From his debut in the early 1970s all the way until his death in 2015, Roddy Piper was one of the most fascinating figures wrestling has ever known. For a time, he was the ultimate villain, his "Piper's Pit" show home to great promos and attacking people while acting like a jerk. But Piper could also be amazingly popular facing heels and his gift for gab winning fans over.
Piper was also a crossover star, such as in the classic sci-fi film They Live and various media appearances. He was terrific mocking himself at times in some roles but also a few intriguing bits from his friendships to other hobbies outside the ring. There are so many wild stories of Piper, it's hard to separate fact from fiction. However, these are some things to know about Piper's life outside the ring, which only adds to the amazing legend the "Hot Rod" crafted in wrestling.
10 He Wasn't Really From Scotland
He may have been billed as being from Glasgow and playing up the Scottish traits, but the reality is Roderick Toombs was Canadian with touches of both Scottish and Irish on his mother's side. Born in Saskatoon and raised in Manitoba, Piper had a rough relationship with his father and would run away from home as a teenager.
He claimed to have been a Golden Gloves champion, but there's no evidence of that. It was an offhand remark from a ring announcer that led him to become "Roddy the Piper" and embrace the Scottish stuff to fit it. While he would visit the country for real, Piper's "Hot Scot" routine was all part of his act.
9 He Had A Good Family Life
Unlike others in the wrestling business, Piper had a pretty good family life going for him. He married longtime girlfriend Kitty Jo Dittrich in 1982 and they remained together all the way until his death. They had four children, with daughter Teal currently working for Women of Wrestling.
Piper's family life had a spotlight when he and Ric Flair were on an episode of Celebrity Wife Swap and had a fun time trying each other's families out. Piper did enjoy his family even if he couldn't totally give up wrestling, but the warmer family life was much different than the wild man fans knew.
8 Piper Is "Related" To The Hart Family
Roddy and Bret Hart were good friends throughout their careers. That included a great WrestleMania 8 match for the Intercontinental title and a later feud in WCW. Piper would play on that as his 2002 biography, keeping to kayfabe, had him claiming he and Bret had discovered they were distant cousins.
This played on how they had grown up in the same area in Canada and Piper liked to joke about how "close" folks up there were. In reality, they were simply very good friends, with Piper checking on Bret after his stroke and their friendship strong until Piper's passing. While they weren't truly related, that bond was a key part of Piper's career in WWE.
7 The Bagpipe Playing Was Legit
The sound of bagpipes always got fans going as part of Piper's entrance. He also played them for real and was pretty good at it. A highlight of SummerSlam 1992 was Piper joining a band playing the pipes for the Wembley Stadium crowd.
Piper claimed he was a "prodigy" who got hooked onto the pipes as a kid and taught himself how to play them. He would use them in his wrestling career and even a few TV appearances as for a man with almost no training, Piper lived up to his name as a great bagpipe player.
6 He Reprised They Live In A Video Game
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
Anyone who knows Piper knows of his role in the iconic sci-fi movie They Live. The highlight, of course, was his brutal fight with Keith David, which is still remembered today. But many may not know that Piper would help reprise in a video game.
Saints Row 4 was a crazy game where Keith plays "himself" in a strange virtual world created by aliens. The player fights him in the streets when Piper pops out of nowhere to join in. It was fun hearing the pair recreate their old rivalry and Piper had fun paying tribute to a classic film role.
5 He Starred In Some Fun TV Shows
Piper was known for some fun TV appearances, often playing on his wrestling image. He had a memorable battle as an evil Immortal on Highlander and played a wrestler handling a wayward son on Walker, Texas Ranger.
Probably his most famous later role was Da'Maniac, a crazed veteran wrestler on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The joke was the gang realized the guy's persona as a lunatic wasn't an act as he got into various antics. It showed Piper could poke fun at himself while using his past success in the ring.
4 Fighting Cancer
In 2006, Piper made an unlikely comeback to WWE. He and Ric Flair were chosen by fans to face the Spirit Squad at Cyber Sunday and ended up winning the belts. Their reign wasn't long for good reason, as while having himself checked out after the match, Piper caught the signs he had Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Piper openly expressed gratitude to the fans as he wouldn't have gone to the hospital to catch this in time without being picked for the match. He was announced as cancer-free in early 2007, even if the long-term effects hit him over the years. Yet this showed that even cancer couldn't slow the Hot Rod down.
3 He Hosted Celebrity Wrestling
It was probably inevitable that someone would make a reality show of some low-level celebrities trying their hand at wrestling. Celebrity Wrestling was a bit of a misnomer as the "celebrities" were mostly British singers, models and TV hosts. They were divided into teams going through challenges to see who would compete for a "championship" in a match.
Piper was one of the hosts, doing color commentary on the challenges and inserting his usual wild humor into things. The show only lasted one season, but it showed how big Piper was that they needed his input to make this work.
2 He Claimed To Have Been Haunted
One of Piper's odder TV appearances was on Celebrity Ghost Stories. Piper claimed that his home was haunted, with his son Colt particularly affected by some strange goings-on. Even wilder was Piper was convinced the spirit was none other than Adrian Adonis.
He and Adonis had been friends, whose feud culminated in Piper's WrestleMania 3 "retirement" match. Adonis died in a car accident a year later as Piper truly believed somehow the man was haunting him and his family. While he never found definitive proof one way or another, it was strange to see the Hot Rod believing in spooks.
1 His Biography Was Finished After His Death
Given his long tenure in wrestling with scores of stories, it should be no surprise Piper had enough to fill a book. His first was 2002's In the Pit WIth Piper, which was good but also felt a bit too light and not as juicy as hoped. Piper was hoping to get a bigger and more detailed book out but hadn't finished it before his death in 2015.
His children worked from his notes to finally publish it in 2020 as Rowdy. It was a great look at his life and history, along with some fun tales of growing up with him as their dad. It was a fitting final tribute to a true wrestling original.