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Paul
Orndorff
Orndorff
VS Hogan
(WWF
- Madison
Square Garden)
Paul Orndorff is a living legend
of the sports entertainment business.
Orndorff
has a background in professional football (NFL),
bodybuilding, and entered the professional wrestling
business in approx. 1977.
By
1984 has was signed to a World Wrestling Federation
contract and competed in the main event of WrestleMania,
teaming with Roddy Riper, and they faced Hulk
Hogan and Mr. T, to a sell out crowd at Madison
Square Garden, in New York.
Orndorff
has held more wrestling championships that you
can list, however, he never secured any WWF titles.
Having said that, the Orndorff - Hogan and Orndorff
- Piper feuds are amongst the highest grossing
and well regarded, of all time.
Whilst
wrestling, Orndorff invested wisely in real estate
and bowling alleys across the United States.
Paul
Orndorff (born October 29, 1949 in Brandon, Florida)
is a retired professional wrestler, best known
for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation
and World Championship Wrestling 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. However, he 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 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
North American Heavyweight Title from Ernie Ladd
on two occasions (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 name for himself in the National Wrestling Alliance
where he feuded with Masked Superstar. During
the time he became known as “The Brandon
Bull," a nickname he had 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.[3] 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's
“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 1979. 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 form The Midnight Express shortly
thereafter.
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 incensed when his replacement Jake “The
Snake" Roberts beat the Grappler for the
title.[3] Orndorff’s reaction to Jake’s
title win signaled 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, 1981 in a match at the Municipal
Auditoriun in New Orleans, Louisiana. 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.[3]
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 found
himself unable to regain the title[5] after which
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.[3] During the summer, Orndorff would vacate
the title so he could focus on pursuing the NWA
World Champion "Nature Boy" RIc Flair.[3]
Orndorff was unsuccessful in his challenge and
soon focused on the title he gave up. When Orndorff
vacated the title, it was put on the line in a
tournament that was won by The Super Destroyer.
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 National Heavyweight title back and
forth during the fall of 1982. Orndorff then traded
the title back and forth with Super Destroyer.
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 Zbyszko.
The fact that Zybszko bought the title and didn’t
win it forced NWA President Bob Geigel to step
in and strip Zbyszko of the title. By mid 1983,
Paul Orndorff disappeared from the wrestling world
and was not seen for 4-5 months.
World Wrestling Federation
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 nicknamed 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
that "Hulkamania was born", January
23, 1984 in Madison Square Garden. Orndorff became
one of the first people to challenge for the world
title, shooting straight to the main event less
than a month after his debut.[8] 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 competition.
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; he defeated 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 by Jimmy Snuka) taking 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;
Orndorff faced 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.[16] When no one
succeeded, Heenan upped the bounty to $50,000.[7]
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 further fueled by Adrian Adonis,
who took every opportunity that he could to mock
Orndorff (including referring to him as "Hulk
Jr."), saying that he had gone soft from
teaming with Hogan. Adonis kept on irritating
Orndorff, going so far as daring Paul Orndorff
to prove just how close his relationship with
Hulk Hogan really was. During a televised phone
call to Hulk Hogan, Orndorff was told that Hogan
was too busy training to come to the phone, something
which aggravated Orndorff to no end. The next
time that Hogan and Orndorff teamed up, Orndorff
wrestled most of the match by himself in an attempt
to upstage Hogan.[19] 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 to fend off Studd and Bundy. Orndorff
then helped Hogan to his feet and raised his hand
in the air and gave Hogan a clothesline followed
by a piledrive Hogan.
Orndorff
soon reunited with manager Bobby Heenan and once
again feuded with Hulk Hogan, including a memorable
outdoor match in Toronto 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 touch 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. 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 inaugural 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
alley in Fayetteville. 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
right arm was noticeably smaller and weakened
due to a neck injury that caused nerve damage
and eventually the atrophy of his right biceps.
In
1990 Orndorff returned to the squared circle,
wrestling a series of matches against Kerry Von
Erich on the independent circuit.[7] 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[24]
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.[25] 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.[7] 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
feuding with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams,
who attacked Orndorff to kick start the feud.
Orndorff and Williams clashed several times in
what 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.[3] On June
9, 1991, Orndorff competed on the UWF’s
only PPV Beach Brawl, defeating Col. DeBeers in
a Strap match.[26] 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 same 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.[3] During this
time Orndorff also competed in the “National
Wrestling League", holding its' tag-team
titles alongside Brian Blair sometime in 1993.[3]
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
In
1992, Smoky Mountain Wrestling opened its 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
Orndoff’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[27] and Robert Gibson[27]
in the preliminary rounds to advance to the finals
of the tournament. In the finals, Brian Lee won
the title when Orndorff was disqualified.
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;[28]
the feud included a very publicized “piledriver"
match which was won by Garvin.[29] Orndorff was
“fired" from the SMW after piledriving
a referee in frustration.
[edit]
World Championship Wrestling
Orndorff
returned to WCW in late 1992. In January 1993
he took on Cactus Jack, with the winner being
manager Harley Race’s chosen replacement
for an injured Rick Rude at the Clash of the Champions.
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...[30] Orndorff was pinned
by Cactus Jack in a subsequent "Thunderdome
Match"[31]; 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.[3] 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.[33] During this time Orndorff also turned
back the challenges of amongst others Ron Simmons
and Marcus Alexander Bagwell, holding on to his
Television title by any means necessary.[34] Orndorff
defeated Bagwell controversially, using the second
rope for leverage during the pinfall. The two
would later go on to feud for the WCW World Tag
Team Title. Orndorff's World TV Title reign also
included a disqualification loss to Johnny B Badd,
after Maxx Payne violently interfered. This led
to a brief six man tag team alliance between Orndorff,
Payne, and Chris Benoit. On August 18, 1993, Orndorff’s
luck ran out as Ricky Steamboat won the title
at Clash of the Champions XXIV[35].[3] After unsuccessfully
challenging Ricky Steamboat throughout the fall
and winter of 1993, it was time for a change of
pace.
Pretty
Wonderful
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,
sowing 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 in a feud
with Marcus Alexander Bagwell and 2 Cold Scorpio.[36][37]
In the following months both Roma and Orndorff
focused on their individual careers before reuniting
around May. This time they wrestled without their
manager and were officially known as “Pretty
Wonderful". With both men rededicated to
teaming, they soon challenged for the WCW World
Tag Team Championship then held by Cactus Jack
and Kevin Sullivan. One incident especially stands
out that established Pretty Wonderful 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,[38] Pretty Wonderful
had the advantage as both champions were suffering
from injuries inflicted by the challengers on
previous occasions (or so the storyline went).
Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan were unable to
hold off Roma and Orndorff, as Pretty Wonderful
left the ring with the gold.[3][39] After winning
the titles Pretty Wonderful was immediately challenged
by the Nasty Boys, but the Nasty Boys were never
able to take the gold from the champions. Next,
Pretty Wonderful was challenged by the duo of
Stars’N’Stripes (Marcus Alexander
Bagwell & The Patriot) at Fall Brawl. The
champions retained,[40] but a week later the championship
changed hands when Stars’N’Stripes
got the victory.[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 a final shot at the tag-team titles,
but the challengers also had to put up the Patriot’s
mask on the line. 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.[42] In May, Orndorff got
a golden opportunity to regain the WCW Television
title. He defeated Brian Pillman in a tournament
to earn the shot at the champion.[43] Unfortunately,
he lost to WCW newcomer The Renegade at Bash at
the Beach.[44] 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, until one night where
he was visited by psychic Gary Spivey. Spivey
told Orndorff to believe in himself and that he
shouldn’t forget that he was “Mr.
Wonderful".[45] With his confidence restored,
the more carefree and 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, 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, he overcame
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 at
the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California
by Bobby “The Brain" Heenan.
Wrestling
facts
Finishing
moves
*
Piledriver
*
Signature moves
*
Orndorff Drop (Diving knee drop)
* Armbar
* Elbow drop
* Forearm strike followed into a clothesline
* Sleeper hold
Managers
*
Roddy Piper
* Bobby Heenan
* Oliver Humperdink
* Masked Assassin
Entrance
Music
*
U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer(UWF [90's])
Championships and accomplishments
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)
*
Continental Wrestling Association
*
AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*
Georgia Championship Wrestling
*
NWA National Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
*
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
*
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic
version) (1 time) - with Jimmy Snuka
*
NWA Mid-America
*
NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Memphis
version) (1 time)
*
NWA Tri-State | Mid-South Wrestling Association
*
Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship
(1 time)
* NWA North American Heavyweight Championship
(Tri-State version) (2 times)
*
National Wrestling League
*
NWL Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Brian
Blair
*
Southeastern Championship Wrestling
*
NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- with Dick Slater (1) and Norvell Austin (1)
*
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)
*
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
*
PWI Match of the Year award in 1985 - with Roddy
Piper, versus Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at WrestleMania
* PWI Feud of the Year award in 1986 - vs. Hulk
Hogan
* PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year award in
1986.
* PWI ranked him # 115 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991.
* PWI ranked him # 108 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1992.
* PWI ranked him # 38 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1993.
* PWI ranked him # 64 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1994.
* PWI ranked him # 50 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995.
* PWI ranked him # 49 of the 500 best singles
wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003.
*
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
*
Feud of the Year in 1986 - vs. Hulk Hogan
Personal life
Orndorff
currently resides in Fayetteville, Georgia with
his high school sweetheart Ronda Maxwell Orndorff.
He is the proud father of two sons, Paul Orndorff
III and Travis Orndorff. He has eight grand children.
His son Paul III has two sons; one was given up
for adoption while Chandler is seven, and four
girls; Brandie, Brittany, Brooke, and Gabriella
also reside in Georgia. His son Travis has two
children, Tyler and Isabella. Paul is an avid
hunter and spends most days working in the yard,
planning his next hunt, and spending time with
his family. Paul is still in great shape. He is
a motivational speaker and often does autograph
signings. (Credit:
Wikipedia).
Websites
WWE
Hall of Fame
Wikipedia
- Paul Orndorff
Australian
Sports Entertainment - Paul Orndorff
World
Wrestling Entertainment
WWE
WrestleMania website
WWE
WrestleMania History website
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Square Garden Network
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