Early career (1981–1985) Pallies was trained to wrestle by
Larry Sharpe at the "Monster Factory" in
Bellmawr, New Jersey. He debuted on March 7, 1981, wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name "Chris Canyon". His first victory was against
Strong Kobayashi in WWF on July 10, 1981. In the early years of his career, he also used the name "Chris Cannon". He was developed by the
Von Erich family as the
babyface "Big Daddy Bundy" (after
Shirley Crabtree's "Big Daddy" moniker), wearing blue jeans with a rope belt, but turned
heel following a dispute with the Von Erich Family, and was recruited by
"Playboy" Gary Hart and dramatically reintroduced as "King Kong Bundy", with the "Big Daddy" portion of his moniker replaced by the name of cinematic monster
King Kong, wearing the black singlet for the first time to signify his change. He lost his hair during the feud, adding to his signature look. Bundy was
Fritz Von Erich's opponent for Fritz's 1982
retirement match at the
Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show held at the
Texas Stadium. Bundy also competed in various territories such as the
American Wrestling Association and
Georgia Championship Wrestling where he teamed with
Masked Superstar to defeat his former stablemates the
Road Warriors for the
NWA National Tag Team Championship. He also had a tendency to demand a five-count (as opposed to the usual three count) for
pinfalls whenever he dominated his opponent in a
squash match, a
gimmick he began while wrestling for
Mid-South Wrestling. During this time Bundy also wrestled in
Memphis, Tennessee often teaming with
Rick Rude and
Jim Neidhart against opponents such as
Jerry Lawler.
World Wrestling Federation (1985–1988) WWF Championship pursuit (1985–1986) facing
André the Giant and
Hillbilly Jim in 1985 After making a few appearances on
New Japan Pro-Wrestling/
World Wrestling Federation joint shows in early 1985, Bundy officially debuted in the WWF on the March 16, 1985 airing of
WWF Championship Wrestling, defeating
Mario Mancini. First managed by
Jimmy Hart, he was immediately
pushed with dominating victories over all of his opponents. Bundy also reprised his gimmick of demanding a five-count from the referee while pinning an opponent, to show how badly he had beaten his hapless opponent. This remained the shortest match in
WrestleMania history until 2008 when
Kane defeated
Chavo Guerrero Jr. in a legitimate eight seconds at
WrestleMania XXIV. In September 1985, Hart traded Bundy to manager
Bobby Heenan in exchange for
Adrian Adonis and
The Missing Link. On September 23, 1985, Bundy faced André the Giant at
Madison Square Garden in a match billed as "the Colossal Jostle". André dominated the match, with the match ending after Big John Studd came from the locker rooms to Bundy's aid and attacked the Giant, causing a disqualification. Bundy also began targeting Hogan and the WWF World Championship in late 1985. At ''
Saturday Night's Main Event V'', Hogan was dominating challenger
Don Muraco when Bundy (with Heenan in tow) ran to ambush Hogan. With Muraco's help, Bundy repeatedly gave Hogan
avalanches and
big splashes, which caused Hogan to severely bruise his ribs. Bundy demanded a match and claimed Hogan was afraid of him, setting up their
feud. Hogan demanded revenge and agreed to a
steel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship as the main event of
WrestleMania 2 in the
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena portion of the event, which Hogan won.
Various feuds (1986–1988) in 1986|thumb Later in 1986, Bundy reformed his tag-team partnership with Studd and began a feud with
The Machines,
Bill Eadie and
Blackjack Mulligan wrestling under masks (as the Super Machine and Big Machine, respectively) and often joined by André the Giant (as the Giant Machine). The storyline was that Bundy and Studd, along with Heenan, claimed that the Giant Machine was a masked André the Giant, and was competing under the mask and alias to circumvent an earlier suspension (due to no-showing for an event), but none of them ever proved that André and the Giant Machine were one and the same. Eventually, Bundy and Studd began teaming up with Heenan in a series of six-man tag team matches against the Machines (usually, Big and Super; as André's health was starting to deteriorate at this time, the Giant Machine made occasional appearances, but more often than not, it was either
Captain Lou Albano or a number of popular faces—often, Hogan,
Roddy Piper and others—who teamed with the other Machines). Bundy and Studd were regularly beaten, but won their last match over the Super-Big version of the Machines at Madison Square Garden. Also in the latter half of 1986, Bundy and Studd received shots at the WWF Tag Team Championship against
The British Bulldogs, but were unsuccessful, often losing by disqualification. Studd left the WWF shortly after their last match with the Machines, and Bundy went back to singles competition. At
WrestleMania III, Bundy was involved in a mixed six-man tag team match, teaming up with
midget wrestlers
Little Tokyo and
Lord Littlebrook against
Hillbilly Jim, the
Haiti Kid and
Little Beaver. During the match, after being pestered by Beaver, Bundy body-slammed him and delivered a big elbow, causing his team's disqualification and his own tag partners to turn against him. At the
1987 King of the Ring on September 4, Bundy made it to the finals of the
King of the Ring tournament, where he was defeated by
Randy Savage. In November 1987, Bundy defeated Hulk Hogan via a count-out on an episode of ''
Saturday Night's Main Event XIII'', but lost to Hogan in a rematch on the next episode of the series; the match was best known for the referee becoming legitimately injured when he was accidentally caught between Hogan and a charging Bundy, and André the Giant's post-match attack of Hogan shortly after Bundy left ringside. Although no longer appearing on the WWF's syndicated television shows, Bundy continued to wrestle house shows in early 1988 (often losing to
Bam Bam Bigelow); his last match during his initial WWF run was a televised match at
Madison Square Garden in February 1988, teaming up with Butch Reed in a loss to
Don Muraco and
The Ultimate Warrior.
Semi-retirement (1988–1994) After leaving the WWF in 1988, Bundy went into semi-retirement, wrestling only a handful of matches. In 1993, he wrestled in the main event of
Eastern Championship Wrestling's inaugural
November to Remember supercard, appearing as the mystery tag team partner of
Terry Funk in a losing effort against
Road Warrior Hawk and
Sabu. On May 13, 1994, Bundy defeated
Papa Shango at NWA New Jersey. In the summer of 1994, he made a couple of appearances for
United States Wrestling Association and also feuded with "Friendly" Frank Finnegan in the WWA in 1994. He also wrestled for WCW in early 1994, but never appeared on television. He mainly worked house shows in squash matches against random enhancement talents, with the exception of a short series of matches against Sting. All of which were losing efforts.
World Wrestling Federation (1994–1995) Bundy returned to the WWF in the fall of 1994 as a member of
Ted DiBiase's
stable, the
Million Dollar Corporation. He had a successful
pay-per-view return at
Survivor Series, when he and fellow "Million Dollar Team" member Bam Bam Bigelow survived a match against
Lex Luger's "Guts and Glory" team. Bundy made his return to WrestleMania at
WrestleMania XI, where
he was defeated by
the Undertaker, Bundy was later pushed down the card before being released in October 1995 after teaming with
Kama losing to
Bam Bam Bigelow and
Henry O. Godwinn in a dark match at a
WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping.
Late career (1995–2007) After leaving the WWF in late 1995, Bundy wrestled for several independent promotions in the United States including the WWA where he had wrestled in 1994. In April 1997, he resurfaced in magazines when he joined a faction managed by
Kenny Casanova called "Camp Casanova" along with "Danger" Dave DeJohn and the Masked Maniac at times in USWF, NBW, and USA Power Pro Wrestling. In a match against "the Seven Foot Tall" Primo Canera III, Bundy knee-dropped his opponent and then "Bundy-splashed" him. The impact actually broke the ring, leaving the two grapplers in a pit in the center of the squared circle. This independent footage was picked up by
Pro Wrestling Illustrated. His feuds against
"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka,
Doink the Clown, and
Tom Brandi were among many main events in the northeast independent circuit. In 1999, at the Kolf Arena in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin he won the
AWA Superstars of Wrestling Heavyweight Championship from Jonnie Stewart. Later that same year, Bundy the reigning AWA heavyweight champion, wrestled again headlining an AWA "Super Event" at the
Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah. That night ended differently for Bundy, losing a "body-slam match" to Koszmar Polski who was managed by
Ken Patera. Bundy still wrestled across the country, primarily in the Southern and Eastern United States. He generally continued to be a headliner and a crowd favorite at all events he attended. Bundy defeated Richard Byrne in May 2007 at Big Time Wrestling in Springfield, Massachusetts in which was also his last and final match of his wrestling career. ==Acting and stand-up comedy career==