12 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Saving Paul Orndorff

Unfortunately, especially because he was renowned for having one of the best physiques in the industry, Paul suffered nerve damage in 1986 that’d cause irreparable problems to his right arm. Perhaps understandably, he didn’t want to give up the money and spot he was in on WWF TV, because ehe knew he was about to wrestle Hulk Hogan at The Big Event in 1986. So, Orndorff put surgery to one side and soldiered on.

That’d prove to be a costly mistake, at least physically.

There's another argument to be made here: Paul was raking in around $25,000 per week, which Jim Cornette estimates is around 100k today. It was an impossible thought for him to even contemplate giving up that money just to go and get corrective surgery. Besides, there was a chance the operation wouldn't be 100% successful, so what if 'Mr. Wonderful' kissed goodbye to a fortune just to be right back in the same spot physically anyway?

He had to make a tough decision in the heat of the moment, and he chose to gut it out then circle back to surgery at a later date. Of course, this choice contributed to his arm atrophying, which wouldn't become truly noticeable until a little later on.

The options were thus: Wrestle Hulk in a money-spinning stadium bout that'd put oodles into the Orndorff family coffers, or knowingly give that up to look after himself first and foremost. Like many wrestlers of the era, Paul ignored the pain and kept on working.