Paul Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 - July 12, 2021), nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful", left an indelible mark on the world of professional wrestling. His physique, intensity, and unmatched work ethic made him a legend whose influence extended far beyond the squared circle. This article delves into the career of Paul Orndorff, exploring his journey from his early days to his iconic matches and championships.
Paul Orndorff was born in Winchester, Virginia. After their breakup, Paul lived with his dad in a 22-foot trailer. Without a strong parental presence, Orndorff found himself spending a lot of time on the streets while hanging out with kids nearly twice his age. Even at 14, Orndorff already exhibited the athletic gifts that defined his pro wrestling career.
Before Paul Orndorff became one of wrestling’s most dominant forces, he was already rewriting athletic history in a way that would dwarf anything the WWF could stage. Living in poverty, fighting on the streets, and raised in a 22-foot trailer by a father who ignored him, Orndorff engineered an impossible escape - becoming a multi-sport elite athlete in football, track, bodybuilding, and arm wrestling before ever stepping into a wrestling ring.
Paul Orndorff: Multi-sport athlete excelling in football, track, and bodybuilding before his Hall of Fame professional wrestling career.
Early Career and NWA Years
Paul Orndorff started wrestling in 1976 in Mid-Southern Wrestling where he feuded with a young Jerry Lawler. Orndorff won his first wrestling title when he pinned Lawler for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship on June 7, 1977. Orndorff lost the title back to Lawler before he left the Memphis territory.
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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 Ladd on two occasions (on May 29, 1978 and again in June). After feuding with Ladd, Orndorff continued to make a name for himself in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) where he feuded with The Masked Superstar. During this 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. In 1979, Orndorff traveled to the Alabama territory's “Southeast Championship Wrestling." There, Orndorff worked 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.
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 got the better of Mantell and won the right 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. Orndorff's reaction to Roberts's title win signaled a change in attitude; he turned heel as he demanded a title match against Roberts. While he lost the support of the fans, he won the North American title on July 4, 1981.
Orndorff feuded with Ted DiBiase, JYD, Dusty Rhodes, and Dick Murdoch while holding on to the North American title. Orndorff lost the title to DiBiase on November 1, 1981, in a match at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans, Louisiana. Orndorff was unable to wrestle in the rematch due to car trouble, which meant that Orndorff'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).
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Orndorff reappeared in Georgia Championship Wrestling in early 1982 immediately launching into a feud with Buzz Sawyer over the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. He won the gold on June 20, 1982. During the summer, he vacated the title to focus on pursuing the NWA World Champion "Nature Boy" Ric Flair. He 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, 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.
Frustrated with his inability to beat 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. Orndorff then moved to New Japan Pro Wrestling for several months. He made two tours of Japan, the first in April. He wrestled Kengo Kimura, Riki Choshu, and Akira Maeda, as well as teaming up with Ed Leslie against Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi.
WWF/WWE Career
Orndorff signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1983 and made his debut in November of that year on Championship Wrestling. Starting in January 1984, Orndorff took on "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as his manager. Piper nicknamed Orndorff "Mr. Wonderful", a nickname that he used thereafter. 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.
When Piper assaulted Jimmy Snuka on the set of Piper's Pit, Orndorff assisted the Rowdy One in his matches. Near the end of 1984, Piper's assault on Cyndi Lauper (kayfabe) brought Orndorff and Piper on a collision course with Hogan and Mr. T. Hogan's feud with Piper also meant that Orndorff was thrust back into the main event picture.
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The fallout from The War to Settle the Score led to the creation of WrestleMania, with Hogan and Mr. T (backed by Snuka) taking on Piper and Orndorff in the main event. Orton's interference at the end of the match backfired when he 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 Saturday Night's Main Event I. 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 Orndorff fired Heenan as his manager, Heenan 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. One of the first men to try to claim the new, higher bonus was Piper himself, but their matches got so out of hand that Bruno Sammartino was appointed as a special referee in the hopes of keeping the peace.
In February 1986, Heenan used a match between Hogan and Don Muraco as an opportunity to have King Kong Bundy attack Hogan, setting up their WrestleMania 2 match. Adrian Adonis 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 Orndorff to prove just how close his relationship with Hogan really was.
During a televised phone call to Hogan, Orndorff was told that Hogan was too busy training to come to the phone, something which aggravated Orndorff no end. The next time that Hogan and Orndorff teamed up, against The Moondogs, Orndorff wrestled most of the match by himself in an attempt to upstage Hogan, scoring the winning pin.
The next week, during a tag match where Hogan and Orndorff faced the massive duo of Big John Studd and 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 was not until Studd and Bundy had Hogan in a compromised position that Orndorff re-entered the ring to fend off Studd and Bundy.
Orndorff soon reunited with manager Heenan and again feuded with Hogan, and began using Hogan's theme music, "Real American", as his own entrance theme. During the Hogan feud, Orndorff seriously injured his right arm in a weightlifting accident. Because he was in the middle of his big-money run with Hogan, he did not want to take the time off to have the surgery to properly treat it, opting instead to continue to wrestle.
Paul Orndorff vs. Hulk Hogan - Steel Cage Match - 12/13/1986 - WWF
Their matches included a memorable outdoor match in Toronto at The Big Event 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 IX (which took place in December 1986 but aired in 1987). The cage match saw both Orndorff and Hogan climb over the top of the cage and touch the floor at the same time; heel referee Danny Davis, illegally at ringside, declared Orndorff the winner and assigned referee Joey Marella declared Hogan victorious. After reviewing the footage it was decided that it was a draw and the match was restarted. Once the match restarted, Hogan easily exited the cage to win the match following a leg drop, ending their feud.
After the program with Hogan ended, Orndorff worked a reduced schedule for a few months. In March 1987, he teamed with King Kong Bundy in the Frank Tunney Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament, defeating Bob Orton and Don Muraco in the first round but losing to the Killer Bees in the semi-finals. During March, he briefly reprised his feud with Hogan on several house shows before taking time off because of the injury.
Orndorff returned to the ring on June 2, 1987, in Buffalo, New York during a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping. Orndorff (along with Bundy, who had been off TV since WrestleMania III as well) returned to team with Hercules and King Harley Race in a victory against Mario Mancini, Don Driggers, Paul Roma, and Jim Powers. Orndorff received a babyface response from the crowd during his return, leading the WWF to change his character. He fired Heenan two months later and began a feud with 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 Hogan, Bam Bam Bigelow, Ken Patera, and Muraco to take on André, One Man Gang, Bundy, Rude, and Butch Reed. Paul Orndorff retired in early 1988 due to his arm injury and focused on running his bowling alley in Fayetteville.
Survivor Series 1987
WCW Career
With the time off, Orndorff recovered and started working out, reestablishing the physique that earned him the nickname "Mr. Wonderful" in the first place. On the May 26 episode of World Championship Wrestling it was announced that Paul Orndorff would face Arn Anderson at Clash of the Champions XI. Orndorff made his in-ring debut on June 9 in Beckley, West Virginia, defeating "Nasty" Ned Brady on Main Event.
Orndorff quickly became affiliated with 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 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.
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 feuding with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, who attacked Orndorff to kickstart the feud.
While working for the UWF, Orndorff also competed 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 1992, Smoky Mountain Wrestling opened its doors for the first time as they announced a tournament to crown the first SMW Heavyweight Champion.
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 Clash of the Champions XXII. Race assisted Orndorff in the match and was quickly joined by Vader in his attack on Cactus Jack. After the feud with Cactus cooled off, "Mr. Wonderful" set his sights on the vacant WCW World Television Championship.
During this time Orndorff also turned back the challenges of Ron Simmons and Marcus Alexander Bagwell, amongst others, holding on to his Television title by any means necessary. Orndorff defeated Bagwell controversially, using the second rope for leverage during the pinfall.
Championships and Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Paul Orndorff achieved significant success, capturing numerous championships and accolades in various promotions. Here's a summary of his major titles:
| Championship | Promotion | Date Won |
|---|---|---|
| NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship | Mid-Southern Wrestling | June 7, 1977 |
| NWA Tri-State North American Heavyweight Title | NWA Tri-State | May 29, 1978 & June 1978 |
| NWA World Tag Team titles | NWA | December 1978 |
| NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship | Southeast Championship Wrestling | October 1979 & Late 1979 |
| North American title | Mid-South Wrestling | July 4, 1981 |
| NWA National Heavyweight Championship | Georgia Championship Wrestling | June 20, 1982 & August 19, 1982 |
| UWF Southern States Championship | Universal Wrestling Federation | June 22, 1992 |
| AWF Heavyweight title | American Wrestling Federation | December 16, 1991 |
| WCW World Television Championship | World Championship Wrestling | March 2, 1993 |
In addition to these titles, Paul Orndorff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005, the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) in 2009, cementing his legacy as one of the greats in professional wrestling history.