Paul Orndorff Battling Cancer

From WWE

 Just read some disappointing news regarding the health of WWE Hall of Famer, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff.

The legend announced today on the Busted Open radio program that he is battling cancer.  Host Reby Sky broke the news this afternoon.

There aren't a whole lot of other details right now in terms of the type of cancer Orndorff has.  I know from my experience as a health reporter, that if it's caught early enough, many times there is a high survival rate from most types of the disease.  I hope doctors have caught it in time and Mr. Wonderful has a quick recovery similar to that of his former partner "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Orndorff is 61 years old and best known for his time in the WWF in the mid 80's.  He was in the main event of the first Wrestlemania, having been pinned by Hulk Hogan.  Orndorff and Hogan became friends after that (Bob Orton & Piper walked out on him) and formed a tag team.  The two split about a year or so later and Orndorff gave Hogan some great matches in the months to come.

One of my favorite memories from Saturday Night's Main Event came when the two battled in a steel cage match.  Both of them escaped from different sides and virtually hit the ground at the same time.  The ref restarted the match and of course, Hogan eventually won.  Orndorff would eventually turn face again, feuding with former manager Bobby Heenan's newest charge "Ravishing" Rick Rude.   

He left the WWF and wrestled off and on for a while before joining WCW.  There he held the TV title and

the tag team titles with "Pretty" Paul Roma.  The duo was known as "Pretty Wonderful."  Get it?   Injuries forced the superstar to retire in 1995.  Ten years later, in 2005 Orndorff was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Again, best wishes to Mr. Wonderful and his family.  Here's to hoping for a speedy recovery.