Mid 20th Century
136-658: Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 – July 12, 2021), nicknamed " Mr. Wonderful ", was an American professional wrestler and football player, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). After seven years working around the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Orndorff became a star in the 1980s WWF wrestling boom , and featured with manager Bobby Heenan and champion Hulk Hogan extensively, including in
272-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
408-743: A bric-a-brac shop called "The Wigwam" in Lake George, Minnesota . He sold it in 2000. In April 2007, Raschke starred in a stage play, The Baron , based around his life, persona, and times in the AWA. The Baron , co-written by Cory McLeod and Raschke's son Karl, ran for several months at the Minnesota History Theatre. It detailed how a very mild-mannered and polite man created an in-ring gimmick that drew so much heat that he and his frequent tag-team wrestling partner (and real-life friend) Mad Dog Vachon often had to fight their way out of
544-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
680-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
816-553: A February 5, 1995 taping of WCW Worldwide , Orndorff crossed paths with Hogan for the first time since 1987. The duo of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage faced Pretty Wonderful in a televised match which the latter lost. This was the only time Orndorff and Hogan wrestled each other in WCW . At Clash of the Champions XXIX Stars and Stripes were granted a final shot at the tag team title, but the challengers also had to put up
952-437: A Horseman and the only reason Pillman was a Horseman was because he was also offered to be one, but turned it down. Anderson and Flair tried to calm Orndorff down but Orndorff lost his temper and attacked Pillman. Pillman, Flair, and Anderson attacked Orndorff and then Arn Anderson and Ric Flair delivered a spike piledriver to Orndorff on the arena floor during the attack. WCW later explained that Orndorff had been seriously hurt in
1088-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
1224-717: 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 version 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 by Bobby Heenan . In 2009, Orndorff was elected by
1360-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1496-470: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
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#17327987008451632-505: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
1768-630: A committee of his peers to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame , then located in Amsterdam, New York, now located in Wichita Falls, Texas. On April 6, 2014, Orndorff made an appearance at WrestleMania XXX , marking his first time on WWE television since the 2005 Hall of Fame. He appeared in a segment with his WrestleMania I teammate Roddy Piper and their opponents from the event, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T , as well as
1904-505: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Baron von Raschke James Donald Raschke (born July 30, 1940) is an American retired professional wrestler , better known by his ring name , Baron von Raschke . Raschke
2040-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
2176-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
2312-573: A golden opportunity to regain the WCW Television title. He defeated Brian Pillman in a tournament to earn the shot at the champion. He lost to WCW newcomer The Renegade at Bash at the Beach . Orndorff was also unable to beat the rookie in subsequent matches and (in kayfabe ) began to lose confidence in his abilities. After losing more and more matches, including a match on WorldWide to Randy Savage , Orndorff lost all faith in his abilities;
2448-632: 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. Throughout
2584-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2720-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2856-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
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#17327987008452992-610: 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, Orndorff teamed with Jimmy Snuka to capture the NWA World Tag Team Championship from Baron von Raschke and Greg Valentine . The duo held on to the title for five months before losing it to Raschke and his new partner Paul Jones on April 16, 1979. In 1979, Orndorff traveled to
3128-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
3264-582: A nickname that he used thereafter. Orndorff faced Salvatore Bellomo on the night that Hulk Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and "Hulkamania was now in the WWF as it was in the AWA". 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. Hogan disposed of the challenger and moved on while Orndorff fought
3400-477: A referee in frustration. 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 match, Race declared that Paul Orndorff was his chosen man. Orndorff
3536-587: A rematch a month later at Madison Square Garden, marking Sammartino's last successful title defense before losing the belt to Superstar Billy Graham . In 1978, Von Raschke was recognized as the first NWA Television champion (the Mid Atlantic Television title had been renamed). In May 1984, Raschke and The Crusher defeated Jerry Blackwell and Ken Patera for the AWA World Tag Team Championship . They would lose
3672-617: A six-man tag at a Canadian Wrestling's Elite (CWE) show in Brandon, Manitoba . Orndorff's parents were both of German descent. His father died of cancer in 1965. He resided in Fayetteville, Georgia . He married his high school girlfriend Ronda Maxwell Orndorff. They have two grown sons, Paul Orndorff III and Travis Orndorff, as well as eight grandchildren. Paul has one sister, Patricia Orndorff, and two brothers named Mickey Ronald Cain, and Terry Orndorff , with whom he wrestled briefly as
3808-514: A tag team in the early 1980s. Terry went on to have limited success as a tag team wrestler with other partners such as The Junkyard Dog and Kerry Von Erich . On January 5, 2011, Orndorff told the Busted Open Sirius Satellite Radio show that he had recently been diagnosed with throat cancer . He was reportedly in critical condition and was on a feeding tube with a few days to live. On August 10, he announced it
3944-510: 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
4080-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
4216-620: A variety of opponents including the Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana . When Piper assaulted Jimmy Snuka on the set of Piper's Pit , Orndorff assisted the Rowdy One in his matches. Orndorff and Piper often faced Snuka and " The Tonga Kid " in tag team competition. 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
Paul Orndorff - Misplaced Pages Continue
4352-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
4488-972: 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. 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). Both times, Orndorff's reigns were short and were ended by Ladd. After feuding with Ladd, Orndorff continued to make
4624-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
4760-434: Is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are
4896-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
5032-557: The American Wrestling Association as a referee. He was soon wrestling under his real name, playing off of his amateur wrestling notoriety in the area. He eventually changed his ring name to Baron von Raschke and claimed to be from Germany. He would do a goose-step and then put his finisher known as the "brainclaw", on his opponent. Earlier in his career, the Von Raschke had a finishing maneuver known as
5168-737: The Chicago Bears in 1974, Orndorff joined the Jacksonville Express of the World Football League in 1975, but he was injured. After his football career ended, Orndorff watched Championship Wrestling from Florida in the mid-1970s. He called his father-in-law, who knew someone who knew Florida promoter Eddie Graham, which got his start into the wrestling business. Orndorff started wrestling in 1976 in Mid-Southern Wrestling where he feuded with
5304-526: 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. While Orndorff was away from the WWF, Heenan brought in a new man "Ravishing" Rick Rude to take Orndorff's place in
5440-588: The Harris Twins in a handicap match by a losing effort on Monday Night Nitro . At the 2000 Fall Brawl , in a match between The Filthy Animals and The Natural Born Thrillers, Orndorff suffered a neck injury after delivering a piledriver. The referee, Charles Robinson stopped the match as a result. After Orndorff retired for a final time, he began to run the WCW Power Plant , where he trained several wrestlers including The Natural Born Thrillers . He had
5576-606: The National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame in 2009. Orndorff played college football at the University of Tampa , where he was a fullback for his first three seasons before he was moved to tight end mid-season in his senior year by coach Earle Bruce . He scored 21 career touchdowns and gained over 2,000 all-purpose yards in his playing career with the Spartans . He was inducted into
Paul Orndorff - Misplaced Pages Continue
5712-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
5848-571: The University of Tampa Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986. Orndorff was selected in the 12th round of the 1973 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints , who drafted him as a fullback, while leaving open the possibility of playing him at tight end. He voluntarily quit during training camp , citing "personal problems". He was considering giving professional wrestling a try, like his former Tampa teammate Ron Mikolajczyk , who made his wrestling debut that summer. After attending training camp with
5984-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
6120-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
6256-462: The "Prussian sleeper", a rather complex variation of a traditional sleeper hold. His mantra at the time was "I am ordered to win! I must win! And I will win!" Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s he held numerous singles and tag team titles throughout several NWA and AWA territories, as well as wrestling for the WWWF, where his claw hold was "censored" by a huge red X on WWWF television because it
6392-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
6528-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
6664-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
6800-650: The AWA, returning to the ring to feud with Soldat Ustinov and Teijho Khan in late 1988. He then went on to captain "Baron's Blitzers" during the Team Challenge Series. When the AWA folded, Raschke continued to wrestle for independent promotions, primarily in the Minnesota area, retiring in 1995. Raschke also took part in one of the legends matches at WCW's inaugural Slamboree: A Legend's Reunion in 1993. He teamed with Ivan Koloff , losing to Thunderbolt Patterson and Brad Armstrong . His last match
6936-665: 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
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#17327987008457072-579: 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. Their reign only lasted about a month before being upended by the combination of Dennis Condrey and David Schultz . Orndorff then teamed with former opponent Austin (who
7208-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
7344-464: The Barbarian and Pez Whatley at Starrcade (1986) . After teaming with Wahoo McDaniel at the 1987 Crockett Cup he left the National Wrestling Alliance . He had a brief stint in the World Wrestling Federation in 1988 as the manager for The Barbarian and The Warlord (The Powers of Pain ) under the name of the "Baron", but was released shortly after his arrival. Raschke resurfaced in
7480-639: The Giant . 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. While Hogan fought off Bundy, Orndorff battled Muraco in a match that ended in a double count out. 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
7616-544: The Heenan Family. 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
7752-539: 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. 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
7888-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
8024-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
8160-486: 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 Zbyszko bought the title and did not win it forced NWA President Bob Geigel to step in and strip Zbyszko of the title. Orndorff then moved to New Japan Pro Wrestling for several months. He made two tours of Japan,
8296-613: 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). Orndorff turned face to feud with Roop but found himself unable to regain
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#17327987008458432-637: The Patriot's mask on the line. After a controversial double pin finish, Stars and Stripes were declared the winners and thus the champions, putting the end to Pretty Wonderful's second and final run with the gold. Orndorff returned to singles competition with his most notable match at the time being an unsuccessful shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when he faced champion the Great Muta at Slamboree . In May, Orndorff got
8568-845: The UWF's only PPV Beach Brawl , defeating Colonel DeBeers in a Strap match . Orndorff left the UWF sometime in early 1993, vacating the Southern States title. 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. When Orndorff left the AWF in February 1992, he vacated
8704-415: 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 . Early in
8840-546: The advantage as both champions were suffering from injuries inflicted by the challengers on previous occasions (kayfabe). Cactus Jack and Kevin Sullivan were unable to hold off Roma and Orndorff, as Pretty Wonderful left the ring with the gold. Pretty Wonderful was immediately challenged by the Nasty Boys after winning the title, but the Nasty Boys were never able to take the gold from the champions. Next, Pretty Wonderful
8976-573: The age of 71 in Atlanta, Georgia . Professional wrestler 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches
9112-567: 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 then helped Hogan to his feet and raised his hand in the air, only to give Hogan a clothesline followed by a piledriver . 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
9248-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
9384-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
9520-455: The attack and that his career was over. In actuality, Orndorff was forced to retire due to his previous injuries in the WWF, with the entire right side of his body beginning 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. On December 13, 1999, Orndorff wrestled against
9656-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
9792-687: The belts in August of that same year to The Road Warriors . In 1986, he wrestled for the NWA 's Jim Crockett Promotions where he reunited with former tag partner Paul Jones (who was now a manager) as part of Paul Jones' Army . He also filled in for the injured Krusher Khruschev , defending the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship with Ivan and Nikita Koloff . Toward the end of his run there he turned "face" against Jones and teamed with Hector Guerrero defeating
9928-455: 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. Instead of keeping the 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 André
10064-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
10200-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
10336-484: The case, ruling that some of its claims were frivolous and some had been filed after the statute of limitations had expired. In September 2020, an appeal was dismissed by a federal appeals court. On May 8, 2021, Orndorff's son Travis posted a video of him at a medical facility, where he was seen in a state of reported dementia . He believed that his father's dementia was a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). On July 12, 2021, Orndorff died of his dementia at
10472-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
10608-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
10744-401: 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
10880-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
11016-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
11152-693: 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 . Later in the evening, Orndorff ran to the ring to even the sides when Piper and Orton were preparing to double team Hogan. He solidified his babyface turn 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
11288-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
11424-468: 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
11560-504: The feud. Orndorff and Williams clashed several times in what was promoted as the "Signature Feud" of the UWF in its early days. He also reignited 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. It was awarded back to Orton when Orndorff left the promotion. On June 9, 1991, Orndorff competed on
11696-599: The finals to win his first title in WCW. 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 . 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
11832-677: 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 . Orndorff returned in October and partnered with Big John Studd against Maeda and Sakaguchi, then faced Maeda again in singles competition. Orndorff signed with the World Wrestling Federation 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",
11968-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
12104-512: 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
12240-440: 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. Their half-year-long feud is one of the most notable (and profitable) feuds in the history of pro wrestling. 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
12376-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
12512-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
12648-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
12784-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
12920-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
13056-568: The main events of the first WrestleMania and Survivor Series . He left the WWF for WCW in early 1990, where he won the WCW World Television Championship and the WCW World Tag Team Championship with Paul Roma (as a team called Pretty Wonderful ). Arm atrophy from a nagging injury led him to retire in 2000. After retiring, he trained aspiring wrestlers. Orndorff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 and
13192-516: The match, Rude eliminated Orndorff with a roll-up . His final match with the WWF came on a house show on January 4, 1988, against Rude in Augusta, Georgia. Paul Orndorff retired in early 1988 due to his arm injury and focused on running his bowling alley in Fayetteville. During his time away from wrestling he was actually reported to have died; the story made several newspapers. The time off
13328-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
13464-596: The outwardly arrogant Mr. Wonderful was riddled with self-doubt, until one night, after beating himself up backstage after yet another loss, he was visited by psychic Gary Spivey . Spivey convinced Orndorff to believe in himself and that he shouldn't forget that he was "Mr. Wonderful". On the December 11, 1995 episode of Monday Nitro , Orndorff confronted Brian Pillman after Pillman made derogatory comments about Orndorff. After telling Flair and Anderson how much he respected them, Orndorff told Pillman that he could have been
13600-514: 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; the feud included a featured "piledriver match", which Garvin won. Orndorff was fired from the SMW after piledriving
13736-625: The primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
13872-717: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
14008-488: The referee for the match, Pat Patterson , interrupting Hogan's interview with Gene Okerlund . On August 11, 2014, Orndorff made an appearance at Hogan's birthday celebration on WWE Raw , celebrating in the ring with many other WWE legends, including Hogan himself, Ric Flair , Kevin Nash , Scott Hall , Okerlund , Jimmy Hart , and Piper . On May 3, 2017, aged 67, Orndorff had his final match, and first since 2000, winning
14144-466: The ring. The stage play was later used as the starting point for a film version of Raschke's life and career, The Claw . The film, again written by Karl Raschke, was directed by Phil Harder , a noted director of dozens of music videos, who had first met Raschke when he hired the wrestler to star in a video by Duluth indie-rock band Low . The film was shot in Minneapolis, with locations including
14280-542: The second rope for leverage during the pinfall. The two feuded over the WCW World Tag Team Championship. Orndorff's TV title reign also included a successful defence against future ECW champion Shane Douglas and 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
14416-416: The seeds to his heel turn. A week later, Roma teamed with Erik Watts to take on the team of Orndorff and Lord Steven Regal . 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 . In
14552-576: The squared circle, wrestling a series of matches against Kerry Von Erich on the independent circuit . 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
14688-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
14824-529: The summer, he faced Anderson and defeated the WCW TV Champion by pinfall in several non-title matchups. He also defeated "Mean" Mark Callous in multiple house show encounters. His final WCW match came on August 26 in Chicago when he teamed with The Junkyard Dog in a losing effort against the tag-team champions Doom . Orndorff departed from the promotion that fall. By late 1990, Orndorff became one of
14960-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
15096-749: The title 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 . 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
15232-519: The title at Clash of the Champions XXIV . After unsuccessfully challenging Ricky Steamboat throughout the fall and winter of 1993, Orndorff moved into the tag team division. After the 1993 WCW pay-per-view Battlebowl , Horsemen members 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 indifferently to his tag team partner, sowing
15368-416: 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 , Pretty Wonderful had
15504-601: 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. Orndorff then traded the title back and forth with Super Destroyer. Frustrated with his inability to beat Orndorff for
15640-570: The title. During this time Orndorff also worked in the National Wrestling League, holding its tag team championship alongside Brian Blair some time in 1993. 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
15776-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
15912-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
16048-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
16184-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
16320-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
16456-597: Was a three-year letterman with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Cornhuskers wrestling team in 1960, 1961 and 1962. He is listed in the university's wrestling media guide as Jim Raschke. He also played football for the Cornhuskers as a left tackle in 1959 and 1960. After a successful amateur wrestling career and a stint in the United States Army , Raschke pursued a career in professional wrestling. Raschke started in professional wrestling in 1966 in
16592-565: Was a victory over David Lynch at Superstars of Wrestling in Princeton, West Virginia on February 10, 1996. In November 2021, Raschke appeared with All Elite Wrestling at its Full Gear pay-per-view. He was in the crowd for the 10-man street fight between The Inner Circle and American Top Team and put the Iron Claw on Ethan Page . When not wrestling, Raschke worked as a substitute teacher. Upon retirement, Raschke purchased and managed
16728-460: Was because of the injury to his arm/neck that he suffered during the Hogan feud and left 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 due to a neck injury that caused nerve damage and eventually the atrophy of his right biceps. In 1990 Orndorff returned to
16864-433: Was calling himself "The Junkyard Dog" at the time, not to be mistaken for the more famous Junkyard Dog ) to win the title in late 1979. The duo beat Condrey and Randy Rose , the same team that ended Orndorff and Austin's run with the gold. Austin, Condrey, and Rose formed The Midnight Express shortly thereafter. During 1980, Orndorff started to split his time between the Alabama and the Mid-South territories, until he left
17000-424: Was challenged by the duo of Stars and Stripes (Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot ) at Fall Brawl . The champions retained, but a week later the championship changed hands when Stars and Stripes got the victory. Pretty Wonderful was granted a rematch against the new champions with a match booked for Halloween Havoc ; Pretty Wonderful regained the belts when Roma used one of them to knock Bagwell out. During
17136-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
17272-583: Was considered such a violent act. Managed by Fred Blassie , Von Raschke's highest-profile match of his 1970s WWWF run came in March 1977, where he wrestled WWWF World Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino for the title at Madison Square Garden in New York. Von Raschke lost the match by disqualification when, after Sammartino became tied up in the ropes, he shoved the referee away as he had his clawhold applied to Sammartino's head. Sammartino defeated Von Raschke in
17408-487: 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
17544-489: Was gone. In July 2016, Orndorff was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred "long term neurological injuries" and that the company "routinely failed to care" for them and "fraudulently misrepresented and concealed" the nature and extent of those injuries. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who led a number of other lawsuits against WWE . In September 2018, US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant dismissed
17680-472: 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
17816-448: Was only listed as a "wild card" who had to win a match in order to enter the tournament. The "wild card" status was a blow to Orndoff's ego (storyline), causing him to attack several wrestlers including Hector Guerrero , whom he defeated in a "wild card" match to earn a spot in the tournament. Afterwards, Orndorff laid out Guerrero and several preliminary wrestlers with his piledriver finisher. Orndoff beat Tim Horner and Robert Gibson in
17952-423: Was pinned by Cactus Jack in a subsequent Thunderdome match ; 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
18088-523: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
18224-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
18360-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
18496-451: 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 Snuka) taking on Piper and Orndorff in the main event (with Bob Orton, Jr , as Piper and Orndorff's manager). Orton's interference at
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