DEVASTATING Acts Of Self-Sabotage That RUINED Wrestling Careers

6. Buddy Landel Couldn't Exorcise His Demons In Time

AEW Collision CM Punk Terry Funk
Smoky Mountain Wrestling

If you have a spare four minutes, go and watch this promo.

It's cut by Buddy Landel, the great what-if, ahead of a co-promoted show between the WWF and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, on which he was to challenge Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental title. It's an expository glimpse into his life and career, or rather, what it should have been. It's no sob story, and that's the beauty of it. He takes full accountability for his mistakes. He promises his hometown that he'll do everything to get it all back. It's beautiful, lyrical - "I've held more wrestling titles than the years you are old, son" - but not so over-the-top that it feels too much like a performance.

You watch his conviction, so fierce that he blinks all of three times, and you want to travel back in time just to get a ticket to watch a has-been at 33.

He told that story because it was true. He was hired and fired by every promoter of renown in the land. His nickname in the business was 'No Show Budrow'. He was so effortlessly brilliant that wrestling historian Beau James said, when assisting Dave Meltzer with his obituary, "He was so good and so natural at what he did, that sometimes I think he got bored with it". He was a guy who could make anybody look great - watch him sell Jerry Lawler's punches, holy hell - and someone who could have been the guy, at the same time.

He died, aged just 53, in 2015.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!