ATLANTA — With the wrestling world mourning the Monday passing of 61-year-old Christoper Pallies, aka King Kong Bundy, 11Alive Sports offers an endearing, YouTube-inspired look at Bundy's greatest sporting moments in Atlanta ... or at least when promoting events geared for Georgia audiences.
At 6-foot-4 and 450-plus pounds, the eminently likable and eternally bald Bundy combined for five world titles with Georgia Championship Wrestling (owned by Vince McMahon) and World Class Championship Wrestling.
However, beginning in 1985, Bundy's greatest fame came as a popular heel with the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), often locking horns with Hulk Hogan (cue the epic Steel Cage match for Wrestlemania II), Andre The Giant, Paul Orndorff ... while regularly dominating tag-team action with Big John Studd.
The following clips come with a heavy heart.
Bundy was not only an iconic wrestling figure ... but also an accomplished wordsmith/actor, as this humorous commercial demonstrates.
CLIP #1
SKINNY: Pro wrestling might be a monster industry today ... but don't you miss the little things about this sport from the 1980s?
Check out this awesome local promo, with Bundy and Big Stan Hansen touting their upcoming trip to The Omni in Atlanta.
CLIP #2
SKINNY: A truly memorable interview between manager "Precious" Paul Ellering and World Championship Wrestling announcer Gordon Solie, with Ellering refusing extraneous comment on whether King Kong Bundy would join the famed Legion Of Doom, before quipping: "The only reason we tolerate Bundy ... he's 450 pounds of Jell-O."
Which brings us to this: If you hang around to the 1:50 mark ... you'll be treated to an old-school ambush, involving other wrestlers not involved in the match.
This free-for-all truly delivers on the mayhem hype.
PART I
PART 2
CLIP #3
SKINNY: King Kong beats up on two men in a "handicap" match at the old Georgia wrestling sound stage.
Of course, this match merely serves as a backdrop to Bundy's manager, Jimmy "The Mouth of The South" Hart, talking incessantly with Gorilla Monsoon during the broadcast.
CLIP #4
SKINNY: Here's to everyone who prefers the pre-fight war of words to the actual battles in the ring.
This clip hails from the early 1980s, with Ernie Ladd – a Pro Football Hall of Famer – sending mixed signals about accepting Bundy's body-slam challenge.
The entire scene is pure comedy gold ... complete with Ladd's finishing line: "When this goes down, you better get on the telephone and callllllllllllllllllll somebody, baby!"
CLIP #5
SKINNY: The dates are a little fuzzy, but this era marks the early stages of Bundy joining the WWF (with manager Jimmy Hart).
He will be missed.