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Paul Orndorff

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<tr><th>Billed height</th><td>5 ft 11 in (180 cm)</td></tr> <tr><th>Billed weight</th><td>255 lb (116 kg)</td></tr><tr><th>Born</th><td>October 29, 1949
Brandon, Florida</td></tr><tr><th>Trained by</th><td>Bob Backlund
Jack Brisco
Eddie Graham
Hiro Matsuda</td></tr><tr><th>Debut</th><td>1976</td></tr><tr><th>Retired</th><td>2001</td></tr>
Paul Orndorff
Statistics
Ring name(s) Paul Orndorff

Paul Orndorff (born October 29, 1949 in Brandon, Florida) is a former National Football League player and former professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation throughout the 1980s as "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

After earning notoriety as a running back at the University of Tampa where he scored 21 career touchdowns and gained over 2000 all-purpose yards in his playing career, Orndorff failed to catch on in the NFL with both the Kansas City Chiefs and the New Orleans Saints, but did play for the Jacksonville Sharks of the World Football League in 1975. After one season in the WFL, he began training as a professional wrestler.

"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff started wrestling in 1976. He wrestled in Mid-Southern Wrestling where he feuded with Jerry Lawler. He next went to Mid-South Wrestling where he feuded with Ernie Ladd and won the North American Title om several occasions.

He made a name for himself in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the National Wrestling Alliance where he feuded with Masked Superstar and won the NWA National Heavyweight Title three times. He also won the NWA World Tag Team titles with Jimmy Snuka in 1978.

[edit] WWF years

Orndorff entered the WWF in January 1984 with Roddy Piper as his manager. He was one of the earliest challengers to champion Hulk Hogan. Also feuding with Tony Atlas.

In 1985, he wrestled in the main event at Wrestlemania I on March 31, 1985. He teamed with Piper (with Bob Orton, Jr. in their corner) and lost to Hogan and Mr. T (who had "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka in their corner). The end of the match saw a botched attempt at cheating when Orton accidentally hit Orndorff with the cast on his arm, allowing Hogan to pin Orndorff and win the match for his team.

Blaming Orndorff for the loss, Piper and Orton attacked him on the first episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. Later in the evening, Orndorff ran to the ring to even the sides when Piper and Orton were preparing to double team Hulk Hogan. He solidified his babyface status by publicly firing manager Bobby Heenan. Orndorff would team with Hogan and feud with Piper throughout 1986.

Hogan and Orndorff teamed together until mid-1986 when continued rifts, in part with Adrian Adonis creating dissension, caused to team to split, by Orndorff turning heel again after a tag match with Hogan against King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd by clotheslining Hogan and then giving him his signature piledriver.

He soon reunited with Manager Bobby Heenan to go after Hogan but still could not defeat him. Memorable matches included an outdoor event in Toronto which drew an estimated 76,000 fans. There was also a controversial televised steel cage match in which both Hogan and Orndorff exited the cage simultaneously. The match was restarted by the referee and Hogan won, putting an end to the Hogan-Orndorff war. Their half-year long feud is one of the most notable feuds in the history of pro wrestling.

During the Hogan feud, Orndorff seriously injured his left arm in a weightlifting accident. During his big money run with Hogan, he didn't want to take the time off to properly treat it with surgery, continuing to wrestle. A botched suplex from Hogan dropped Orndorff on his bad arm, damaging it even further. He took off for a long time due to the injury, missing most of 1987. He returned briefly toward the end of the year, fired Bobby Heenan again and took on Oliver Humperdink to feud with Heenan's newest charge, Rick Rude. Orndorff competed in the main event of the inaugural Survivor Series in November 1987, but left the WWF soon thereafter.

[edit] Transition

He retired to run his bowling alleys in Florida for a while but the "wrestling bug" bit him again. Orndorff wrestled Kerry Von Erich in a match for an independent promoter in 1989. Several wrestling publications ran stories of his return to the ring and pictures were published. Fans were shocked to see Orndorff and the dramatic changes in his physical appearance. However, after rigorous and grueling training, he had worked himself up to full fitness again, though his left arm was noticeably smaller and weakened due to a neck injury that caused nerve damage and eventually the atrophy of his left bicep.

Orndorff returned to the NWA, now World Championship Wrestling, in the spring of 1990. Along with Sting, Lex Luger, the Steiner Brothers and others, he was a member of the "Dudes with Attitudes", a group of good guys set out to counteract the Four Horsemen. He defeated Arn Anderson on a televised Clash of Champions card and along with El Gigante and Junkyard Dog, defeated Anderson, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious at the Great American Bash in July 1990.

[edit] The UWF

By late 1990, Orndorff was one of the featured, if not the primary, names of Herb Abrham's fledgling UWF federation. While televised on several cable outlets, the UWF was made up of many WWF retreads such as Don Muraco, Bob Orton, Jimmy Snuka, Lou Albano, and the Killer Bees. Orndorff was featured in a feud with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams.

In 1991, Orndorff competed in the UWF's pay-per-view, "Beach Blast" defeating Col. DeBeers. While the UWF did get some television exposure, it faded from prominence shortly after this PPV.

[edit] Smoky Mountain Wrestling

In May 1992 Orndorff debuted for the company during the Vounteer Slam event. He competed for the vacant Heavyweight title during the tournament he started a feud with Ronnie Garvin as well He was in SMW until late-1992 when he returned to WCW due to a working agreement with SMW.

[edit] World Championship Wrestling

He came back full-time to World Championship Wrestling in 1993 and feuded with Dustin Rhodes and Ricky Steamboat. He also won the WCW Television Championship in a tournament final over Erik Watts.

In 1994, he teamed with Paul Roma and became Pretty Wonderful and won the WCW Tag Team Championship twice. They had a feud with Stars N Stripes (Marcus Bagwell and The Patriot).

What many fans never noticed was that, due to his previous injures in the WWF, the entire right side of his body began to atrophy, eventually causing his arm and leg muscles to shrink. Despite that, he continued to compete until his retirement.

[edit] Incident with Vader

During an encounter backstage in which Vader had reportedly showed up late for work, comments from Orndorff ignited a brief fight that had apparently been brewing for some time. Accounts of this notorious real-life altercation generally claim that the upper hand was held by Orndorff, who'd practically "begged Vader to start something" as tensions grew [1]. The two were separated in short time. Afterwards, Vader was soon released from World Championship Wrestling.

Both men tell very different accounts of this incident, Orndorff stating that he was simply the better man in the fight, and Vader stating that, fearing for his position in the company, he relented in his assault on Orndorff after taking him off his feet with his first strike.

[edit] Retirement

Orndorff eventually retired to run the WCW Power Plant, where he trained several wrestlers including the Natural Born Thrillers. He had a brief onscreen role during this time in the Old Age Outlaws with Terry Funk, Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko to feud with the last WCW incarnation of the nWo.

On February 3, 2005, Orndorff was announced as one of the inductees for the Class of 2005 into the WWE Hall of Fame and was inducted on April 2, 2005 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Wrestling facts

[edit] Finishing and signature moves

[edit] Managers

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • American Wrestling Federation
  • 1-time AWF Heavyweight Champion
  • Mid Southern Wrestling
  • National Wrestling League
  • PWI ranked him # 49 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
  • PWI Match of the Year Award, with Roddy Piper, versus Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at WrestleMania (1985)
  • PWI Feud of the Year Award, versus Hulk Hogan (1986)
  • PWI Most Hated Wrestler Award (1986)
  • PWI 500 Rankings: 1991 - #115; 1992 - #108; 1993 - #38; 1994 - #64; 1995 - #1
  • 1986 Feud of the Year (vs Hulk Hogan)
  • Inducted into the UT Football Hall of Fame in 1986

[edit] References

[edit] External links

it:Paul Orndorff

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