"Nature Boy" Buddy Landel, was an American professional wrestler born in Knoxville, Tennessee. 1976–1990Landel first became interested in professional wrestling when his sister was dating
Barry Orton, and the two would occasionally wrestle when he came over to visit. Landel was an amateur wrestler in high school, but dropped out during his junior year. While he was training with
Boris Malenko, Landel lived in an apartment with Olympian
Bob Roop. He started his career in 1979 in
Bill Watts's Mid South promotion. He also worked in
International Championship Wrestling. He went to the
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s
Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and joined manager
James J. Dillon's stable. A wrestling card with a Landel-
Ric Flair main event in July 1985 broke
Elvis Presley's attendance record in Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. He won the
NWA National Heavyweight Championship from
Terry Taylor at
Starrcade '85 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
[2]Landel was set to win the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship from
Ric Flair in 1985. However, Landel had a falling out with the management of Jim Crockett Promotions and left the company. 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 territories in 1987 and 1988. Landel at one time was managed by Andy Kaufman, Jim Cornette, and Jimmy Hart.
He came back to the NWA in 1990 and wrestled
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair in a "Battle of the Nature Boys". He wrestled Flair in a "Gauntlet match" which aired on November 24, 1990. The storyline was dropped after three months because of Landel's personal problems. He worked in
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) in 1994 and 1995. There he became one of the main events managed by
Jim Cornette. Buddy held the
SMW Heavyweight Championship and the
SMW Television Championship in 1995. He remained a heroic character until the promotion folded in late 1995. After Cornette closed SMW, both Cornette and Landel went to the
World Wrestling Federation.
[5] He started the same day as The Ringmaster (the future
Stone Cold Steve Austin) on December 5, 1995.