Unreleased Footage Shows Softer Side Of ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper
WWE on A&E released new footage from their "Rowdy" Roddy Piper "Biography" episode on Tuesday. The clip shows the separation that Piper kept between Roddy Piper, the character, and Roderick Toombs, the man.
"You had this crazy character on TV and then at home Roderick Toombs was my dad, he was like any dad. He wanted to help us learn how to ride bikes and wanted to beat up our first boyfriends," his daughter Falon Rediger says with a chuckle. The deeply-personal home video footage shows a softer side of the crazed lunatic that most wrestling fans remember.
The video documents Piper playing with his kids by the pool, as well as Christmas and other family gatherings. "He was always there 100%," his wife Kitty said of Piper's time with the family. Though he still had a grueling schedule to keep up with.
"The kids were used to him," Kitty continued. "It was a way of life for them for him to always be going out the door and leaving."
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper died on July 31st, 2015 of cardiopulmonary arrest, caused by hypertension. He was 61 years old.
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper's children contend with a world that often misunderstood the line between reality and theater in this bonus clip from @Biography: "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. #WWEonAE pic.twitter.com/RS18BqJPKW
— WWE on A&E (@WWEonAE) June 7, 2022
The Roddy Piper episode of "Biography" originally aired on April 25th, 2021, as part of the first season of WWE on A&E's "Biography: WWE Legends" program. The next run of WWE on A&E programming will begin on July 10th. The second season of "Biography: WWE Legends" will be joined by the new program "WWE Rivals," and then all the highlights from both shows will be talked about on the post-show "WWE Smack Talk."