Roddy Piper on the WWF

[Guest AM The Kid]

Roddy gets Rowdy

 

By TIM BAINES -- Ottawa Sun

 

 

Roderick George Toombs lay in critical condition for 13 days after a car accident, barely clinging to life.

 

As he fought off death, a more dangerous opponent than any foreign-object-wielding foe he'd met in more than 30 years in the wrestling ring, Toombs realized he had an axe to grind -- in his alter ego, Rowdy Roddy Piper.

 

Roderick George Toombs was a shy boy who toughed it out in the streets of Toronto in his young teenage years, delivering the Toronto Sun to earn some pocket money. He got beat up in fights. But, even then, at 167 lbs., he could take it. He worked out at Toronto's Lansdowne Boxing Club, where he would sleep wherever he could find comfort; sometimes the subway would do.

 

"In Toronto, I hung out in the subway so much, I could tell you the train schedule," said Piper, who's now got a bone to pick with pro wrestling promoters, specifically WWE kingpin Vince McMahon.

 

The 48-year-old Piper has a new book, In the Pit With Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy, in which he spins tales of the circus-like life of a wrestler, an existance that he says leads to exploitation ... resulting in a sickness, a willingness by wrestlers to do anything -- sometimes performing humiliating acts to reach the top. But stepping along that path can also lead to dire consequences, even death.

 

"I want to get wrestling back on track," he said. "What Vince McMahon forgets is he didn't make wrestling ... his dad did.

 

"Junior doesn't know anything about wrestling. He's not a genius. In my generation, this guy would have had his face slapped if he'd tried some of the things he's doing -- these Henny Youngman routines ... and now even necrophilia?

 

"I can't imagine my daughter coming to the ring and have everyone in the arena yelling 'slut' at her. Or have Rikishi give her a stinkface. Or have my son slap my wife on TV.

 

"Somebody has got to stand up to Vince. Their slogan. WWE: Take the F out. Well, let's put the W back in. Where's the wrestling?

 

"The biggest problem is our kids are watching it. They don't have a solid direction. You turn on WWE and you get to see an 80-year-old woman take her top off? What is that?"

 

Piper's just getting revved up. He's earned the right to rant. This isn't a tomato can, we're talking about. It's Rowdy Roddy Piper, born in Saskatoon, but whose suitcases criss-crossed Canada and veered to Scotland.

 

In his 35th year in the wrestling business, Piper's had more than 7,000 pro fights and at a little more than six feet and 230 lbs., he's stood toe-to-toe with wrestling giants like Hulk Hogan and was part of what has become a benchmark for wrestling pay-per-views -- Wrestlemania 1.

 

"I wouldn't take a dive for Hogan in War to Settle the Score (leading into Wrestlemania) and I wouldn't take a dive for Mr. T in Wrestlemania 1 and 2," said Piper. "I thought: 'Hey, I've got lunch boxes and towels. If I take a dive for him, (people are) going to stop buying them.' "

 

Piper's biggest gripe is the mistreatment of wrestlers.

 

"I was on Larry King Live with Mick Foley and Hogan," he said. "I mentioned a union for wrestlers and they ran away from the topic like the cat (ran) from Pepe Lepew."

 

FAMOUS FOR EYE POKE

 

You get the feeling Piper would like to slap some sense into McMahon in the middle of the ring. You'd have to take Piper as the favourite. A world-class bagpiper, he's also a former golden gloves boxer -- and he does possess the dreaded double-fingered eye poke, which became a trademark of sorts.

 

"The eye poke? People thought it came from a Three Stooges routine," said Piper. "But I got it from Larry Hennig (father of Mr. Perfect, Curt). One day a (married) wrestler was bragging about how he'd slept with two girls the night before. Larry was a family guy and told the guy this had to stop. Hennig got up and stuck two fingers in the guy's eye. The guy dropped like a fainting goat.

 

"So I tried it one time and the fans loved it."

 

Piper still has strong ties to Canada. He lists Dauphin, The Pas and Dollard-des-Ormeaux as other Canadian stops in his youth, a childhood which turned into manhood when he left home at the age of 13 and started wrestling when he was "There's not really one city that's my home," he said. "Canada is my home."

 

His new home-away-from-home is nestled in the wilderness, 45 minutes outside of Portland, Ore. Rough and tough in the ring, Piper has settled into his own paradise with wife Kitty and four children, ranging in age from seven to 20.

 

"My favourite show was The Waltons," said Piper. "I met a perfect lady and I have a wonderful family, a wonderful life. If I didn't have them, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

 

"The Roddy Piper side of me protects the shy boy in me. I much prefer to be a gentleman, but I've got a lot of pent-up rage inside."

 

Having appeared in five movies, Piper's set to begin filming a sixth, early next year. Called Night Fever, it'll also feature Janet Jackson, Gary Busey, Christopher Walken, Emilio Estavez and Coolio, with a $40-million budget.

 

While Piper is bitter towards today's wrestling, he admires performers like Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero.

 

"As far as the rest go, they don't know ring psychology," said Piper. "McMahon has such a tyrannic reign, telling them what to do. There's no magic. All I had to ask was who I was wrestling. That's all I needed to know. The rest was up to me."

 

Piper says there's a message in his book.

 

"This is not only for the wrestling fans, it's for the masses. You'll never look at wrestling the same," he said. "You can kill a man without touching him if you have power over him.

 

"Wrestling has the highest suicide rate of any sport. The last funeral I went to was one for Adrian Adonis. I don't go to funerals anymore. There are too many."

 

And just as Roderick George Toombs pours his passion into life, he pours it into his book.

 

He's a wrestler's wrestler, an old-school guy who's disgusted with the theatrics and pornography that have taken over.

 

IN THE PIT WITH PIPER

 

Rowdy Roddy Piper has tales from the road. And he's not afraid to spill the beans.

 

How about the time he was scheduled to interview a young Buff Bagwell in WCW?

 

"Eric Bischoff asked me to interview him. So 5 p.m. came around, 5:30, no Buff. I find him, he's laying with his boots up. He won't look at me. I asked if he wanted to do the interview, he said he'd just improv. So we're in the ring, Buff's flexing, he's all fired up. I asked him how many times he'd wrestled in Madison Square Garden. He looked at me, with venom, and said: 'I wasn't even born then!' "

 

And funny moments. How about the antics of Quebec star Frenchy Martin?

 

"A wonderful guy. We'd be waiting for our baggage. And he'd lose his balance and fall onto the belt that goes around. As he was falling, he'd spit out his false teeth and they'd go flying across the floor. He would go around the belt and finally help himself out. He'd straighten out his suit like Inspector Clousseau. He'd yell: 'Where are my teeth? I should sue you for having so much dangerous equipment.' It was so funny."

 

How about the tomfoolery with the British Bulldogs' mascot Mattilda?

 

"It was Jimmy Hart and his Hart Foundation. The wrestlers would throw Mattilda scraps, and there were a lot of steroids around. So Mattilda was growing, with its belly on the ground. Don Muraco would get a megaphone and the feedback would have the dog going nuts. The first time Jimmy and the Foundation got the megaphone to say something in the ring, the dog tore after him. Jimmy had both his feet up on the turnbuckle. For six months, that dog tried to kill Jimmy."

 

Credit: SLAM! Wrestling

[Guest Lord of The Curry]

Blah blah blah blah.......

 

Piper isn't exactly breaking new ground here, people have been asking "Where's the wrestling?" for a fuck of a long time now, he just seems to be trying to cash in on the recent book fad.

 

I haven't read the book but I can't see how any wrestling book out there can beat Pure Dynamite.

[Guest Banky]

Fuck, Piper asking where's the wrestling is quite ironic considering he was pretty much nothing by a comedic garbage wrestler in the WWF (sans WM8).

[Guest Human Fly]

I lump Piper with Tom Zenk in the same category: "Bitter ex-WWF employees who only lash out at Vince because they are angry that he doesn't bring them back."

[Guest Banky]

I lump Piper with Tom Zenk in the same category: "Bitter ex-WWF employees who only lash out at Vince because they are angry that he doesn't bring them back."

Agreed. I've never ever ever enjoyed Piper's work for either major companies. It was rubbish through and through. If anyone's legacy has been unwarranted it is Piper's. People may have found his interviews to be ground breaking, but I always saw them as overacted, pretentious bullhucky.

[Guest deadbeater]

What's the hell with you guys?? You think the WWF was all about Hogan? If there wasn't a Piper, Vince Jr. would have to invent him. Don't let Piper's WCW stint lead you to piss on his legacy in the WWF. The WCW pissed on everyone that wasn't Hulk Hogan.

[Guest the 1inch punch]

At least Zenk is funny

[Guest Caliban]

I guess Piper's never watched Smackdown, then.

[Guest CanadianChick]

Its funny how all the attention is given to the bad parts of WWE (RAW), but nothing is said about the good parts of WWE (Smackdown). Sure, Piper breifly mentioned Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero, but didn't really say anything about the awesome matches they put on. He only mentioned Raw's horrible angles. I guess they just use the horrible parts to justify thier bitterness and conveniently leave out the good parts.

[Guest Caliban]

I consider Raw separate to Smackdown now.

 

In time, a lot more people will.

 

SD needs the props it deserves.

 

Raw... well... it's bound to improve in time.

[Guest Mad Dog]

I thought he made a good point about the wrestler union.

[Guest CanadianChick]

I thought he made a good point about the wrestler union.

For sure, since there isn't anywhere else for WWE superstars to go anymore.

[Guest justcoz]

The funny thing is that the older wrestler's were asking, "Where's the wrestling" when Roddy Piper was bodyslamming Cyndi Lauper and David Wolf. I grew up watching Roddy Piper asking the black Rocky Johnson to shine his shoes, making fun of Tony Atlas for not being able to speak English properly, asking Jimmy Snuka if he climbed trees, shaving a midget's head so he'd look like, in Piper's words, that other monkey Mr. T. Let's not forget gay bashing feuds with Adrian Adonis and Goldust.

 

The point I'm trying to make is that Roddy Piper wasn't exactly a good moralist or politically correct role model for youth. It's one thing when you hear someone like Bruno Sammartino speak about how dirty wrestling has become compared to his era but to hear Piper cry about how vulgar wrestling is and then talk about all the coke they snorted in the 80's and how steroids were just laying around the locker room is kind of pathetic.

 

The fact of the matter is that Vince McMahon Jr. more than likely made Piper more money than he had ever previously made in his career. Not Vince Sr. Piper would have not been a crossover celebrity on MTV, wouldn't have headlined Wrestlemania, wouldn't have been noticed for acting roles, etc. if it wasn't for Vince's promoting.

[Guest Cataclysm911]

I can't say anything bad about Piper. He always entertained me, and he was a huge inspiration to my favorite wrestler, Raven.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

While Piper is bitter towards today's wrestling, he admires performers like Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero.

 

"As far as the rest go, they don't know ring psychology," said Piper.

Wasn't Piper for a long time part of the Old Guard in WCW that should have been long retired letting the people he's praising right now carry the ball?

 

I also don't recall a whole lot of gems from his WCW runs... or even his WWF ones.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Piper was shit in WcW but I have to admit i loved his stuff in the WWF. Not so much his matches as his interviews.

 

All though the match he had with Bret for the IC title is one of my personal favorites.