Rowdy

October 31, 2016
In February 2015, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, a wrestler, actor, and all-around grand personality, set off on a mission to revisit his rocky past in order to piece it together for a proper autobiography, following 2002's disappointing In the Pit with Piper. With his sudden death in July 2015, it fell to Ariel Toombs and Colt Toombs, two of his children, to finish the project, which became a search for their family history as much a summary of Piper's career. Their book is tinged with melancholy, as the sad ending is known in advance. They write themselves into the story, which is stylistically awkward at times but always endearing. "Beyond the small matter of his origins, his gimmick was hardly a gimmick," they write, trying to explain how Piper used his real, though distant, roots in Scotland to create his character when really he was a hardscrabble kid from western Canada, uprooted constantly by an emotionally distant father who worked for the railway. Those unfamiliar with wrestling may get bogged down in some of the minutiae, well-explained though it is; wrestling fans will be surprised by how little time is spent on Piper's top run in the WWF/WWE. But all will get to know Piper, the man, far better.

November 1, 2016

Mother Teresa was canonized this past September. Next up for sainthood, if one has read this work, must be "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (1954-2015), the kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing "Scottish" (actually Canadian) professional wrestling villain of the late 1990s. This viewpoint might be expected, as two of Piper's (real name Toombs) children completed this biography, which he was writing when he died; they offer a fond picture of a man wrestling fans loved to hate. His warts aren't entirely airbrushed: teenage ventures into crime, struggles with alcohol, and occasional violence outside the ring. Still, there emerges a picture of an essentially good family man and overall stand-up guy in a rough-and-tumble business (yes, the matches are scripted, but much of the mayhem is real), whose career also veered out of the ring into acting and other endeavors. VERDICT A revealing look at a professional wrestler and his world; fans of the sport will relish.--Jim Burns, formerly with Jacksonville P.L., FL

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