Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 – July 12, 2021), nicknamed "Mr. Wonderful", was an American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestler and college football player, best known for his appearances with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wrestling_Federation (WWF) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling (WCW). After seven years working around the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance (NWA), Orndorff became a star in the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_professional_wrestling_boom, and featured with manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Heenan and champion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan extensively, including in the main events of the first https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_Series. With an untreated neck injury, he left the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling in early 1990, where he won the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Television_Championship and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Tag_Team_Championship with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Roma (as a team called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Wonderful). Arm atrophy from a nagging injury led him to retire in 2000 and he was treated for cancer in 2011. After retiring, he trained aspiring wrestlers. Orndorff was inducted into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame#2005 and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_Hall_of_Fame in 2009.
Many wrestling greats and historians consider Mr. Wonderful one of the best heels in wrestling.
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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Wrestling_Association where he feuded with a young https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ladd. The feud with Ladd saw Orndorff win the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-South_North_American_Heavyweight_Championship 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.
In 1979, Orndorff traveled to the Alabama territory's "Southeast Championship Wrestling." There, Orndorff worked mainly as a tag team competitor teaming with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Slater to win the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CWF_Tag_Team_Championship from the team of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunkhouse_Buck and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norvell_Austin in October 1979. Their reign only lasted about a month before being upended by the combination of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Condrey and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schultz_(professional_wrestler). Orndorff then teamed with former opponent Austin (who was calling himself "The Junkyard Dog" at the time, not to be mistaken for the more famous https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkyard_Dog) to win the title in late 1979. The duo beat Condrey and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Rose, the same team that ended Orndorff and Austin's run with the gold.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Orndorff#cite_note-Titles-12 Austin, Condrey, and Rose formed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Express_(professional_wrestling) 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 got the better of Mantell and won the right to use the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fabulous_Freebirds hair removal cream on Mantell. Orndorff earned a shot at the North American champion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_Denton but on the day of the match he overslept (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe) and was incensed when his replacement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Roberts beat the Grappler for the title.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Orndorff#cite_note-Titles-12 Orndorff's reaction to Roberts's title win signaled a change in attitude; he https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_professional_wrestling_terms#T https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel_(professional_wrestling) 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_DiBiase, JYD, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Rhodes, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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). Orndorff turned face to feud with Roop but found himself unable to regain the titlehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Orndorff#cite_note-14 after which he left the Mid-South Territory.
Orndorff reappeared in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Championship_Wrestling in early 1982 immediately launching into a feud with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Sawyer over the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_National_Heavyweight_Championship. He won the gold on June 20, 1982. During the summer, he vacated the title to focus on pursuing the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_World_Heavyweight_Championship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Flair.
Feud with Hulk Hogan; arm injury (1986–1987)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 Orndorff to prove just how close his relationship with Hogan really was. 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.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Orndorff#cite_note-WWE80s-16 Their matches included a memorable outdoor match in Toronto at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_cage_match on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night%27s_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. THIS IS 1 OF the greatest heels of all time, one mean SOB that could back it up and he goes deep in ring Psychology he is not trying to make friends or impress people just straight shoot.