10 Things You Didn't Know About Paul Ellering
7. He Was In The First Ever War Games Match
Paul Ellering's full-time career as a wrestler may have ended in the early '80s, but as a tough-guy manager, he still found his way into the occasional bout. Usually, he'd be wrestling in multi-man tags or gimmick matches, but the most historically-significant bout in which he participated fell into both categories.
In 1986 and '87, The Great American Bash was actually a tour of shows rather than a single event. At the first show in the 1987 tour - July 4 in Atlanta - a new match type was debuted. Called WarGames, the bout involved two rings, a steel cage, two teams of five, and a finish that could only come via submission.
In that inaugural bout, The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, and Paul Ellering took on the heel team of Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Tully Blanchard, Arn Anderson, and JJ Dillon. The babyfaces won when Dillon surrendered to their group assault.