Roddy Piper has always been one of the sport’s most known personalities.  The “Rowdy
Scot” has been on the professional wrestling scene since the 1970s.  From film to the mat,
Piper has gained a huge following and to this day, he is extremely popular wherever he
travels.  He can appear in the Northwest, Japan, the WWF, WCW or anywhere else, and
he will be cheered unmercifully.  There is a legacy that will never change with whatever
choices he makes from this point on.  Piper has been in more than twenty Hollywood films.

In the ring, he is a former WWF Intercontinental and both an NWA and WCW United
States Heavyweight Champion.  Piper mastered the sleeperhold and can brawl with the
best of them.

At a young age in 1973, Piper made his debut.  Early in his career, he wrestled in the
Pacific Northwest under Don Owen’s promotions and then toured through California and
Mexico.  He won the NWA Americas Heavyweight Title on five occasions between 1976 and
1979, where he brutally feuded with many top stars in Southern California.

In early 1981, Piper was in the Mid-Atlantic Region working for the Crocketts.  He entered
a feud with Ric Flair and won the U.S. Heavyweight Title from him on January 27, 1981 in
Raleigh.  Veteran Wahoo McDaniel beat him for the title on August 8th at Greensboro.  
After Greg Valentine captured the title, Piper challenged him.  He also became the co-host
of Georgia Championship Wrestling, a two-hour broadcast with Gordon Solie.  Through
the television set and with another outlet to perform, much of Piper’s personality came out.
Promoters and fans alike were taking notice.

On April 16, 1983, Piper beat Valentine and took his second U.S. Title.  The rematch in
Greensboro would cost Piper more than any belt would.  On April 30th, Piper defended his
championship against Valentine in a brutal match.  During the contest, the challenger took
the opportunity to use the title belt on Piper, whipping the metal part against the left side of
his head.  Piper was immediately busted open.  Valentine took to the injury and continued
to pound it before referee, Ron West stopped the match.  The title was awarded to
Valentine.  Piper suffered internal ear injuries and doctors said that he could have lost 75-
percent of his hearing.  The amount of blood in the contest horrified fans.  Piper was out
for several months.  Their match became legend.  

He returned to face Valentine in a special dog-collar chain, non-title match on November
24th in Greensboro at Starrcade ’83.  It was another bloody fight.  Simply, a war.  Piper
regained a level of revenge on the champ and won by pinfall.

Piper signed with the World Wrestling Federation and made his debut in early 1984 as
David Shultz’s manager.  It wasn’t long before he was making an impact as a wrestler,
outside of his mouth on the microphone.  His skills were unmatched on both sides of the
fence.  He also aligned himself as the manager of Paul Orndorff.  Bob Orton Jr. joined their
team as well before the year was over.  Promotions in the WWF for the upcoming
WrestleMania show in New York’s Madison Square Garden began early in 1985.  Piper
and Orndorff were joined against Mr. T and the World Champion of the organization, Hulk
Hogan.  WrestleMania was no joke…it was the biggest event of the year and many at the
time would not understand the importance of it.  Vince McMahon and WrestleMania
changed history.

Piper was apart of the initial main event.  The show was held on March 31st and a number
of Hollywood names were present.  The tag match was full of outside interference by both
Jimmy Snuka, Hogan and Mr. T’s second, and Orton, who joined Piper and Orndorff.  Their
team lost when Hogan pinned Orndorff after Orton’s interference backfired.  Piper blamed
Orndorff for their loss at WrestleMania.  The two ended up brawling it out and than making
it a two-on-one when Orton joined in.  Mr. T ran out and saved Orndorff.

Sides were pretty much drawn.  Orndorff had jumped sides and gained the support of Mr.
T.  Piper had Orton backing him.  He soon named Orton as his new bodyguard.  Piper
faced former two-time WWWF World Heavyweight Champion, and “Living Legend,” Bruno
Sammartino in October 1985 during a segment of “Piper’s Pit.” The verbal encounter led
to Bruno’s shoving of the host, and Piper’s usage of a steel chair.  Sammartino was on the
ring’s floor, having felt the effects of Roddy’s actions, and his shirt torn.  A war between
the two had been ignited.

Piper accompanied “Battling” Bob Orton to his boxing match in Phoenix on March 1, 1986
against Mr. T during Saturday Night’s Main Event.  He distracted the referee long enough
so that Orton could attack T before the opening bell.  The bout ended in 4:01 when Orton
was counted out of the ring.  After the bout, Piper entered the ring and disrobed his kilt
and shirt, ready to fight Mr. T.  Orton attacked T from behind, giving Roddy a distinct
advantage.  He whipped him with his belt, delivering five blows while his ally held the
television and movie star down.

Of course, Mr. T and Piper wanted a boxing match themselves.  The match was held on
April 7, 1986 as part of the second annual WrestleMania in New York.  After 1:15 of the
fourth round, Piper was disqualifed for using wrestling tactics, which had been barred.  
Piper was firmly secured as being one of, if not the most hated wrestlers in the mat game.

In the weeks and months following, Piper entered a new phase.  During one edition of
Adrian Adonis’ flower shop on WWF Television, Roddy came out and insulted the host, his
manager Jimmy Hart and Bob Orton Jr.  He then took a baseball bat to the set of the
“shop,” destroying it.  The popularity grew from the bottom up and he eventually became
one of the organization’s favorite sons.  Two ends of the spectrum in the matter of
months.  To mark his change in attitude, Piper teamed with Hulk Hogan in a winning affair
against Paul Orndorff and Harley Race in New York.  Piper soon announced that he would
be retiring from the sport to concentrate on film projects he had lined up.

A special retirement match would be held during WrestleMania III in Pontiac, Michigan on
March 29, 1987.  Piper wrestled and beat Adrian Adonis.  Afterwards, Brutus Beefcake
joined him in cutting Adonis’ hair.  His work in 1987-’88 was filmed and given names.  Two
of his most known films were delivered including “They Live” and “Hell Comes to
Frogtown.” Fans of Piper enjoyed his acting immensely.  The critics did as well.  More
movies were tossed Piper’s way, but the wrestling world was not finished with him yet.

Piper hosted a special segment of Piper’s Pit during WrestleMania V in Atlantic City on
April 2, 1989.  He faced Robert Downey Sr., and helped the comedian extinguish a cigar in
the ring.  The audience enjoyed every minute of it.  In August, Piper returned again to the
WWF during the SummerSlam pay-per-view in East Rutherford.  He flashed Rick Rude
during his WWF I-C Title match against the Ultimate Warrior.  The maneuver helped the
Warrior regain the championship and pushed Piper over another barrier of popularity.  It
seemed that between the Warrior, Piper and Hogan, the WWF was seeing some of it’s
best days.  Piper and Rude battled each other all over the United States for the remainder
of the year.  One incident occurred during an edition of the Brother Love Show in which
Piper sprayed the host with all kinds of soaps and cleansers until Rude ran out.  On
another show, Piper brought the same woman that Rude had kissed earlier on the
television taping into the ring and offered his own.  The two wrestlers even grappled in
special cages matches on different house shows.

On November 23, 1989, Piper led a team of four against a team led by Rude during the
Survivor Series pay-per-view.  He was joined for the match by the Bushwhackers and
Jimmy Snuka against Rude, Mr. Perfect and the Rougeau Brothers.  Piper pinned
Raymond Rougeau, but later was counted out during a wild brawl with Rude.  A special
edition of Prime Time Wrestling was held on December 27, 1989.  Bobby Heenan and
Gorilla Monsoon hosted the show.  Angry at the derogatory comments Heenan was making
about Christmas, Piper was pushed over the edge.  He attacked the manager with a
barrage of punches.

During the Royal Rumble on January 21st in Orlando, Piper brawled with Bad News
Brown.  A new feud was opened.  The Piper-Brown battle continued into WrestleMania VI
in Toronto on April 1st.  For the match, he went to the ring painted half white and half
black, inciting controversy as always.  It was the “Rowdy” way.  The two wrestled to a wild
double-countout.  Again, Piper disappeared from the ring.  He performed more
commentary than he did wrestling.  Piper helped instigate the Ted DiBiase-Virgil break-up
in early 1991.  He  brawled with a former enemy, Ric Flair on September 9, 1991 in
Ottawa, setting up a feud between the two.  On January 12, 1992, Piper defeated Ric Flair
by countout in Oshawa, Ontario at the Civic Auditorium.

Piper won his first WWF Title in January 1992 at the Royal Rumble in Albany, NY.  He
beat The Mountie with a sleeperhold to capture the Intercontinental Strap.  Piper teamed
with Hulk Hogan in Chicago on March 7th at the Rosemont Horizon to beat World
Champion, Ric Flair and Sid Justice.  Former I-C Champion Bret Hart challenged Piper for
the title on April 5th in Indianapolis.  A large crowd watched Hart win the title.  Not bitter
about his loss, Piper placed the belt around the new champion’s waist.  Afterwards, he
decided to hang up the tights and restarted his weekly segment, “Piper’s Pit” on April 7th
in Toledo.  The Brooklyn Brawler was his first guest.  He continued to make cameo
appearances off and on.

Piper returned to the WWF on January 29, 1996 when Vince McMahon named him the
interim President, appointed by Gorilla Monsoon, until WrestleMania.  He replaced his
former Prime Time Host while Monsoon was out with an illness.  Piper picked up McMahon
and put him in an airplane spin to put a nail in the coffin.  He announced the specifics for
the Bret Hart-Shawn Michaels, WWF World Title Match at WrestleMania on February 26,
1996 during Raw.  It was going to be a 60-minute “Iron Man” match.  On March 11th at the
Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Piper got into a verbal altercation with Goldust.  
Nearing the end, Piper was slapped.  Not going out without a fight, the acting president hit
Goldust back.  The scene pushed Piper into the WrestleMania card on March 31st.  He
was going to wrestle Goldust in Anaheim.  According to the stipulations, the match was
going to be a “Hollywood Backlot Brawl” and when it was over, Piper was victorious with a
win over the reigning I-C Champion.

Later in the year, he left the World Wrestling Federation and signed a deal with World
Championship Wrestling.  Piper appeared for the first time on October 27, 1996 in Las
Vegas after Hollywood Hogan’s World Title defense against Randy Savage.  An estimated
10,000 fans watched him confront his old enemy.  He had words for Hogan in “shoot” style,
speaking about WrestleMania and his loss of hair.  In the weeks that followed, Eric Bischoff
traveled to Portland in an attempt to sign a Piper-Hogan match in November and
speculation was that he was going to be able to get it done.

Bischoff brought Piper to the ring on November 18th in Florence, South Carolina.  Fans
expected an interview about Hogan, but the NWO attacked Piper and the group’s ring-
leader turned out to be Eric Bischoff himself.  Piper had a big contract signing during the
World War III pay-per-view on November 23rd in Norfolk.  He met the members of the
Outsiders, Hogan, Bischoff, DiBiase, Elizabeth, Vincent, Giant and Syxx.  The two had
words before Piper attacked Hogan and the NWO beat him down.  They took a chair to
Piper’s hip, where he had a large scar from a previous surgery.  “NWO” was painted on
the leg to add insult to injury.  The bout was assigned for the main event of the biggest
show of the year, Starrcade 1996 on December 29th in Nashville, Tennessee.  Piper
received some help against the NWO on December 9th in Charlotte from NFL Football
Player, Kevin Greene.  At Starrcade, he locked up with Hogan in a non-title bout.  Piper
won with his sleeperhold.  Fans were ecstatic and wished it was for the WCW Title.  Some
were thinking that maybe Piper could bring some semblance of sanity back to the
organization.  Tame the NWO.

With the victory, he earned a title shot on February 23, 1997 in San Francisco at
SuperBrawl VII.  He lost by pinfall the second time around.  Piper formed a tag team
consisting of Four Horsemen members Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett and Steve McMichael.  
The quartet teamed on March 16th at Uncensored against Team NWO and Team WCW.  If
his team was victorious, Piper would receive a future cage match with Hogan for the World
Title.  Hogan pinned Lex Luger, from Team WCW, in the finals.  The NWO had won and
earned the right to get title matches with anyone, anytime they wanted.  The rebel group
already controlled both the WCW World Heavyweight and World Tag Straps.

On May 18th in Charlotte, Piper teamed with Ric Flair and Kevin Greene to beat the
Outsiders and Syxx.  Flair pinned Scott Hall.  Piper and Flair then challenged Hall and
Kevin Nash for the World Tag Title on June 15th in Moline, Illinois.  Hall pinned Piper to
retain the belts.  Their friendship didn’t last long.  He wrestled Flair during the Bash at the
Beach show on July 13th.  Piper used his sleeperhold to put the former NWA Champion
out.  Later in the year, he finally got his steel cage match with Hollywood Hogan.  The date
was October 26th, but once again, the WCW World Title was not up for grabs.  Piper
knocked Hogan out with his sleeperhold and won the bout.  Afterwards, he was attacked
by Bischoff, Hogan and Savage.  Piper was cuffed to the cage and beaten.  On January
24, 1998, Piper called Hogan, Sting and Scott Hall to the ring to settle a growing dispute
about Hall’s World Title shot and the vacancy which surrounded the belt.  He recognized
the fact that Hall deserved a match, but there was no champion to give it to him.

A rematch between Hogan and Sting was signed for the next pay-per-view.  Piper teamed
with the Giant at Spring Stampede against Hogan and Kevin Nash on April 19th in Denver.  
He was pinned by Hogan in the special bat-on-a-pole match.  Piper was the special referee
for a match between Bret Hart and Randy Savage at Slamboree ’98 in Worcester.  A
month later, he teamed with Savage on June 14th in Baltimore during the Great American
Bash against Hogan and Hart.  Hart forced Piper’s partner to submit.  He also wrestled
Savage in a single’s match and won by submission.

Piper saw WCW sign the former Ultimate Warrior and his debut in the organization known
just as the “Warrior.” He ran out with the Warrior and Dallas Page on the August 24, 1998
edition of Nitro to clear the ring of all NWO figures.  During War Games, Piper teamed with
the Warrior and Page against NWO Hollywood and NWO Wolfpack.  Page pinned Stevie
Ray to give Team WCW the victory and earned a future World Title shot for himself.

On February 8, 1999, Piper won his first WCW Title with a victory over Bret Hart in
Buffalo.  Comedian Will Sasso helped him capture the United States Heavyweight Title,
along the lineage of his NWA U.S. Title nearly twenty-years before.  Piper lost to Outsider
Scott Hall on February 21st in Oakland, and dropped the U.S. Title.  The challenger had
received support from the Disco Inferno, Kevin Nash and the ring ropes for leverage.  
Piper was pinned at the 8:19 mark.  After the final bell, the action continued.  Piper didn’t
want to give up the belt.  On May 9th in St. Louis, he beat Ric Flair by disqualification.

Piper teamed with Flair and Anderson in an attack of Buff Bagwell during the Great
American Bash.  The three veterans wanted to teach him a little respect.  Roddy fought
Flair that night in a rematch, but was disqualified.  On Nitro, Flair named Piper WCW’s new
Vice President.

Remembering the beating he took, Bagwell fought a special boxing match against Piper
on July 11th in Sunrise, Florida.  Mills Lane, a renowned boxing referee, was brought in to
officiate.  WCW brought in several new members of the creative team, which became
known as the “Powers That Be.” The group was led by Vince Russo, a talented writer from
the WWF.  Russo and his partners seemed to be directing traffic into the heel world of
professional wrestling.

At Starrcade ’99, Piper was seemingly paid to stop the World Title Match between Bret
Hart and Bill Goldberg, reminding many of Montreal in November ’97.  Piper’s motives were
questioned.  On February 20, 2000, he counted Sid Vicious’ final pin on Scott Hall during
SuperBrawl X.  Less than two-months later, Piper watched WCW evolve.  Russo teamed
with Eric Bischoff to form the “New Blood” and the course of history was changing.

Despite the organization’s need, Piper did not return.  Neither did a lot of other big names
who many had hoped to see, including Randy Savage and Scott Hall.  In March 2001,
World Championship Wrestling was sold to WWFE.

In November 2001, Piper began to work with the XWF out of Orlando, Florida.  He was the
first XWF Commissioner.  While the XWF didn’t initially have a television deal, many
organizers believed that it was just a matter of time.  With the WWF dominating pro-
wrestling in America, a serious contender for the number two position was needed to spice
things up.  People remember that during the WWF-WCW war, wrestling was taking new
twists and turns weekly.  The XWF had Roddy Piper involved and that was enough to
spark interest.

Piper has etched himself into the top tier of wrestling history.  His record speaks for
itself…Piper has beaten some of the biggest names in the business including Hogan, Flair
and Bret Hart.  The only reason he never captured the WWF, NWA or WCW World Title
was because promoters were probably scared what he was going to do with it.  There was
no question he deserved reigns with each.  Piper will always be an honorary World
Champion in the hearts of his fans.

TITLE HISTORY:        
-A five-time NWA Americas Heavyweight Champion
        -Defeated Chavo Guerrero (1976)
-Defeated Chavo Guerrero (1977)
-Defeated Chavo Guerrero (1977)
        -Defeated Mando Guerrero (1977)
        -Defeated Chavo Guerrero (1978)
-A two-time NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
        -Defeated Jonathan Boyd (1979)
        -Defeated Buddy Rose (1980)
-A two-time NWA Mid-Atlantic Television Champion
        -Defeated Paul Jones (1980) tournament final
        -Defeated Dick Slater (1983)
-A two-time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion
        -Defeated Ric Flair (1981)        
-Defeated Greg Valentine (1983)
-A two-time NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion
        -Defeated Rick Steamboat (1981)
        -Defeated Jack Brisco (1982)
-WWF Intercontinental Title (1992) defeated The Mountie
-WCW United States Heavyweight Title (1999) defeated Bret Hart

Research by Tim Hornbaker
Roddy Piper Wrestling History
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