Real Stories from the Pro Wrestling Industry

Remember Paul "Mr Wonderful" Orndorff?



Before partnering with Roddy Piper to take on Hulk Hogan & Mr T in Wrestlemania 1, before the WWF entire, he worked down in Florida in the mid to late 70's. I went to school with his son Paul Jr for 1st and 2nd grade at Brandon Academy. His son was the target of bullies that were in 4th and 5th grade even, but Paul Jr actually knew how to fight. I witnessed with my own eyes him flipping some 4th grader with some judo, and he could hold his own. I saw Paul Orndorff for the only time in my life when he got out of his car to talk to teachers about his son in fights. Back then the guy was huge too.

Going back to the radio show I heard with Brian Blair, he told a Mr Wonderful story. It involved Tony Atlas.



^^^ Not even one of his best pictures because Tony Atlas had more size and definition.

Atlas was on steroids, and was in the locker room at a show having a full blown roid rage. Screaming at the top of his lungs "I can whip any mans ass in this locker room!! Except Andre, but I can whoop everyones elses ass!" and on and on he was going, intimidating most of them. Blair was sitting next to Paul who was spitting dip into a styrofoam cup, and Orndorff said "BB, how long do we have to put up with this ****?" very casually, but annoyed.

They were all carpooling together, and Orndorff was in the back, BB driving, and Tony shotgun. Atlas wasnt near done, "Ill whoop any of yalls white asses, except Andre, and I could do it without blinking blah blah...", (he always made a point to say "except Andre" cause word wouldve got back to Andre if he didnt) and Orndorff screams from the backseat "Oh shut up Tony! I can whip your ass!". Blair said Atlas was hostile, "Are you kidding white boy?! Ill wear your honkey ass out Paul!", and Orndorff yelled "Pull over the car BB!!"

So Blair pulls over, Atlas gets out all ready, and Orndorff comes from the backseat (2 door car), and launches right into Atlas. Blair said it looked monumental for a few seconds them exchanging blows, then Orndorff started getting upper hand, then suddenly Atlas screams/shrieks "AAAAHH! MY EAR!! HE BIT OFF MY EAR!" (yes this is a true story and it was 20 yrs before Tyson/Hollyfield). BB said Paul spat the ear part at Atlas saying "Are you done now! Are you gonna shut up?!". Atlas said fine, they got the ear bit which Orndorff spat, and headed to the hospital.

Atlas was panicking, fearing disfigurement, and then started up again, "If you hadnt of bit off my ear Paull I woulda whooped..." then Blair hears from the backseat "Pull over the car again BB!" . Atlas immediately said he was sorry, and stayed quiet.

Many years later in the WWF Orndorff had a mega-money run of matches against Hulk Hogan, but seriously injured his right arm. 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.In time his right arm became noticeably smaller and weakened due to a neck injury that caused nerve damage and eventually the atrophy of his right biceps.

So many years later in 1995 Paul is retired and just running backstage in WCW. There was a huge man bull called Big Van Vader, and the boys were terrified of working with him.



Now getting punched or hit in pro wrestling means you dont really go all out. Vader did. Full contact, nothing held back. He was 6'5" over 450 lbs of sheer muscle. Mick Foley wrote in his book how the boys would look to see who they were working with, and if it was Vader about half the guys would just leave. He would hurt people constantly.

Here, Ill let Steve Austin tell it...he mentions the Atlas fight too.

I haven't read through everything yet Tongo, but i have to say that post on Randy Savage is being nominated for post of the year by me, hopefully JJ and Derek will too.

I feel like i was a kid at a lucky time, because i started watching wrestlng in 99; i saw the run up to and the aftermath of Stone Cold being run over. Right through to the WCW-ECW Invasion storyline.


When i was around 12 a friend offered me one of his dads books because of my obsession with Wrestling, sadly i don't remember the name of it and i'm not in contact with him anymore. Still the story of the NWA was featured, the fact that it seemend almost Circus like, with guys like Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Jerry Lawler and The Von Erichs being national travelling attractions from different promotions makes Vinces monopolization of the industry seem almost identical to JD Rockefellers grip on the oil industry.

For what it's worth i always prefer matches like Savage-Steamboat because their performed by two talented wrestlers, but my favourite Savage Wrestlemania match, was the Wrestlemania 7 match against another recently departed but not quite as talented: The Ultimate Warrior.

I remember that match! I think Randy was doing the Macho King gimmick at the time. He crowned Warrior with his scepter.

Lucky guys i'd have loved that, but at 8 n 2001 my Mum barely let me watch this nevermind attend it . I remember Insurrextion 2000, i had it on video HHH and Shane vs The Rock in the main event. What was the main event in 2001? I'm silently depressed because i remember who was champion then .

Also Miss Elisabeth had been demoted to a Medieval style prize, in that the winner would gain control of her .

Man, I love Vader. When I was at the phase of my life where I watched wrestling like I watch movies now, I'd love watching Vader matches. He is probably my favorite big man worker. A true monster heel that beat the sh*t out of dudes. He had some great matches in Japan too.

Vader was probably worker of the year in 93 -

Vader was surprisingly fast and athletic for someone his size, he was somehow able to do a backflip .

Out of interest do you have any negative stories on wrestlers Tongo? Just wondering because i've read alot about Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels being ******** backstage who largely got their way. Maybe it's just a bitter representation of them, but i know of certain claims of both of them and a few others dictating the cards so it would be played out the way the star wanted.

You never knew who was going to be on till it actually started, so we were hoping The Rock would be there, but he wasn't . It was Steve Austin, Triple H and The Undertaker

William Regal was there as well

By William Regal, do you mean that American guy that talked like an American guy imitating an English guy, still i'm pretty sure he drank a cup of Tea once; he got that much right .

Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michael are notorious for playing politics backstage to get their way/wins. Shawn had a group called the Klique, which consisted of Kevin Nash, Triple H, Scott Hall and X-Pac. The group were practically untouchable in the early/mid 90s. The only ones who had political power equal to them, was Bret Hart and The Undertaker. Bret Hart despised the group.

Hulk was always under heavy scrutiny. Being the greatest pro-wrestler of all time, every action and word he said was blown out of proportion. In retrospect I think Hulk got a bad rap mostly. Sure he changed the finish in-ring for his climacic Hulk/Sting feud in NWO era, but he did have a contract allowing creative control. Sure he lied to Arsenio Hall about not doing steroids, not everyone is Arnold, but for someone who was front & center for the steroid/cocaine era he came out with less horror stories than many. One of my favorite workers? No, but his personal character has taken an unjust beating. Btw, he & Brooke were the only ones I could stomach on Hogan Knows Best. Nick and Hulks ex-wife were shallow pieces of ****.

Sean Michaels was one of the biggest ******** in the business, until he found christianity. Before God, and the back injury Sean was/is regarded as the best professional wrestler of all time. He had it all - looks, charisma, workrate, perfectionist, and his nickname "The Showstopper" was an organic one given by the boys/critics because he always brought it at a 4 or 5 star level everytime.

I heard a great story from Jim Cornetteabout Sean, this is a story from before he found God, but when he was supposed to drop the strap to Austin at Wrestlemania many were worried he wouldnt. Yes his backstage professionalism back then was regarded that poorly. Now the locker room general the past 10-15 years in WWE(F) has been the Undertaker, and as Michaels is about to go thru the curtain Taker yelled at him, "Michaels! You are going to do your job tonight!" Sean didnt say a dayum thing.

So they go thru the curtain. Undertakers already had his match so hes still in his work clothes (costume). He takes some tape, sits in gorilla position (at stage entrance by the tv monitor), and tapes his hands up. He and Cornette watch the match on the monitor, and Sean does the job to Austin. Taker then immediately got up, took the tape off his hands, changed out of his clothes, and left.

Found a Paul Orndorff shoot where he opens up about his fight with Vader. Its 30:05 into the video....

haha! I thought he was English tho?
Still what do I know really. My Nan was the one who loved wrestling and that was on World of Sport on the telly back in the 60s. She'd be there with her fags and her cuppa cheering and booing Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks

William Regal was truly british, and was a true shooter that came up in the business. He started in small english fairgrounds being the guy that "nobody in the crowd can beat" type gimmick, but they would truly fought when someone got in the ring. He used brutal submission holds to defend prize money against challenges from members of the public. Dont judge a book by its cover.

Really Tongo? I don't think that sort of thing existed in fairgrounds when WR was young. It never existed when I was a kid and he must be a good 10 years younger than me!

I think Johnny Saint was more in the 70s, but do you remember anything about him? I watched a little bit of WoS and I enjoyed watching him.

EDIT: And what about Jim Breaks? I think he was a bad guy for most of his career. I've heard stories of the fans throwing pacifiers at him when he would walk to the ring.

Yep. Regal was born in 1968, and started wrestling when he was 15. It was in the dying days of the Carnys. Its been a known fact for years, and its on his Wiki (for whatever Wikis worth).

Here, I found a video on YouTube. He was wrestling as "The Destroyer", this was long before he came to US.

I know nothing about Johnny Saint or Jim Breaks, though that sounds funny

The World of Sport style is a lot different than the US style, but here is an example of the kind of work they did.




Fit Finlay did some early stuff over there as well.