Bio

Paul Orndorff earned his first measure of fame as a fullback in the early 1970s. Paul was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in 1973 but, by 1975, he found his true calling and began training with Hiro Matsuda for a career in professional wrestling. In 1977 he won his first championship, the Memphis territorys Mid Southern Heavyweight title. In December of 1978, the "Brandon Bull" teamed with Jimmy Snuka and won the National Wrestling Alliances World Tag Team titles. In 1979, Orndorff teamed with Dick Slater and won the NWA Southeast Tag Team championship. Moving on to the Mid-South territory, Paul won the North American title on the July 4, 1981. Georgia Championship Wrestling was next and in June of 1982 Orndorff won the National Heavyweight title. Late in 1983, Paul signed with the World Wrestling Federation. By late 1984 it became obvious that Paul would be an integral part of a spectacular event scheduled for March of 1985 - the first Wrestlemania. The controversial finish to the main event that featured Orndorff and Roddy Piper vs. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T at Wrestlemania led to Paul appearing on the first NBC Saturday Night Main Event, which was the first time professional wrestling had aired on network television in more than thirty years. In 1986, the main event of Paul Orndorff vs. Hogan drew over 60,000 to Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Canada. In 2005, Mr. Wonderful was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.