‘Mr Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff Passes Away
A short tribute to the life of one of the the WWF’s biggest stars of the 80s.
Unfortunately, it was announced today (July 12th) that WrestleMania main eventer and class of 2005 WWE Hall of Famer ‘Mr Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff has passed away aged 71.
On an Instagram post by son Travis, it was said: “It is with great sadness I announce the passing of my father, Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. He is better known as “Mr #1derful” Paul Orndorff. Most of you will remember his physique. Many will remember his intensity. But if I could only get you to understand and see his heart. He will always be Pop, Paw Paw and Daddy at home. And as much as many of you hated him as a wrestler, he absolutely loved you for it. He was an amazing father that showed me more love than I ever deserved. I love you Daddy”.
Paul Orndorff made a name for himself in multiple NWA territories. His runs in Mid-South Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling amongst other saw him cross the paths of future legends such as Jimmy Snuka, The Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie), Jerry Lawler, Greg Valentine, Ted DiBiase, Dick Murdoch, Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbyszko, Ric Flair and many more.
In 1983, he had his biggest break on a big stage where he jumped to the WWF. In white tights and with the ‘Mr Wonderful’ moniker, he forged an alliance with Roddy Piper and would debut on the same Madison Square Garden card that saw future rival Hulk Hogan win the WWF World championship.
Orndorff and Piper’s hellish nature drew them immense heat and alone justified the whole existence of the WWF’s PPV event WrestleMania – an event that propelled the WWF into the stratosphere. Paul was pinned in the match and so Piper and Bob Orton turned on Orndorff; this and Paul’s rejection of Bobby Heenan turned him face and he was soon teaming alongside Hogan in the main event scene.
Orndorff opened the second WrestleMania event, going to a double countout with Don Muraco. He would shocking turn on Hogan after a tag match against King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd, clotheslining the WWF champion before spiking him with a piledriver.
This set in motion one of the biggest-drawing feuds in wrestling history as Orndorff went head-to-head with Hogan. The biggest bout drew 70,000 fans in Toronto in August 1986 where Hogan won via countout. They clashed at the 9th Saturday Night’s Main Event in which a steel cage match went to a draw but was restarted with Hogan winning. This ended one of the most profitable feuds in wrestling history. Orndorff was diagnosed with muscle atrophy at this time and could have reduced the effects by going for an operation but locked in the money-feud of a lifetime, he continued to wrestle regardless.
In 1987, once again aligned with Hogan, Paul main evented the first Survivor Series with his team losing.
He had a brief run in WCW in 1990 as a member of the face squadron of The Dudes With Attitudes who backed Sting in the main event scene. He would return from 1992 to the end of WCW in 2001 although he was in a backstage role, no longer wrestling. He was a one-time WCW Television champion and 2-time tag titleholder with Paul Roma in addition to a reign many years earlier with Jimmy Snuka. Here, he even managed to physically overpower Vader when Orndorff was wearing flip-flops. Always reliable, he was a great heat-grabbing heel – mixing old school mentality but never seeming out of place. He would also compete for the UWF, AWF and SMW.
Unfortunately, his muscle atrophy had worsened with one of his arms distinctively and notably much smaller than the other.
In 2005, he was inducted into the Hall Of Fame but ditched the plaque by leaving it in his hotel stating it meant nothing to him. He appeared at both WrestleMania XXX and an edition of Raw in August 2014. In 2016, he was part of the many wrestlers involved in a class-action lawsuit against the WWE trying to sue them due to their neglect of injuries although unsuccessful.
Over the past few months, his health had worsened with his son posting a video of Orndorff at a medical facility where he was treated for dementia, a disease believed to be caused by CTE. He would die on July 12th. We will not show any of the photos or videos here out of respect.
Everybody at Wrestlebuddy would like to extend their condolences to Paul Orndorff’s friends and family and would like to thank him for his years of service and commitment to the business and the memories he has left. He truly was ‘Mr Wonderful’.
To help, you can donate to his son’s Gofundme set up for his funeral costs.
To finish off, here are some touching tributes to Orndorff:
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