RIP "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff

[packerbacker180]

Reporting any death sucks, but thiis one sucks a little more for me. "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff was one of my favorite wrestlers when I was really young. Even at that age, I always dug the heels. I liked Hogan well enough, but the heels were just that much cooler. I mean, you'd have to be pretty cool to name yourself ""Mr. Wonderful".We also had the same hair color, and sometimes when you're 6, that's all it takes (at one point NY Giant Phil McConkey was my favorite football player because his name sounded like donkey, so I wasn't really indiscriminate back then). My first wrestling toy I remember owning was his thumb wrestler figure. Orndorff passed away today at the age of 71. A WWE Hall of Famer in 2005, Orndorff main evented the first WrestleMania alongside Roddy Piper as they faced off against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.

A 12th round pick as a running back by the Tampa Bay Buccanneers, Orndorff's career would see him spend time in many companies including the NWA, Georgia Championship, the WWF, WCW, and UWF.

Back then we didn't have much else to watch besides the WWF as they dominated the northeast. One day Mr. Wonderful was gone I didn't know why, we didn't have the internet and I was too young to really pay attention to the wrestling magazines. It wasn't until years later that I found out he went to WCW after a two year retirement, and I was pretty happy to see he was still around even if I didn't see much of his career after 1987.





There were few moves back then more devastating than his pile driver. "Goodnight, Irene," as Gorilla Monsoon would say.




Sadly, we're lsoing too many favorites from our childhoods. The price of getting old, I suppose.

Rest in peace, Mr. Wonderful.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Wow another one, this is unbelievable. You are right, we are losing to many May he rest in peace Great write Packer. Yes, all what you said was great and yes the first Wrestlemania bout is so classic and so unforgettable. The reason why his right arm was different than his left is because of a bad car accident and had atrophy.

Yeah, he went to WCW after retirement and visiting the indie scene of the early days. He part of a really team with Paul Roma called "Pretty Wonderful". Then Roma left WCW and went really nowhere while Orndorff was making a cool singles run but had a persona crisis trying to find his "Wonderful" ways as he thought he lost them. It wan't until 95 when he met Gary Spivey the celeb psychic (yes, WCW hired the actual & real guy) and simply he told him that he is "Mr Wonderful". So he was back in top form with new music and admiring himself in a handheld mirror. He was a mid carder and just stayed there. In late 95 he was attacked by the Four Horsemen to write him off. In 97 he was on his last wheels from his condition on a WCW Nitro making a revengeful appearance as he botched a pile driver and injured Arn Anderson. They both retired to due the injuries. He had other segments there and was a trainer at the WCW Power Plant and told Batista he wasn't good enough but obviously thing changed when WCW was bought by the WWF. Orndorff was great personality but he was a good but hard trainer as well.

Clip of his intro



Rest in peace "Mr Wonderful"

[packerbacker180]

Music so bad it was wonderful.