Buddy Landel
Encyclopedia
William Ansor is a professional wrestler better known
as "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel.

Career

Buddy Landel started his career in 1979 as a young talented athlete in ICW
International Championship Wrestling
International Championship Wrestling was an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Lexington, Kentucky that operated from 1978 until 1984. It was run by WCW Hall of Famer Angelo Poffo, the father of Randy Savage and "The Genius" Lanny Poffo...

. He left high school even though he had received letters of intent to play baseball and football at the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 (and 15 other schools). At the time, his sister was dating Barry Orton (aka Barry O), and she introduced him to Buddy.

Barry took Buddy to meet Boris Malenko. Malenko had try-outs with 25 prospectives Buddy was the only one to make it. Buddy moved in with Bob Roop
Bob Roop
Bob Roop is a retired amateur and professional wrestler whose career has spanned high school, college, Army, amateur and professional wrestling. He was an American Heavyweight Greco-Roman wrestler at the 1968 Summer Olympics.-Amateur career:...

 in Knoxville and he worked for All-Star Wrestling before going to ICW. He soon dyed his hair blonde and changed his name to "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel.

He made a name for himself in the Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 area promotions and went to the NWA
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

's Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...

 in 1985 and joined manager James J. Dillon
James J. Dillon
James J. "J.J." Dillon is a retired American professional wrestler and manager.He is best known for being the strategic leader of the original Four Horsemen that consisted of Nature Boy Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn and Ole Anderson. He is most remembered as a manager in pro wrestling...

's stable. A wrestling card with a Landel-Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

 main event in July 1985 broke Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

's attendance record in Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. He won the National heavyweight title from Terry Taylor
Terry Taylor
Terry Taylor , is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation...

 at Starrcade '85 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Landel has claimed that he was booked to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...

 from Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

, but arrived late at the December 1985 TV taping in which the storyline was to commence and was fired from Crockett Promotions. He gave back the National belt, and Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes may refer to:*Dusty Rhodes , former head coach of the North Florida Ospreys baseball team*Dusty Rhodes , English association football player...

 became the new champion after a "phantom" title change.

Landel went back to the Tennessee area in 1986. With Bill Dundee, Dutch Mantell and Jerry Lawler, he headlined the last sold-out show in the Mid-South Coliseum. He worked in the Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 territories in 1987 and 1988.

He came back to the NWA in 1990 but never got above a mid-card level push. He did get a chance to wrestle "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....

 in a "Battle of the Nature Boys" on TV. He wrestled and lost to Flair in a "Gauntlet" match which aired on November 24, 1990. In early 1991, he was under consideration for membership in Alexandra York
Terri Runnels
Terri Lynne Boatright Runnels is a former World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation professional wrestling manager, television host and occasional wrestler....

's York Foundation
York Foundation
The York Foundation was a professional wrestling heel stable in that worked in World Championship Wrestling between 1990 and 1992. The stable was led by businesswoman Alexandra York with each member of the stable adopting business suits & attitudes after joining the stable.-History:Miss Alexandra...

 but he lost the matches he was supposed to win and she did not offer him a spot.

He went back to the independents in 1991 and was going to wrestle "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers for his Tri-State Title in early 1992 but the promotion folded before the match could happen.

He had a good run in Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling
Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette...

 in 1994 and 1995. Whilst originally considered for the New Jack
New Jack
Jerome Young is an American professional wrestler, better known by his stage name New Jack in ECW.He is known for his willingness to take dangerous bumps and his stiff hardcore wrestling style, often taking high risks and "shooting" on opponents, though he is only known to shoot on opponents who...

 gimmick, booker Jim Cornette instead opted against painting Landel in blackface, and so instead he became one of the main members of The Militia, a stable managed by Jim Cornette
Jim Cornette
James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. As a manager, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling...

 himself (who wore camouflage gear) and held the SMW Heavyweight Championship
SMW Heavyweight Championship
The SMW Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. It existed from 1992 until 1996 when SMW folded. "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony held the title the most times with three reigns. The United States Wrestling Association briefly recognized the SMW Heavyweight...

 for a spell in 1995. After losing the title and enduring a string of losses, he was kicked out of Cornette's Army and became a babyface. He remained a babyface until the promotion folded in late 1995, Landel and Shawn Micheals set a record at the Knoxville Coliseum it was the last sold out wrestling show in the history of that building.

He had a very brief run in the WWF
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...

 in late 1995 and early 1996 in which he wrestled Bret Hart
Bret Hart
Bret Hart is a Canadian on-screen personality, writer, actor and Semi-retired professional wrestler. Like others in the Hart wrestling family, Hart has an amateur wrestling background, including wrestling at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal College...

 in a WWF Title match televised on January 13, 1996. Landel also appeared at In Your House
In Your House
In Your House was a pay-per-view series created by the World Wrestling Federation . The original concept was that, in months when the WWF was not holding one of its major PPV events , they would offer a two-hour PPV, priced at $14.95...

 5 in a losing effort to Ahmed Johnson. He continued to use an appearance similar to Ric Flair, and even used Flair's early 90s WWF entrance music. Landel suffered a serious injury shortly after his debut. Later on in his career, Landel made several one night returns on the WWF Shotgun Saturday Night program, in losing efforts, on February 27, 1999, when Triple H defeated Buddy Landel.

Since then, Landel wrestled in the independents with a brief appearance in World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...

 before it folded. Buddy Landel was the first person to wrestle Bill Goldberg
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL Draft....

 (June 1997, Dalton
Dalton, Georgia
Dalton is a city in Whitfield County, Georgia, United States. It is the county seat of Whitfield County and the principal city of the Dalton, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of both Murray and Whitfield counties. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 33,128...

, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

). His retirement match was against Tommy Rich in Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium on August 11, 2001.

In 2005 Buddy worked at NWA Rocky Top promotion in Knoxville doing color commentary with Tony Basilio.

In 2009, Landell made an in ring appearance for Mid-South Wrestling at a small boys club show in Arkansas, leading him to be invited to participate in the Throwdown in Downtown II on January 16, 2010 at the Fort Smith (Arkansas) Event Center. Landell was scheduled to tag with "All That" Alan Steele in a title match against Mid-South tag team champions Recage and Romance (Jeff Jett and VH1 reality star Matt Riveria).

He filmed a shoot interview for RF Video in 2002 talking about his career.

Landel was honored as Most Influential WWF/WCW Wrestler from Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 by the state's Governor and made a Kentucky Colonel in
1990.

In October 2010, Landel wrestled on local television for Jay Eagle's American Pro Wrestling out of Spartanburg, SC.

In wrestling

  • Finishing moves
    • Corkscrew elbow drop
    • Figure four leglock

  • Manager
    Manager (professional wrestling)
    In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...

    s
  • Scotty Ace
  • Paul Adams
  • Skandor Akbar
  • Jim Cornette
    Jim Cornette
    James Mark "Jim" Cornette is an American professional wrestling manager, commentator, promoter, and booker. As a manager, he has worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation and from 1991 to 1995, was the owner of Smoky Mountain Wrestling...

  • James J. Dillon
    James J. Dillon
    James J. "J.J." Dillon is a retired American professional wrestler and manager.He is best known for being the strategic leader of the original Four Horsemen that consisted of Nature Boy Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Arn and Ole Anderson. He is most remembered as a manager in pro wrestling...

  • The Duke
  • Bill Dundee
  • Lori Fullington
  • Ronald Gossett
  • Dawn Marie
    Dawn Marie Psaltis
    Dawn Marie Psaltis is an American former professional wrestler and professional wrestling valet. She is perhaps best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling and the SmackDown! brand of World Wrestling Entertainment under her ring name Dawn Marie, where she was a WWE...

  • Sherri Martel
    Sherri Martel
    Sherri Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri....

  • Ron Slinker
  • Patricia Steinman
  • Billy The P
  • Johnny Angel
    Johnny Lee Clary
    Johnny Lee Clary is a former Ku Klux Klan leader who became a Pentecostal Christian and now travels around the globe preaching the gospel and teaching against racism and hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, Neo Nazis, and Aryan Nations...


  • Nickname
    Nickname
    A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....

    s
    • "Nature Boy"

Championships and accomplishments

  • American Independent Wrestling Federation
  • AIWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • American Wrestling Federation
    • AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Georgia Championship Wrestling
    Georgia Championship Wrestling
    Georgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...

  • NWA National Heavyweight Championship
    NWA National Heavyweight Championship
    The original version NWA National Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in the NWA-affiliated Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1980 until 1986...

     (1 time)

  • Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance
    Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance
    The Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance was an American independent professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, especially in the Carolinas and Virginia, from October 1995 to February 2001, when it was run by Cueball Carmichael and...

  • IPWA Heavyweight Championship
    IPWA Heavyweight Championship
    The IPWA Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling heavyweight championship in the Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance . The inaugural champion was Cueball Carmichael, who defeated Justin St...

     (1 time)

  • Independent Wrestling Alliance
  • IWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
    Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
    Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South is an independent professional wrestling promotion based in Louisville, Kentucky.- History :...

  • IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship
    IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship
    The IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship was the major title in the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South based in Louisville, Kentucky...

     (1 time)

  • Mid-South Wrestling Association
  • Mid-South Television Championship (1 time)

  • New Dimension Wrestling
  • NDW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • NWA Mid-America / Continental Wrestling Association
    Continental Wrestling Association
    The Continental Wrestling Association was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling...

  • AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
    AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
    The Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship is a major professional wrestling title in the Memphis Wrestling promotion. The title is part of a long lineage that is best known while the title was named the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship for Continental Wrestling Association during...

     (2 times)
  • NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title defended in the US states of Tennessee and Alabama.The title began in 1957 and lasted first 1980 when it was first abandoned when Jerry Jarrett took over the Mid-American titles from Nick Gulas...

     (4 times)

  • NWA New Jersey
    National Wrestling Alliance
    The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

  • NWA United States Tag Team Championship
    NWA United States Tag Team Championship
    The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used by several championships that were or currently are under the National Wrestling Alliance 's supervision:...

     (1 time) – with Doug Gilbert
    Doug Gilbert
    Doug Gilbert is a professional wrestler from Memphis, Tennessee who wrestles on the independent circuit. He is the brother of "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and the son of wrestler/referee/promoter Tommy Gilbert....


  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...

  • PWI ranked him # 72 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 1995.

  • Southeastern Championship Wrestling
    Continental Championship Wrestling
    Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based out of Knoxville, Tennessee from 1974 until 1988 and Dothan, Alabama from 1978 to 1990, managed by Ron Fuller. When Fuller sold the promotion to David Woods, it changed name to the Continental Wrestling Federation...

  • NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Championship
    NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Championship
    The NWA Continental Heavyweight Championship was a major title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Alabama territory called Southeastern Championship Wrestling. It existed from 1984 until 1988 when CCW became the Continental Wrestling Federation. The title continued on as the CWF Heavyweight...

     (1 time)

  • Smoky Mountain Wrestling
    Smoky Mountain Wrestling
    Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette...

  • SMW Heavyweight Championship
    SMW Heavyweight Championship
    The SMW Heavyweight Championship was the major singles title in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. It existed from 1992 until 1996 when SMW folded. "Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony held the title the most times with three reigns. The United States Wrestling Association briefly recognized the SMW Heavyweight...

     (1 time).
  • SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship
    SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship
    The SMW "Beat the Champ" Television Championship was the secondary singles championship for the Smoky Mountain Wrestling professional wrestling promotion. The title was created in 1992 and was active until SMW closed its doors on November 26, 1995. The storyline concept of the title was that the...

     (1 time)

  • Southeastern Championship Wrestling
    • SCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • Southern States Wrestling
    Southern States Wrestling
    Southern States Wrestling is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in eastern Tennessee. Founded by wrestler Beau James in early 1991, SSW succeeded Smoky Mountain Wrestling as the top promotion in eastern Tennessee following its close...

  • SSW Heavyweight Championship
    SSW Heavyweight Championship
    The Southern States Wrestling Heavyweight Championship is the primary professional wrestling championship in Southern States Wrestling. It was first won by The Tennessee Equalizer when he defeated George Hiatt in Elizabethton, Tennessee on February 16, 1991...

     (1 time)
  • SSW Tag Team Championship
    SSW Tag Team Championship
    The Southern States Wrestling Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship in Southern States Wrestling. It was first won by Danny and Bam Bam Christian when they defeated The Russian Assassins in Hampton, Tennessee on October 1, 1990...

     (1 time) – with Beau James

  • Tennessee Mountain Wrestling
  • TMW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • Tri-State Wrestling Alliance
  • TWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

  • United Atlantic Championship Wrestling
    • UACW Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Big Jesse

  • United States Wrestling Association
    United States Wrestling Association
    The United States Wrestling Association or USWA was a professional wrestling promotion based in Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded by former CWA owner Jerry Jarrett.-Foundation:...

  • USWA Heavyweight Championship
    AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship
    The Memphis Wrestling Southern Heavyweight Championship is a major professional wrestling title in the Memphis Wrestling promotion. The title is part of a long lineage that is best known while the title was named the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship for Continental Wrestling Association during...

     (1 time)

  • USA Wrestling
    • USA Tennessee Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

  • World Wrestling Council
    World Wrestling Council
    The World Wrestling Council is one of Puerto Rico's two main professional wrestling promotions, the other one being the International Wrestling Association....

  • WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship
    WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship
    The WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship is a secondary title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council ....

     (1 time)
  • WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship
    WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship
    WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship was a third-string Tag Team title that was defended in the World Wrestling Council.-Title history:...

     (1 time) – with Terry Gibbs
  • WWC North American Heavyweight Championship
    WWC North American Heavyweight Championship
    The WWC North American Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship defended in the Puerto Rican promotion, the World Wrestling Council. Created in 1974, it was the primary singles championship of the promotion until the creation of the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship...

     (1 time)
  • WWC North American Tag Team Championship
    WWC North American Tag Team Championship
    The NWA North American Tag Team Championship was a major tag team championship that was used and defended in Capitol Sports Promotions...

     (1 time) – with Terry Gibbs

  • Other titles
  • NCW Heavyvweight Championship (1 time)
  • UAW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jesse Landell

External links

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