Paul Orndorff

Paul Orndorff (born October 29, 1949 in Brandon, Florida) is a former National Football League player and retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Orndorff was best known as "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff'. After retiring Orndorff has worked as a wrestling trainer.

Career
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.

Starting out
Paul Orndorff started wrestling in 1976. He began wrestled in Mid-Southern Wrestling where he feuded with a young Jerry Lawler before he was known as “the King”. Orndorff pinned the King to win the Mid-Southern Heavyweight Title on June 7, 1977 which was Orndorff’s first wrestling title. Orndorff lost the title back to Jerry Lawler before he left the Memphis territory. Orndorff began working for the NWA Tri-State promotion where he got involved in a feud with Ernie Ladd. The feud with Ladd saw Orndorff win the NWA Tri-State NorthAmerican Heavyweight Title from Ernie Ladd on two occations (on May 29, 1978 and again in June). Both times Orndorff’s reigns were short and were ended by Ernie Ladd.

After feuding with Ladd Orndorff continued to make a a name for him self in the National Wrestling Alliance where he feuded with Masked Superstar. During the time he became known as “The Brandon Bull” at the time a nickname that began during his days as a football player. In December 1978 Paul Orndorff teamed with Jimmy Snuka to capture the NWA World Tag Team titles from Baron Von Raschke and Greg Valentine. The duo held on to the titles for 5 months before losing them to Baron Von Raschke and his new partner Paul Jones on April 28, 1978.

In 1979 Orndorff would travel to the Alabama territory “Southeast Championship Wrestling”, there Orndorff would work mainly as a tag-team competitor teaming with Dick Slater to win the NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship from the team of Jimmy Golden and Norvell Austin in October 1979. Their reign only lasted about a month before being upended by the combination of Dennis Condrey and David Schults. Orndorff then teamed with former opponent Norvell Austin (who was calling himself “The Junkyard Dog” at the time, not to be mistaken for the more famous Junkyard Dog) to win the titles in late 1989. The duo beat Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose, the same team that ended Orndorff and Austin’s run with the gold. Norvell Austin, Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose would go on to for The Midnight Express very shortly after.

During 1980 Orndorff started to split his time between the Alabama and the Mid-South territories, until he left the Alabama territory by the end of 1980 to focus entirely on the Mid-South territory. In Mid-South Orndorff feuded with Ken Mantell over Mantell’s propensity for cutting people’s hair after a match. Orndorff would get the better of Mantell and won the rights to use the Freebird hair removal cream on Mantell. Orndorff earned a shot at the North American champion The Grappler but on the day of the match he overslept (storyline) and was insensed when his replacement Jake “The Snake” beat the Grappler for the title. Orndorff’s reaction to Jake’s title win signalled a change in attitude, he turned heel as he demanded a title match against Jake “the Snake”. While he lost the support of the fans he won the North American title on July 4, 1981. Orndorff would feud with Ted Dibiase, JYD, Dusty Rhodes, and Dick Murdoch while holding on to the North American title by hook and by crook. Orndorff lost the title to Ted Dibiase on November 1, 1982 in a match that saw the One Man Gang interfere. Orndorff was unable to wrestle in the rematch due to car trouble, which meant that Ordorff’s friend Bob Roop got the title shot and won the match. It was soon revealed that Roop had sabotaged Orndorff’s car so he could get the title shot instead (storyline). Orndorff turned face to feud with Roop but when he found himself unable to regain the title he left the Mid-South Territory.

Orndorff reappeared in Georgia Championship Wrestling in early 1982 immediately launching into a feud with Buzz Sawyer over the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. Orndorff won the gold on June 20, 1982. During the summer Orndorff would vacate the title so he could focus on pursuing the NWA World Champion ”Nature Boy” RIc Flair. Orndorff was unsuccessful in his challenge and soon focused on the title he gave up. In Orndorff’s absence the title had been won by The Super Destroyer who had won the title in a tournament. On August 19, 1982 Paul Orndorff regained the title from the Super Destroyer. Orndorff next feuded with The Masked Superstar with whom he traded the North American title back and forth during the fall of 1982. Orndorff then traded the title back and forth with Killer Karl Kox. Frustrated with his inability to beat Paul Orndorff for the National title Larry Zbyszko paid Killer Tim Brooks 25,000$ to do his dirty work. Brooks beat Orndorff with the help of a chair and won the title only to turn around and give it to Zybszko. The fact that Zybszko bought the title and didn’t win it forced NWA President Bob Geigel stepped in and stripped Zybsko of the title. By mid 1983 Paul Orndorff disappeared from the wrestling world and wasn’t for 4-5 months.

The World Wrestling Federation
Paul Orndorff signed with the World Wrestling Federation in late 1983 and made his debut in January 1984 with ”Rowdy” Roddy Piper as his manager. Piper nickenamed Paul Orndorff “Mr. Wonderful”, a nickname that he has used ever since. Orndorff made his WWF debut against Salvatore Bellomo on the night that Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the WWF World Heavyweight Title, the night “Hulkamania was born”. Orndorff became one of the first people to challenge the world title, shooting straight to the main event less than a month after his debut. Hogan disposed of the challenger and moved on while Orndorff fought a variety of opponents including the Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana. When Roddy Piper assaulted Jimmy Snuka on the set of “Piper’s Pit” Orndorff (as well as Bob Orton, Jr.) assisted the Rowdy One in his fights. Orndorff and Piper often faced Snuka and “The Tonga Kid” in tag-team competiton.

Near the end of 1984 Roddy Piper’s assault on Cyndi Lauper (storyline) brought Orndorff and Piper on a collision course with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T in one of the most famous angles in the history of pro-wrestling. Hogan’s feud with Piper also meant that Orndorff was thrust back into the main event picture defeating Tony Atlas at “the War to Settle the Score” and then played a part in the main event. The fallout from “the War to Settle the Score” led to the creation of WrestleMania with Hogan and Mr. T (backed up by Jimmy Snuka) took on “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in the main event. 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 shortly afterwards.

Orndorff and Hogan started teaming up to feud with Piper and Orton, facing them in tag-team competition all over the country. Orndorff’s feud with Piper and Orton continued to rage on while Hogan started to defend his title against other contenders with Orndorff facing both Orton and Piper in individual competition, usually without a conclusive outcome. After firing Bobby Heenan as his manager the Brain placed a $25,000 bounty on Orndorff, payable to anyone who could injure him, when no one succeeded Heenan upped the bounty to $50,000 in the hopes of forcing “Mr. Wonderful” out. One of the first men to try and claim the new, higher bonus was Roddy Piper himself but their matches got so out of hand that Bruno Sammartino was appointed as a special referee in the hopes of keeping peace. Instead of keeping peace Sammartino became a target for Orton and Piper, which led to Orndorff and Sammartino teaming up. Orndorff teamed with a variety of opponents in his fights with Piper and Orton including Andre “The Giant”. In February 1986 Bobby Heenan used a match between Hulk Hogan and Don Muraco as an opportunity to have King Kong Bundy attack Hogan, setting up their WrestleMania 2 match. While Hogan fought off Bundy, Orndorff battled Don Muraco in a match that ended in a disappointing double count out.

The double count out was a clear signal that Paul Orndorff did not have momentum on his side any more, he had gone from being a world title challenger to Hulk Hogan’s tag-team partner helping the champ fight his battles. Orndorff’s frustrations were futher fuelled by Adrian Adonis who took every opportunity he could to mock Orndorff, saying he had gone soft from teaming with Hogan. Adonis kept on irritating Orndorff, going so far as to daring Paul Orndorff to prove just how close his relationship with Hulk Hogan really was. During a televised phonecall to Hulk Hogan Orndorff is told that Hogan is too busy training to come to the phone, something which pissed Orndorff off no end. The next time Hogan and Orndorff teamed up Orndorff wrestled most of the match by himself in an attempt to upstage Hogan. During a tag match where Hogan and Orndorff faced the massive duo of “Big” John Studd and King Kong Bundy Hogan and Orndorff accidentally collided and Hogan knocked Orndorff off the apron. When Studd and Bundy started to double team Hogan Orndorff did not help out, he looked like he had hurt his eye in the collision. It wasn’t until Studd and Bundy had Hogan in a compromised position that Orndorff re-entered the ring and then proceeded to Piledrive Hogan.

Orndorff soon reunited with Manager Bobby Heenan and once again feuded with Hulk Hogan, including a memorable outdoor match in Toroto which drew an estimated 76,000 fans. After a series of matches with no clean outcome it was decided that Hogan and Orndorff would clash in a Steel cage match on Saturday Night’s Main Event. The Cage match saw both Orndorff and Hogan climb over the top of the cage and touched the floor at the same time. After reviewing the footage it was decided that it was a draw and the match was restarted. Once the match restarted Hogan beat Orndorff with the Leg drop and then easily exited the cage to win the match, ending their feud.Their half-year long feud is one of the most notable (and profitable) feuds in the history of pro wrestling.

During the Hogan feud, Orndorff seriously injured his left arm in a weightlifting accident.. Because he was in the middle of his big money run with Hogan, he didn't want to take the time off to have the surgery to properly treat it, opting instead to continue to wrestle. A botched suplex from Hogan dropped Orndorff on his bad arm, damaging it even further. After the program with Hogan ended Orndorff worked a reduced schedule for a few months before he was forced to take some time off because of the injury. While Orndorff was away from the WWF Bobby Heenan brought in a new man, ”Ravishing” Rick Rude, to take Orndorff’s place in the Heenan Family. Orndorff returned to the ring specifically to fire Bobby Heenan and to feud with Rick Rude. Orndorff took Oliver Humperdink as his manager in his fight with Rude and Heenan. Orndorff’s last “big” appearance was at the inargual Survivor Series on November 26, 1987 where he teamed with Hulk Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, and Don Muraco to take on Andre “The Giant”, the One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Rick Rude, and Butch Reed. Orndorff was eliminated by a roll up by Rude early in the match.

Semi-retirement and return
Paul Orndorff retired in very early 1988 due to his arm injury and focused on running his bowling alleys in Florida. During his time away from the sport he was actually reported to have died, a story that made several newspapers. The time off was because of the injury to his arm/neck that he suffered during the Hogan feud and had allowed to go untreated for too long. With the time off Orndorff recovered and started working out, reestablishing the physique that earned him the nickname “Mr. Wonderful” in the first place, the only difference was that his left arm was noticeably smaller and weakened due to a neck injury that caused nerve damage and eventually the atrophy of his left biceps.

In 1990 Orndorff returned to the squared circle, wrestling a series of matches against Kerry Von Erich on the independent circuit. By the spring of 1990 Orndorff signed with World Championship Wrestling making his debut as a member of a group called the “Dudes with Attitudes” consisting of himself, Sting, Lex Luger, Junkyard Dog, and the Steiner Brothers. The Dudes backed Sting in his fight with the Four Horsemen. At Clash of the Champions XI Orndorff defeated Arn Anderson and at the 1990 Great American Bash Orndorff teamed up with the Junkyard Dog and El Gigante to defeat Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, and Sid Vicious by disqualification. Orndorff remained with WCW until the fall of 1990.

UWF and the indies
By late 1990, Orndorff became one of the featured headliners for Herb Abrams fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation. Televised on several cable outlets, the UWF saw many former WWF stars such as Don Muraco, Bob Orton, Jr., “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, Lou Albano, and The Killer Bees (known as “Masked Confusion” in the UWF). Mr. Wonderful more or less immediately started fueding with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams who attacked Orndorff to kick start the feud. Orndorff and Williams clashed several times and was promoted as the “Signature Feud” of the UWF in it’s early days. Orndorff would also reignite his feud with Bob Orton, Jr. in the UWF where he beat Orton for the UWF Southern States Championship on June 22, 1992 and held the title until he left the promotion. On June 9, 1991 Orndorff competed on the UWF’s only ever PPV Beach Brawl, defeating Col. DeBeers in a Strap match. Orndorff left the UWF sometime in early 1993 vacating the Southern States title.

While working for the UWF Orndorff would also compete in the “American Wrestling Federation” (not the safe promotion as the AWF and held the AWF Heavyweight title after beating Stan Lane on December 16, 1991. in February 1992 Orndorff left the AWF vacating the title. During this time Orndorff also competed in the “National Wrestling League” holding it’s tag-team titles alongside Brian Blair sometime in 1993.

Smoky Mountain Wrestling
In 1992 Smokey Mountain Wrestling opened it’s doors for the first time as they announced a tournament to crown the first SMW Heavyweight Champion. Among the participants invited to compete were Buddy Landel, ”Dirty White Boy” Tony Anthony, and Brian Lee. Orndorff was only listed as an “Alternate” in case someone got injured, the “alternate” status was a blow to Orndofff’s ego (storyline) causing him to attack several wrestlers including Hector Guerrero so he could take his place in the tournament. Orndoff beat Tim Horner and Robert Gibson to advance to the finals in the tournament. In the final Orndoff got disqualified giving the title to Brian Lee instead.

Siding with the “Dirty White Boy” Tony Anthony Orndorff feuded with Hector Guerrero and Brian Lee. Lee brought in Ron Garvin to fight off Orndorff, including a very publicized “piledriver” match which Garvin won. Orndorff was “fire” from the SMW after piledriving a referee in frustration.

World Championship Wrestling
In 1993 Orndorff made another appearance for WCW, billed as a “Tough Man’s Match” Paul Orndorff took on ”Cactus” Jack with the winner being manager Harley Race’s chosen replacement for an injured Rick Rude. Race assisted Orndorff in the match and was quickly joined by Vader in his attack on Cactus Jack. After the match Race declared that Paul Orndorff was his chosen man signaling Orndorff’s full time return to WCW. Orndorff was pinned by Cactus Jack in subsequent “Thunderdome Mach” and the two had an intense feud including a Falls Count Anywhere match at SuperBrawl III which Cactus Jack won.

After the feud with Cactus cooled off “Mr. Wonderful” set his sights on the vacant WCW World Television Championship. Orndorff signed up for a 16 man tournament beating 2 Cold Scorpio, Cactus Jack, Johnny B. Badd, and then Erik Watts in the finals to win his first WCW title. Orndorff the TV champion and Rick Rude the U.S. Champion began teaming on a regular basis, including a PPV victory over Dustin Rhodes and Kensuke Sasaki at Slamboree 1993. During this time Orndorff also turned back the challenges of Ron Simmons holding on to his Television title by any means necessary. On August 18, 1993 Orndorff’s luck ran out as Ricky Steamboat challenged for the title at Clash of the Champions XXIV and took the gold away from Mr. Wonderful. After unsuccessfully challenging Ricky Steamboat through out the fall and winter of 1993 it was time for a change of pace.

After the 1993 WCW PPV Battlebowl the Horsemen Paul Roma and Arn Anderson faced the semi-regular team of Paul Orndorff and ”Stunning” Steve Austin on WCW Saturday Night. During the match Roma acted very indifferent to his tag-team partner sewing the seeds to his heel turn. Next Roma teamed with Erik Watts to take on the team of Orndorff and Austin once again, this time Roma took it a step further and attacked Erik Watts before announcing that he was now teaming with Paul Orndorff. Under the tutelage of manager Masked Assassin the team quickly began to work well together, leading to a match against Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio at Starrcade 1993. Pretty Wonderful was successful in their first major match as a team, but lost a rematch to Bagwell and Scopio only a month later at Clash of Champions XXVI

Then in the following months both Roma and Orndorff focused their individual careers before reuniting around may, this time without their manager and now officially known as “Pretty Wonderful”. With both men rededicated to teaming they soon targeted the then WCW World Tag-Team Championship Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan, especially one incident stands out as Pretty Wonderful establishing them in the title chase. The Champions had one last defense against former champions The Nasty Boys that also saw Kevin’s injured brother Dave. The match degraded into a brawl that saw Pretty Wonderful make an appearance using Dave’s crutch to attack the champions. Before the team left the ring they also took a couple of shots at the Nasty Boys for good measure. Going into Bash at the Beach 1994 Pretty Wonderful had the advantage as both champions were suffering from injuries inflicted by the challengers. Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan were unable to hold off Roma and Orndorff’s blend of speed and experience and Pretty Wonderful left the ring with the gold. After winning the titles Pretty Wonderful was immediately challenged by the Nasty Boys who had not forgotten their attack. The Nasty Boys gained a non-title victory over the duo at Clash of the Champions but when the gold was on the line Pretty Wonderful retained.

The next challengers for the gold was the recently created duo of Stars’N’Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell & The Patriot) at Fall Brawl the champions retained but a week later the championship changed hands when Stars’N’Stripes got the 1-2-3. Pretty Wonderful was granted a rematch against the new champions with a match booked for Halloween Havoc, Pretty Wonderful regained the titles when Roma used one of the title belts to knock Bagwell out cold. At Clash of the Champions XXIX Stars’N’Stripes were granted one FINAL shot at the tag-team titles, but the challengers also had to put up he Patriot’s mask on the line, if they lost he would unmask. After a controversial double pin finish Stars’N’Stripes were declared the winners and thus the champions putting the end to Pretty Wonderful’s second and final run with the gold.

After Roma left WCW Orndorff returned to singles competition with his most notable match at the time being an unsuccessful shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship when he faced champion the Great Muta at Slamboree 1995. In May, 1995 Orndorff once again won the WCW Television title after defeating Brian Pillman in a tournament final. His second run with the title was short lived as he came up against WCW newcomer The Renegade at Bash at the Beach where he lost the title in short order. Orndorff was also unable to beat the rookie in subsequent matches and began to lose confidence in his abilities (storyline). After losing more and more matches Orndorff lost all faith in his abilities, the arrogant Mr. Wonderful was riddled with self doubt, that is until one night where he was visited by psychic Gary Spivey who told Orndorff to believe in himself and that he shouldn’t forget that he was “Mr. Wonderful”. With his confidence restored the more carefree, less arrogant Paul Orndorff started to win again, quickly disposing of the now Ex-TV champion the Renegade.

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, it was something he had worked through as best he could but by the end of 1995 he was forced to retire and started to work as a trainer and a road agent for WCW.

Incident with Vader
During an encounter backstage in which Vader had reportedly been asked by Kevin Sullivan and several others to come and do a crucial interview segment. Vader was abusive, tired, and injured. There was also speculation of his drinking and medicating for injuries that caused him to have mood swings. Kevin Sullivan went to Paul Orndorff and asked him to go ask Vader to do the interview before the union workers had to take their break. Vader says that Orndorff was abusive to him and started it. Orndorff claims that Vader was abusive. A brief fight ensued 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. The two were separated in short time. Afterwards, Vader was soon released from World Championship Wrestling. Orndorff's reputation as a 'legit tough guy' was cemented by this altercation for three reasons. One, Vader knocked Orndorff off his feet with the first flurry of blows and Orndorff came back. Two, Orndorff was impaired by a severely impaired arm that had started to atrophy due to nerve damage caused by injuries in the ring that left him all but one armed. Three, his overcoming of the much larger (400+ pound) ex-NFL lineman in such a vicious way.

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.

Retirement
After Orndorff retired he began to run 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. He was inducted on April 2, 2005 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

Wrestling facts
Finishing moves
 * Piledriver


 * Signature moves
 * Orndorff Knee Drop (Diving knee drop)
 * Armbar
 * Elbow drop
 * Forearm strike followed into a clothesline
 * Sleeper hold

Managers
 * Roddy Piper
 * Bobby Heenan
 * Oliver Humperdink
 * Masked Assassin

College Football

 * University of Tampa
 * Inducted into the University of Tampa Football Hall of Fame in 1986

Professional Wrestling

 * American Wrestling Federation
 * AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Mid-South Wrestling
 * Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Mid-Southern Wrestling
 * Mid-Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * World
 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jimmy Snuka


 * National
 * NWA National Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
 * NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Tri-State version) (2 times)


 * Regional
 * NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Dick Slater (1) and Norvell Austin (1)


 * National Wrestling League
 * NWL Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Brian Blair


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * 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 in 1985.
 * PWI Feud of the Year award, versus Hulk Hogan in 1986,
 * PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year award in 1986.
 * PWI ranked him # 115 of the top 500 wrestlers in 1991.
 * PWI ranked him # 108 of the top 500 wrestlers in 1992.
 * PWI ranked him # 38 of the top 500 wrestlers in 1993.
 * PWI ranked him # 64 of the top 500 wrestlers in 1994.
 * PWI ranked him # 50 of the top 500 wrestlers in 1995.


 * Universal Wrestling Federation
 * UWF Southern States Championship (1 time)


 * World Championship Wrestling
 * WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Paul Roma
 * WCW World Television Championship (1 time)


 * World Wrestling Entertainment
 * WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)


 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * 1986 Feud of the Year (vs Hulk Hogan)