Later in 1990 Piper was involved in a
motorcycle accident, but was still present at their matches at
WrestleMania VII and
SummerSlam. He renewed his feud with
Ric Flair and at the
1992 Royal Rumble defeated
The Mountie for his first, and only, Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Following his title loss to Hart, Piper made a handful of appearances at television tapings for
Wrestling Challenge and
WWF Superstars. Four Piper's Pit segments were recorded - two with
Steve Lombardi and two with
Shawn Michaels. None aired, and Piper disappeared from the WWF. He made his return playing the bagpipes at
SummerSlam.
Return and The Bottom Line (1994–1996) He reemerged once again in 1994 at
WrestleMania X as
guest referee for the
WWF World Heavyweight Championship match between
Bret Hart and
Yokozuna. During the match, commentator
Jerry "The King" Lawler remarked that he hated Piper and continued to taunt Piper on his ''
King's Court segment on Monday Night Raw'', eventually culminating with Lawler bringing out a young, skinny impersonator in a Piper T-shirt and kilt and forcing him to kiss his feet. Enraged, Piper agreed to wrestle Lawler at the
King of the Ring, where Piper emerged victorious. Piper wrestled as a fan favorite, and adding to the face attitude by donating part of his purse from the fight with Lawler to a children's hospital in Ontario. Piper's segment aired regularly until the Summer of 1994, when Piper would disappear again. Leaving the WWF again, he briefly returned in 1995 at
WrestleMania XI, once again in a referee capacity, for the submission-only match between Hart and
Bob Backlund. After this match Piper became the host for the replay editions of WWF pay-per-views for a brief period of time, commenting on the matches that had just happened, before disappearing again a few months later.
President of the WWF (1996) On the January 29, 1996, episode of
Monday Night RAW, Piper returned for another regular role: he was named as interim WWF
President after
Gorilla Monsoon had to take a leave of absence due to an attack by
Vader. On February 24, at a house show at
East Rutherford, New Jersey, he made his first match appearance in almost two years. As a substitute for Razor Ramon, Piper defeated
The 1-2-3 Kid after hitting him with a ring bell. He wrestled twice more against the Kid on house shows that month. As president, one of Piper's first acts was to reinstate
The Ultimate Warrior back into the WWF after a letter campaign written in by fans. Piper had become the object of affection for
Goldust. Enraged, Piper claimed he would "make a man" out of Goldust at
WrestleMania XII. The match, dubbed a "
Hollywood Backlot Brawl", began in a pre-taped segment, recorded in an alleyway, but Goldust jumped into his gold Cadillac and ran Piper over, ultimately escaping (allegedly) onto the highways of
Anaheim. Piper pursued in his white
Ford Bronco, the aerial footage shown was actually that of the
O. J. Simpson "low-speed" chase from two years prior. This was made clear by Piper himself, who recalled the event on an episode of
Pipers Pit the Podcast. The two eventually arrived at the arena, where Piper disrobed Goldust in the ring, effectively ending the confrontation. With Gorilla Monsoon back in control of the WWF by the end of the night, Piper once again left the company. On the November 18 episode of
Nitro, Piper revealed that
Eric Bischoff was a member of the nWo, which ended with the nWo members attacking him. on the December 9 episode of
Nitro, Piper told Flair that he didn't need the Four Horsemen's help in beating Hogan and he was going to do it on his own. Piper defeated Hogan with his signature
sleeper hold in the non-title
main event of the company's flagship pay-per-view
Starrcade, which earned him a title shot against Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship at
SuperBrawl VII, where Piper was defeated. On the March 10, 1997, episode of Nitro, Piper and his family joined forces with
Ric Flair and
The Four Horsemen in their battle with the nWo. At
Uncensored, Piper competed in a
triangle elimination match where he captained a team of Horsemen
Chris Benoit,
Steve McMichael and
Jeff Jarrett against the nWo and WCW's team of
Lex Luger,
Steiner Brothers and
The Giant. His team lost the match. On the March 31 episode of
Nitro, Piper and Flair agreed to team up and stand side by side to fight. Piper moved on to feud with other members of nWo. At
Slamboree, Piper, Flair and
Kevin Greene defeated nWo members
Scott Hall,
Kevin Nash and
Syxx in a
six-man tag team match. The following month, at
The Great American Bash pay-per-view, Piper and Flair unsuccessfully challenged
The Outsiders for the
World Tag Team Championship. on the June 23 episode of Nitro, Flair and the Four Horsemen turned on Piper and attacked him. This led to a match between Piper and Flair at
Bash at the Beach, which Piper won. Piper took a hiatus from television before making his return to WCW on the September 8 episode of
Nitro, where he was appointed the new on-air
Commissioner of WCW, which reduced his in-ring work. He briefly resumed his feud with Hulk Hogan, beating him in a
steel cage match at
Halloween Havoc. on the March 23, 1998, episode of Nitro, Piper and Randy Savage battled to a no contest. On the March 30 episode of Nitro, Piper defeated Hogan by disqualification. At the
1998 Spring Stampede pay-per-view, Piper teamed with
The Giant in a loss to Hogan and Nash in a
Baseball Bat on a Pole match. At
Slamboree, Piper served as the
special guest referee in a match between
Randy Savage and
Bret Hart, which Hart won but the following night on Nitro, Piper changed his decision and declared Savage as the winner by disqualification. At
The Great American Bash, Piper and Savage lost to Hogan and Hart in a
tag team match by submission. After the match, Piper wrestled Savage in the next match, which Piper defeated Savage by submission. On the September 7 episode of
Nitro, Piper and Diamond Dallas Page defeated Sting and Lex Luger by disqualification. Piper teamed with
Diamond Dallas Page and
The Warrior as Team WCW in a
WarGames match at
Fall Brawl for an opportunity at the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the following month's
Halloween Havoc. Page won the match for his team. On the September 14 episode of
Nitro, Piper confronted
Bret Hart.
Various storylines and departure (1999–2000) On the February 8, 1999, episode of
Nitro, Piper defeated
Bret Hart to win his third
United States Heavyweight Championship; the first two reigns being in JCP. Piper held the title for only two weeks as he lost the title to Scott Hall at
SuperBrawl IX. At
Slamboree, Piper defeated Flair by disqualification after Eric Bischoff reversed Flair's pinfall win, disqualifying Flair for hitting Piper with a foreign object (which had been ignored by biased referee
Charles Robinson). 8 days later on the May 17 episode of
Nitro, Piper called out Bischoff for what Bischoff did to him in 1996, before Bischoff apologised to him and WCW fans. Piper and Bischoff were interrupted by Randy Savage and his
Team Madness, before Savage and Team Madness attacked him and Bischoff until Kevin Nash saved him and Bischoff. The following month later at
The Great American Bash, Flair defeated Piper by disqualification for control of WCW after interference from
Buff Bagwell. Upset with Bagwell getting him disqualified, Piper knocked Bagwell out and joined Flair as vice president, turning Piper heel for the first time in WCW. At
Bash at the Beach, Piper competed against Bagwell in a
boxing match with
Mills Lane as
special guest referee which he lost. In late 1999, Piper returned to WCW programming as a face, in an angle with
Vince Russo, who was now portraying himself as the "Powers That Be" (an unseen power that was controlling WCW). At
Starrcade, Piper was the special referee in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship match featuring
Goldberg and Hart. Forced by Russo, Piper
called for the bell when Hart locked in the Sharpshooter on Goldberg, when it was apparent that Goldberg had not submitted. The feud between Piper and the Powers That Be ended shortly after. Piper's last appearance in WCW was at
SuperBrawl 2000 in February 2000 where he was a surprise referee in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship match between
Sid Vicious,
Jeff Jarrett and Scott Hall. In July 2000, WCW terminated Piper's contract.
Xcitement Wrestling Federation (2001–2002) Before going to the WWE in 2003, Piper served as the commissioner of the
Xcitement Wrestling Federation (XWF). On November 5, 2002, Piper revealed in his autobiography,
In the Pit with Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy, that he was released rather than having left as had previously been thought.
Return to WWE (2003) Piper returned to WWE on March 30, 2003, by conducting a surprise
run in during the
Hulk Hogan-
Vince McMahon match at
WrestleMania XIX in
Seattle, Washington, where he attacked Hogan with a steel pipe to cement his heel status; Hogan nevertheless eventually won the match. Piper went on to align with
Sean O'Haire; at
Backlash in April,
Rikishi hit Piper with Piper's own coconut, but this led to O'Haire defeating Rikishi. In May, as Hulk Hogan had been banned in storyline from television by Vince McMahon, Hogan returned under a mask as Mr. America, and continued his feud with Piper, O'Haire and McMahon, who tried to reveal Mr. America's true identity. This storyline also saw Piper tear off the fake leg of one-legged wrestler
Zach Gowen, who was playing a Hogan fan. At
Judgment Day, Piper argued with
Chris Jericho if ''Piper's Pit'' was better than Jericho's talk show
The Highlight Reel. Later at the event, Piper lost to Mr. America. Piper and O'Haire then moved on to challenge Tajiri and Eddie Guerrero for the
WWE Tag Team Championship, but in June 2003, WWE fired Piper after a controversial interview with
HBO's
Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel in which Piper discussed the darker side of the wrestling industry. On his 2006 DVD, Piper claimed that HBO took parts of his interviews out of context to make wrestling look bad.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002–2005) Piper debuted for
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion on December 4, 2002, at an NWA-TNA pay-per-view and started a feud with
Vince Russo, cutting a promo where he blamed Russo for the death of
Owen Hart. From September to December 2003, Piper gave video-tape messages and on the October 8, 2004, episode of
Impact!, Piper crashed the Impact Zone and announced his talk segment
In the Pit with Piper. In November 2004 at
Victory Road, he hosted
In the Pit with Piper and interviewed Jimmy Snuka, who refused to accede to Piper's demands of hitting Piper with a coconut. On the December 24 episode of
Impact, Piper hosted another
In The Pit with Piper and interviewed
Hector Garza but was interrupted by
Scott Hall and
Kevin Nash. At
Final Resolution in January 2005, Piper refereed a match between
Jeff Hardy and Scott Hall, helping Hardy win. This was Piper's final appearance for TNA.
Second return to WWE (2005–2015) WWE Hall of Fame and World Tag Team Champion (2005–2006) On February 21, 2005, it was announced that Piper was to be inducted into the
WWE Hall of Fame. Piper returned to
Raw on September 11, 2006, for a six-man tag team match win with
The Highlanders against the
Spirit Squad. He also appeared on the
Raw Family Reunion, along with
Money Inc. and
Arn Anderson to accompany
Ric Flair ringside for a match against
Mitch of the Spirit Squad. On November 5, Piper would gain what would be his final championship in WWE, winning the
World Tag Team Championship with Flair from The Spirit Squad at
Cyber Sunday. On the November 13, 2006, episode of
Raw, Piper and Flair lost the title to
Rated-RKO (
Edge and Randy Orton).
Final feuds and retirement (2007–2011) and Jimmy Snuka before their match with Chris Jericho at
WrestleMania 25 in 2009 In 2007, Piper appeared in February to announce
Dusty Rhodes for the WWE Hall of Fame, and also in June for
Vince McMahon Appreciation Night. In 2008, Piper made a surprise appearance in the
Royal Rumble match by attacking Jimmy Snuka, but was eliminated by
Kane. Piper then had a series of confrontations with
Santino Marella in 2008, including on
Jimmy Kimmel Live!. At
Cyber Sunday (2008), Piper was one of three choices to be Santino Marella's opponent for the Intercontinental Championship, with The Honky Tonk Man being chosen. The match ended by disqualification and after the match Piper and Goldust made their way down to the ring confronting and attacking Marella. On the February 16, 2009 episode of
Raw, after
Chris Jericho insulted WWE legends, Piper interrupted him and was attacked by Jericho for it. The feud culminated in Jericho defeating Piper, Jimmy Snuka and Ricky Steamboat at
WrestleMania 25 in a handicap elimination match. Piper later guest hosted
Raw on November 16, 2009, at
Madison Square Garden in New York City. Piper challenged Vince McMahon to a street fight later in the evening, but Randy Orton came out to fight in McMahon's place.
Kofi Kingston came out to stop Randy's assault on Piper. He inducted
Wendi Richter into the 2010 WWE Hall of Fame on March 27, 2010. He also appeared the next night on
Raw as one of the Legend Lumberjacks in a match that involved
Christian and
Ted DiBiase. Two months later, Piper hired DiBiase to capture guest host
Quinton Jackson so he could "gain revenge on BA", but was unsuccessful. At
WrestleMania XXVII on April 3, 2011, Piper made an appearance by hitting
Zack Ryder with a coconut while the latter was being interviewed. On the June 13, 2011 episode of
Raw,
The Miz and later
Alex Riley were guests on ''Piper's Pit''; this led to Piper defeating Miz in a match (to win $5000) because of help from Riley, the guest referee; this was Piper's last documented WWE match.
John Cena was a guest for ''Piper's Pit
on the November 28, 2011 episode of Raw''.
Sporadic appearances and departure (2012–2015) On the April 10, 2012 episode of
SmackDown,
Daniel Bryan and
AJ Lee were guest of ''Piper's Pit
. On the June 18 episode of Raw
, Piper reunited with Cyndi Lauper. At Raw 1000, Piper and various other veterans helped Lita defeat Heath Slater. On the August 13, 2012, episode of Raw
, Chris Jericho was the guest for Piper's Pit'', but
Dolph Ziggler and the Miz interrupted. On the January 6, 2014 episode of
Raw,
The Shield were guests for ''Piper's Pit
. On the March 31, 2014 episode of Raw
, Piper hosted Piper's Pit
with superstars who would compete in the André the Giant 31-man memorial battle royal, which ended in a brawl with Big Show clearing the ring and Piper raising his hand. At WrestleMania XXX, the four men who wrestled in the main event of WrestleMania I—Piper, Paul Orndorff, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T—buried the hatchet in a backstage segment. On the December 22, 2014 episode of Raw
, Rusev and Lana were guests for the final edition of Piper's Pit''. At
WrestleMania 31, Piper and other legends appeared in a backstage segment after
Daniel Bryan won the Intercontinental Championship. In early July 2015, Ric Flair said Piper lost his WWE Legends contract with the company because of a public feud with Steve Austin, which resulted in Piper leaving PodcastOne. Piper later apologized to Austin on July 13, only three weeks before his death.
Independent circuit (2005–2012) 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 5 weekend, 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 are Piper and Coss as announcers, The Grappler (
Len Denton) as a manager, guest appearances by the likes 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. == Other media ==