Paul Ellering

Before entering the wrestling business, Ellering was an accomplished powerlifter, setting a world record in the deadlift at 745 pounds (338 kg) a record that has since been beaten.^[7]

Ellering was trained in Minneapolis, Minnesota at a camp run by American Wrestling Association (AWA) owner and promoter Verne Gagne and wrestler/trainer Eddie Sharkey in the mid-1970s. According to Ellering's RF Video shoot interview, of the thirty-plus trainees in the camp, only himself and later AWA mid-card wrestler Steve Olsonoski (a.k.a. Steve O) made it through the camp. Ellering would later go on to wrestle in singles and tag teams for Gagne in the AWA, Bill Watts's Mid-South promotion, and for Jerry Jarrett's Memphis promotion, where he was paired with manager Jimmy Hart. Ellering became known as "Precious" Paul Ellering. His notable feuds were with Jesse Ventura as a face, and as a heel with Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant, from whom he won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.

In April and May 1981, Ellering wrestled in Japan for the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its Big Challenge Series. During the tour, Ellering and Terry Latham defeated Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura in a two-out-of-three falls match to win the IWA World Tag Team Championship. Kusatsu and Inoue regained the titles Ellering and Latham from 12 days later.^[8]

While wrestling for Mid-South Wrestling in 1982, Ellering severely injured his knee in a match with Robert Gibson. He started doing workout segments with kids for Mid South, re-injuring it after returning to the ring. The injury ended his full-time wrestling career.

 

Georgia booker Ole Anderson recognized his speaking ability, however, and gave him a job as a manager.^[1] Ellering formed a stable named the Legion of Doom including such wrestlers as King Kong Bundy, Jake Roberts and the Road Warriors. This was later reduced down to just the Warriors who held the NWA National Tag Team Championship three times before moving to the American Wrestling Association where they held the AWA World Tag Team Championship for a year, during which time the Warriors – and Ellering by association – turned fan favorite.

Ellering is best known for managing the Warriors, from 1983 until 1992 during their stints in the AWA, various National Wrestling Alliance territories, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All-Japan Pro Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation in 1992.^[2] Ellering was also the real-life manager for the team; he booked their matches, lined up their flights, set up hotel reservations, and kept track of their expenses.^[2]

Following the loss of the AWA tag title, Ellering and the Warriors headed to Jim Crockett Promotions where their accomplishments included the Crockett Cup (1986) and the WCW World Tag Team Championship in 1988 (the team and manager briefly turning villains to achieve the latter.) Although primarily a manager, Ellering stepped between the ropes as a competitor, notably at the 1987 NWA Great American Bash in which he joined the Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, and Dusty Rhodes to face The Four Horsemen and their manager J. J. Dillon in the first ever WarGames match. Ellering would also face Teddy Long in a 'Hair vs. Hair' match at the World Championship Wrestling Capital Combat event in 1990, coming away with a victory.

Ellering returned as the manager of Hawk and Animal (by now using the Legion of Doom as their actual team name) at Wrestlemania VIII and stayed with them until they left the WWF after SummerSlam (1992). During a promotional angle where Hawk and Animal "rediscovered" their childhood toy "Rocko", a ventriloquist's dummy, Ellering was the puppeteer and voice of the dummy.

Throughout 1998 he managed the Disciples of Apocalypse, who were then feuding with the Legion of Doom; according to Ellering and Animal on the Road Warriors DVD, Ellering had a hard time working with another team against Hawk and Animal, and had difficulty ripping on his former team on the microphone. By the end of his second WWF run, though, he was back to managing the LOD, most notably on Sunday Night Heat, during a tag-team battle royal for a shot at the tag titles later in the night at WrestleMania XV, though they were unsuccessful.

In 2011, Ellering was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, along with the Road Warriors, by "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

 

Ellering made his return to WWE programming at NXT TakeOver: The End on June 8, 2016, revealing himself as the manager of a debuting the Authors of Pain (Akam and Rezar), after their attack on American Alpha, turning Ellering heel for the first time in 18 years.^[9] On January 28, 2017, at NXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Ellering led Akam and Rezar to their first reign as NXT Tag Team Champions. On April 9, 2018, Paul Ellering made his debut on Monday Night Raw with Akam and Rezar as they answered an open challenge from Heath Slater and Rhyno. After they were victorious in their match, Akam and Rezar ended their partnership with Ellering by pushing him away and leaving him ringside as they returned backstage.^[10]

On the December 29, 2023 episode of Smackdown, a vignette was shown of Karrion Kross and Scarlett, showing that they have aligned with the Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering, signalling their return to WWE in 2024.

On SmackDown: New Year's Revolution, Ellering, alongside the Authors of Pain, made their televised return, assisting Karrion Kross and Scarlett in attacking Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits, confirming their alliance in the process.^[11]

 

After retiring from professional wrestling, he traveled to Alaska to become a sled dog racer, participating in the Iditarod.^[12] In 2000 he came in 54th place.^[13]

In 2002, Ellering became the owner and operator of the Historic Rock Tavern on Big Birch Lake in Grey Eagle, Minnesota. In 2020, it was sold to new ownership after being on the market for three years. He has three children: Rebecca, Rachael and Saul. His daughter Rachael won the bronze medal at the 2014 World Powerlifting Championships.^[14] She made her professional wrestling debut in December 2015.

Ellering made his video game debut as a non-playable character in WWE 2K18.

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Tag Team Award (2020) – as part of the Road Warriors^[15]
• Continental Wrestling Association
  • AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Sheik Ali Hassan^[16][17]
• International Wrestling Enterprise (Japan)
  • IWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Terry Latham
• National Wrestling Alliance
  • NWA Legends Hall of Heroes (2016)^[18]
• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2011 (As a member of the Road Warriors)^[19]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Manager of the Year (1984)^[20]
• WWE
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2011) – as a member of the Road Warriors

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Paul Ellering.

• Paul Ellering on WWE.com
• Paul Ellering at IMDb
• Paul Ellering's profile at Cagematch.net  , Internet Wrestling Database