Buddy Landel

Infobox Wrestler|name= Buddy Landel


names= Buddy Landel
Buddy Landel
height= 6 ft 2 in (183 cm)
weight= 235 lb (107 kg)
birth_date = birth date and age|1962|8|17
death_date =
birth_place = Knoxville, Tennessee
resides=
billed=
trainer= Boris Malenko
debut= 1979
retired= |

Buddy Landel (born August 17, 1962) 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.He left high school although he had received letters of intent to play Baseball and Football at the University of Tennessee(and, also 15 others schools).At the time his sister was dating Barry Orton,she introduced him to Buddy and then Barry took him to meet Boris Malenko.Malenko had try-outs and out of the 75 that came Buddy was the only one to make it.Buddy moved in with Bob Roop 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 area promotions and went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and joined Manager James J. Dillon. Landel has said that he was considered to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair and said he was supposed to win it at a TV taping when he came in late,Landel and Flair broke Elvis Presley's attendance record in Dorton Arena Raleigh North Carolina in July 1985. He went back to the Tennessee area,where in 1986 set records with Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantell and Jerry Lawler,it was the last sold out show ever in the Mid-South Coliseum. and then to the Alabama 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 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's York Foundation 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 in 1994 and 1995. He was one of the main members of The Militia, a stable managed by Jim Cornette (who wore camouflage gear) and held the SMW Heavyweight Championship 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 in late 1995 and early 1996 in which he wrestled Bret Hart in a WWF Title match televised on January 13, 1996. Landel also appeared at In Your House 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, Landell 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 has been wrestling in the independents with a brief appearance in World Championship Wrestling before it folded.Buddy Landel was the first person to wrestle Bill Goldberg (June 1997, Dalton, Georgia)

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

In wrestling

Finishing and signature moves
*Corkscrew elbow drop
*Figure four leglock

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

*Georgia Championship Wrestling:*NWA National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

*Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South:*IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

*Mid-South Wrestling Association:*Mid-South Television Championship (1 time)

*NWA Mid-America | Continental Wrestling Association:*AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (2 times):*NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (4 times)

*NWA New Jersey:*NWA United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Doug Gilbert

*Southeastern Championship Wrestling:*NWA Southeast Continental Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* [http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/htipwa.html Independent Professional Wrestling Alliance (IPWA)] :* [http://www.ddtdigest.com/landel/gallery4.htm IPWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)]

*Smoky Mountain Wrestling:*SMW Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship (1 time)

*Southern States Wrestling:*SSW Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*SSW Tag Team Championnship (1 time) – with Beau James

*Tennessee Mountain Wrestling:*TMW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

*Tri-State Wrestling Alliance:*TWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) (Last)

*United States Wrestling Association:*USWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

*World Wrestling Council:*WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Terry Gibbs:*WWC North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time):*WWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Terry Gibbs
*1-Time AIWF Heavyweight Champion
*1-Time IPWA Heavyweight Champion
*1-Time IWA Heavyweight Champion
*1-Time NCW Heayvweight Champion
*2-Time NDW Heavyweight Champion
*2-Time Tennessee Mountain Wrestling Champion
*1-Time Tri-State Heavyweight Champion
*1-Time UAW Tag Team Champion (with Jesse Landell)
*2-Time USA Tennessee Champion

*Pro Wrestling Illustrated:*PWI ranked him # 72 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 1995.

External links

* [http://www.ddtdigest.com/landel/ Official page] at DDT Digest