A fundamental misunderstanding. Flair could have a match with ANYONE and make them look like a million bucks. No one was better on the stick. He had no need of a lot of flashy moves.
Yep. My Mt Rushmore of pro wrestling (not necessarily my favorites) is still Hogan, Austin, Rock and Flair. Those are, IMO, THE four biggest stars in the history of pro wrestling and the most well known ones, and it is no coincidence that all were awesome on the mic in their heyday.
Of course, but this is pro wrestling, not real wrestling , so charisma and being a big star often counts for more than your in-ring skill.
Sad to hear. He was a real treat to watch back in the day. I had heard of a clip that was posted recently where he reportedly looked very ill, and I made a conscious choice not to look for it. I want to remember these icons as they were at their best. And my memories of Paul are great and I’m grateful for that.
Very sad. I always liked him. He was my favorite when I was very young. I loved to see him put a beating down on Hogan. That video from last week upset me. I guess the only consolidation is that he doesn't have to suffer anymore. I don't know why he never held the WWF world title. He was a great performer and a fantastic athlete. And he punched out Vader! Sad to see him go.
There was apparently a video that was posted by his family a few weeks back showing Orndorff in horrible condition.
It was a different time, the title didn't jump around at all. Hogan was doing so well at the box office, it didn't make sense to take the belt off of him until he needed off to make No Holds Barred.
I was a fairly new fan when Orndorff turned on Hogan. I was 9 years old and still remember it well. Even though my dad was never a fan he took me and my brother to see Hogan-Orndorff in St Louis for the first go around, it had a DQ finish. I recently looked it up and the second go around had the stipulation that if Hogan gets disqualified he can lose the title, and the third was in a steel cage. That's some classic WWWF title match booking.
I have to admit that Orndorff was one of those guys I never really liked or disliked. He was always just kind of there for me. No clue why. R.I.P., regardless. Living to 71 is actually impressive for a pro wrestler.
I remember that turn well. I believe The Moondogs were their opponents when the turn went down (correct me if I’m wrong). I also saw them wrestle to a DQ finish in Pittsburgh with Orndorff getting the win, much to my dismay. I was also nine or ten years old. That wasn’t even the main event. That was a tuxedo match between Hillbilly Jim and Mr. Fuji, IIRC.
They beat the Moondogs a week or two earlier and Orndorff never tagged Hogan in winning it on his own. The turn happened in a match vs Bundy and Studd.
Anyone else see the shoot interviews with Sid Vicious? Seems like a nice guy, but awfully delusional. He thought, a) he was better than Hogan, b) Scott Steiner couldn't wrestle (which was rich coming from Sid who had no ring skills), and c) He and Shawn had to do the heavy lifting in a triple threat match with Bret cause Bret was lost. Throw in his knack for quitting and going home the second he was expected to do anything he didn't want to do and he comes off as one of the most unprofessional guys the business has ever seen.
That’s right! I forgot about the Bundy and Studd match. And then a year or two later Orndorff was in Hogan’s Survivor Series team as if nothing had happened. Heh heh. We still ate it up.
Even as a kid, that always cracked me up how guys hated each other's guts and feuded and then were pals a year later simply for no other reason than one of them had turned. Hogan and Boss Man had a violent and long feud, yet were paling it up a year later after Boss Man became a face, and then of course Savage and DiBiase feuded for most of 1988, and then were working together like best friends in the Royal Rumble in January 1990.
I never liked Vince as a character. He was tolerable as an announcer in the old days, but in the 90s I would just change the channel when he came out. But Heenan was the best.