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One day I was sitting in the living room of Afa the Wild Samoan #1 while he was trying to track down Paul Orndorff for Vince McMahon. I had never met Paul but was a fan of his from watching Georgia Championship Wrestling. He eventually was able to track down Paul and let him know that Vince McMahon was looking for him.
It wasn’t long after that on I believe November 15th, 1983, Afa and I were standing at the bottom of the escalator at the Allentown Bethlehem Easton Airport waiting for Paul to come down the escalator and bring him to the Allentown Fairgrounds. He was dressed to impress in a three-piece suit. He wanted to make a good impression.
Since I was introduced to Paul by Afa that gave me instant credibility with Paul. Over the years we crossed paths many times. As everyone knows Paul became a major star in the WWF, he was a part of the feature match of WrestleMania 1 which helped to set the path forward for Vince McMahon and the WWF.
As the years went by eventually Paul left the WWF. I was working as the booker and chief referee for Rob Russen’s IWA. He booked us on a tour of Australia. We were going to bring Kamala with us as the headliner. At the last-minute Australia’s Wonderland wanted a babyface headliner to feature against Kamala. So, after some discussion I reached out to Paul and got his price for a month in Australia. I thought that it was somewhat excessive, but the theme park agreed to pay it without hesitation.
A few of us got to Australia a week early to do publicity. At the time Rob Russen was the first one to bring American Wrestling back to Australia. We had major publicity over there and an advertising agency helping us. Of course, everyone wanted Paul Orndorff on their show. We started out on Australia’s Wide World of Sports. It was Paul and Kamala and me as Kamala’s handler Friday:
Paul Orndorff, Kamala and Friday (Sal Corrente)
As time went by, there was much more publicity, including Australia’s Today Show. We did appearances on The Ray Martin Show, a huge show at the time in Australia. One of the biggest shows in Australia was filmed in Melbourne, titled Hey Hey, its Saturday it was on for about 25 years. They flew Paul and The Terminators, Al Green and Marc Laurinaitis, over there to make an appearance, which you can find at this link.
We wrestled in the same place every night; it was up to me to put the matches together. I had wanted to put the belt on Paul at the beginning of the tour then have him lose it back. He didn’t really want to go with that plan so we reassed. I eventually booked him with Thunderfoot #1 David Isley they really clicked in the ring. I have tagged in many matches with David myself and was a referee for many. He really clicked with Paul Orndorff some great stuff. At some point Paul said that he wanted to work with David every day. I agreed except on the last night he had to work with Kamala. All was agreed and we had some great matches. While in Australia Paul and the Terminators became good friends.
Pictured David Isley "Thunderfoot #1, "The Big Cheese" Sal Corrente, "Mr. #1derful" Paul Orndorff and Marc Laurinaitis "The Terminator.
While it was a great tour, there were some issues that shouldn’t have occurred, which ended the tour on a sour note and cancelled our next trip back.
It had been many years since I saw Paul again but one day, I got a call from Brian Blair telling me that Paul would really like to see me. I was warned he wouldn’t necessarily be himself. I called and set up a meeting with him. We were going to meet at the original Chick-Fil-A location not too far from his home. I brought David Isley and Marc Laurinaitis along with me. We were all happy to get together again.
Once we all arrived and said our hello’s David and Marc went to get the food. My biggest fear was confirmed when Paul said “Sal, who are these other two guys?” There was no way in the world that Paul shouldn’t have remembered David and Marc. It was at that point I was sure that Paul wasn’t the same Paul. Once he saw all the pictures of the guys it was clear to him that he had known them well and we had a great visit. We talked about doing it again but sadly we never coordinated a second trip.
We had Paul at some WrestleReunion events over the years. He wasn’t the same Paul, but I understood and always liked Paul. I was deeply sorry to hear that he had passed away today but at the same time it appeared from what we were allowed to see that his quality of life was gone.
While there were some frustrating times with Paul over the years. We both sincerely liked each other. I started out being his fan and went from fan to friend to coworker. He will always be remembered as one of the greats of professional wrestling.
R.I.P Paul Orndorff your memory will live on in me and in fans around the world.
Sal Corrente has worked around professional wrestling for decades as the promoter of WrestleReunion, as a referee for Jim Crockett Promotions and beyond in every role imaginable, including as Bruno Sammartino's agent.
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