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Roddy PiperThe wrestling world lost yet another legendary name after the passing away of Rowdy Roddy Piper. The iconic superstar had an illustrious career in the wrestling business and has left the wrestling business in tears. Though Roddy was a celebrated name in the business and everyone knew almost everything about him, there are still some lesser known facts about the Hall of Famer.Not many fans know the relation he had with Chuck Norris and how he overcame a life-threatening disease. So this list is going to take a look at such things about the late Roddy Piper that you probably did not know.
#10 He is a Canadian
Though Roddy Piper is billed from Scotland, he was actually born Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was then brought up in Winnipeg just like Chris Jericho. Piper also lived a portion of his life in The Pas, Manitoba since he father was working as a Police officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Roddy, however, had Scottish and Irish descent from his mothers side. And since he learned to play bagpipes during a young age, it made it easier for the bookers to bill him from Scotland rather than from Canada. After all, a Canadian with a bagpipe would have been an awkward gimmick in the wrestling world.
#9 He has something in common with Chuck Norris
What is common between Chuck Norris and Roddy Piper? They were both trained up the same instructor. Gene LeBell, who trained Chuck Norris in Mixed Martial arts, also trained Roddy Piper in Judo. LeBell is a 10th degree red belt when it comes to Judo and a 9th degree black belt when it comes to jujutsu.
Though Norris and Piper did not train together, having the same instructor is a big thing indeed. And another famous student of Gene LeBell is none other than Ronda Rousey. Now, that’s what you call a successful teacher.
#8 Expelled from School and walked away from Family
Like most of the professional wrestlers out there, Roddy Piper also had an eventful early life. Piper was expelled from high school at a young age. He then went on to have an altercation with his father which made him walk away from his family. He spent his teenage years in youth hostels and did some odd jobs to earn a living.
Running errands for professional wrestlers and working for local gyms were among this list of odd jobs. Afterwards, Roddy learned to play the Bagpipes which proved to be a trademark in his legacy. During these years, he became friends with former Stanley Cup winner Cam Connor as well.
#7 Piper has acted in nearly fifty movies
Though fans recognize Roddy Piper as a famous professional wrestler, not many know about his Hollywood career. Although he didn’t have many mainstream roles in the film industry, he acted in nearly fifty films and many television series. Some of the most notable films from his filmography are They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown and the Billy Owens series.
He tried out voice acting as well for some time when he voiced for Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken and for Green Lantern: Emerald Knights. Latest Film in Piper’s acting career was an Indy named Portal to Hell which was filmed in 2015.
#6 The story behind Ronda Rousey\'s nickname
All of us are familiar with the nickname of Ronda Rousey. She is often called ‘Rowdy’ and it was her friends that came up with the name. Although Ronda was a WWE fan, she refused to take up the name since she felt that it would make Roddy Piper unhappy. She also felt that it was disrespectful for her to take up the name of a legend and refused to do so.
But all that changed when Ronda finally met Roddy Piper in person. He gave her the permission to use the name and Ronda was more than happy to tag it along. She still wears it as an armor and is clearly proud about the same.
#5 His TNA Spell
The time Roddy Piper spent in WWE will define his legacy. He had some memorable moments during the Territory Days as well and all this success apparently overshadowed the brief spell that he had in TNA. In 2003, TNA managed to snap up Roddy Piper. They made him host several interview segments and in one segment, Piper interviewed Jimmy Snuka.
It was TNA’s Victory Road pay-per-view and there, he dared Snuka to get revenge for the iconic coconut breaking. It would have been excellent if that had happened, but instead, the segment ended with Kid Kash smashing the coconut on Sonjay Dutt. Piper also served as the referee for a match between Scott Hall and Jeff Hardy.
#4 Wrestling, one of his many talents
If you thought Piper was only good in wrestling and acting, think again. Wrestling is just one of the art forms that he excelled in. Before starting off brightly in the wrestling world, Piper was a boxer. He won the Golden Glove Boxing championship as well. Afterwards, he went on to earn a black belt in Judo. He achieved yet another prize in Judo when he became the American Judo Champion.
Piper then became a Judo instructor before trying out his hand in being a stuntman. He learned all these apart from the odd jobs that he did as a teenager. Roddy Piper has also released a UK only Single called ‘I’m Your Man’.
#3 Roddy never won the World Championship
Roddy Piper is a legendary wrestler and a Hall of Famer. However, Roddy never won a World Championship in a major promotion. He is a one-time Intercontinental champion, one-time tag team champion in WWE and hasn’t won any other titles there. He did win Championships in different territories but for some reason, Roddy failed to win the big prize.
He won 34 titles during his illustrious long career and the tag team run mentioned earlier came in 2006, where he teamed up with a 57-year-old Ric Flair. Roddy was 52 at that time taking their combined age to 109 years. This made them the oldest pair of Tag team champions.
#2 He made his debut at an age of 15
Piper learned a lot of lessons from his teenage years and eventually went on to make his professional wrestling debut at a tender age of 15. The year was 1969 and Piper was pitted up against Larry Hennig. For those who cannot recognize the name, Larry Hennig is the grandfather of current WWE superstar Curtis Axel.
Roddy was giving the name ‘Piper’ during this match when the announcer called him so after Roddy came down to the ring playing a bagpipe. Roddy went on to wrestle for another four decades and gave us some memories worth reliving. His last major match came in 2011.
#1 Roddy overcame cancer
Roddy pipers professional career was nothing short of dramatic. He saw a lot of ups and downs throughout but his personal life was even more interesting. After the struggles of his early years and the success of his career, Roddy was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2007. It is a type of cancer-related to the White Blood Corpuscles. The signs showed up when he was taken to a hospital for medical testing before his tag team match alongside Ric Flair on Cyber Sunday.
Roddy underwent rigorous therapy for the same. He also smoked medicinal marijuana to eradicate the symptoms ofcancer and eventually overcame the disease. He was a fighter inside the ring and was a fighter outside it as well. Rest In peace, Roddy.
