Early career (1979–1981) Landel started his career in 1979. In 1980 he worked for
Angelo Poffo's
International Championship Wrestling in the Midwest.
National Wrestling Alliance (1981–1986) In 1981, he became a part of
Bill Watts's
Mid-South Wrestling. On August 18, 1981, he received his first title opportunity, but fell in defeat to Mississippi Champion Bob Orton. On September 29, 1981, he teamed with
Jim Garvin in an unsuccessful challenge to MSW Tag-Team Champions
The Wild Samoans, and after this moved on to
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. Less than two weeks later Landel surfaced in Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, defeating
Mike Miller in Asheville, NC. He was largely victorious against a number of opponents, including
Charlie Fulton, Mike Miller, and Jeff Sword. Landel returned to Mid-South Wrestling on March 3, 1982, defeating Bob Orton in a match held in Baton Rouge, LA. He stayed in Bill Watt's territory for the next few months, facing Rick Ferrara,
Paul Orndorff, and
One Man Gang. After several months in the CWA, Landel returned to MSW and would split time between several
National Wrestling Alliance promotions, including Mid-South, the CWA, and
Houston Wrestling. On March 8, 1983, he traveled to Capitol Sports Promotions and defeated
Pierre Martel to win the
WWC North American Heavyweight Title. This was Landel's first title, and he held the belt until June 25, 1983, when he lost to
Pedro Morales in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. That summer Landel defeated
Dutch Mantell to win the
NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship in Memphis, TN. He held the title until August 29, 1983, when he was defeated by
Koko B Ware. Landel regained the title on September 10, then holding it until he was defeated by
Terry Taylor on December 1, 1983, in Lexington, KY. Landell spent all of 1984 splitting time between Mid-South and Houston Wrestling, facing competitors such as Terry Taylor,
Jose Lothario, and
Brickhouse Brown. In 1985 he returned to Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling (
Jim Crockett Promotions), defeating
Denny Brown at "MACW Title Night '85" in Raleigh, North Carolina on March 6. Landel joined manager
J. J. Dillon's stable, He would wrestle Magnum several more times that spring but was unable to gain the title. On June 15, 1985, Buddy Landell received his first ever shot at the
NWA World Heavyweight Championship, falling in defeat to "Nature Boy"
Ric Flair in Greensboro, NC. A wrestling card with a Landel-
Ric Flair main event on July 31, 1985, drew an overflow crowd at
J.S. Dorton Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Landel often claimed this crowd broke
Elvis Presley's attendance record at the arena, but this has not been independently confirmed.) He won the
NWA National Heavyweight Championship from
Terry Taylor at
Starrcade '85 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He resurfaced in the Continental Wrestling Association January 4, 1986, and defeated
David Haskins at a television taping in Memphis, TN. Seventeen days later he retook the CWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship from Koko B Ware, although his reign was brief as he was defeated for it by
Dusty Rhodes on February 2. Landel regained the championship sixteen days later and held it until April 7, when he lost to Dutch Mantell. On June 2, 1986, he defeated former partner Bill Dundee to win the
AWA Southern Championship in a barbed wire match held in Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. He briefly vacated the belt that month, then regained it in a tournament finale over The Flame (Roger Smith). Accompanied by former foe turned partner Bill Dundee, Landel and Dundee both attacked South after the match. On the August 2nd episode of "World Championship Wrestling", announcer
Tony Schiavone conducted a sit-down interview with Buddy Landel who claimed that he and not Ric Flair was the real "Nature Boy". In his first month back, he was programmed against opening level competition on house shows, facing and defeating Rocky King,
Sam Houston, and
Todd Champion. While Landel remained undefeated, Flair would not respond until the September 6th episode of
NWA Pro, where he stated that he was "Space Mountain" while Buddy was "Ride the Wild Mouse". That same weekend on
NWA Worldwide, Landel and Dundee claimed that Flair would only wrestle an injured competitor like Dusty Rhodes. Landel, however, would never wrestle Flair in this time period and instead faced Magnum T. A. and
NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion Ron Garvin, wrestling each to a draw when they faced off.
Universal Wrestling Federation (1986) Buddy Landel joined Bill Watts'
Universal Wrestling Federation on October 10, 1986, and defeated Jeff Raitz at a house show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Landel was unbeaten, defeating
Joe Savoldi,
Jeff Gaylord, and
Chavo Guerrero.
Continental Championship Wrestling (1987) He next jumped to National Wrestling Alliance affiliate
Continental Championship Wrestling in February 1987, winning the
NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship. During the first half of the year, he would face The Tennessee Stud (
Ron Fuller) and
Wendell Cooley. His stay was short-lived and consigned only to that TV taping, where he also defeated Lance Allen and Chris Bassett.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1988) Buddy Landel made his first trip to an overseas promotion in January 1988 when he joined
All Japan Pro Wrestling. His first appearance came at the "All Japan Pro Wrestling 100 Million Yen Capture 16 Man Battle Royal" on New Year's Day in Tokyo, Japan. During the tour Landel faced
Akira Taue,
Tiger Mask,
Akio Sato,
Hiroshi Wajima,
John Tenta (Earthquake), and
Jumbo Tsuruta.
Continental Wrestling Association (1988–1990) He returned once more to the CWA on August 1, 1988, and unsuccessfully challenged
AWA World Heavyweight Champion Jerry Lawler in Memphis, TN. While appearing in the CWA he also wrestled for Capitol Sports Promotions, and on August 20 defeated TNT (
Savio Vega) for the
WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Champion. He held the belt until September 17 when TNT regained it. Landel returned to the CWA and remained with the company as it transitioned into the
United States Wrestling Association. He next moved on to a house show series with
Tom Zenk where he had considerably more success, and then faced
Tommy Rich at multiple cards. On September 5th he suffered a televised loss to Mike Rotundo at
Clash of the Champions XII "Fall Brawl: Mountain Madness" . On the September 8th episode of
WCW Worldwide he announced that he was going after titles, and the following week lost to
Terry Taylor and still demanded a title shot. He finally faced off against old nemesis Ric Flair at a in a "Battle of the Nature Boys". He wrestled Flair in a "Gauntlet match" which aired on November 24, 1990. On February 24, 1991 he competed on his first WCW
PPV, wrestling the newly arrived
Dustin Rhodes at
WrestleWar 91. After losing to Rhodes, he rebounded on February 26th on
WCW Saturday Night by defeating
Ranger Ross. During the match
Terrance Taylor and Alexandra York appeared at ringside, beginning an angle where Landell was under consideration for membership in
Alexandra York's
The York Foundation. On the March 9th episode he stated that he would be holding a press conferenbce when he signed with the Foundation. On the March 16th edition of WCW Worldwide, Landell teamed with Taylor to defeat
Bobby Eaton &
Tom Zenk.
Global Wrestling Federation (1991) Following a stint in the
Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, Landel joined the newly created
Global Wrestling Federation on June 28, 1991, and defeated Gary Young. He would lose to
The Patriot in the finals for a tournament to crown the
GWF Television Champion. Landel also continued to wrestle for the TWA, 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.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1991–1992) Buddy Landel joined
Jim Cornette's new promotion
Smoky Mountain Wrestling for its inaugural TV taping on November 27, 1991, in Morristown, TN. Landel stated that he had refused to do favors for major promotions and had joined SMW to hurt people. His first wrestling match would not come until April 18, 1992, however; he defeated
Reno Riggins on SMW television in his debut match. Landel feuded with
Tim Horner that spring but was generally unsuccessful.
United States Wrestling Association (1992–1994) He rejoined the USWA on August 17, 1992, teaming with
Brian Christopher,
Doug Gilbert and
Eddie Gilbert to defeat Bill Dundee,
The Rock 'n' Roll Express and Tommy Rich. On November 22, 1993, he defeated
Jeff Jarrett to win the vacated USWA Heavyweight Championship. He would lose it to Brian Christopher on December 11, 1993. In 1994 he unsuccessfully attempted to regain the title from Tommy Rich and later
Sid Vicious.
Return to Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994–1995) On December 25, 1994, Landel appeared at Christmas Chaos '94, defeating SMW Heavyweight Champion
The Dirty White Boy via disqualification. Landel became one of the main eventers managed by
Jim Cornette. Buddy held the
SMW Heavyweight Championship and the
SMW Television Championship in 1995. In August 1995 he earned a role in the movie
Box of Moonlight, appearing in a scene wrestling
Headbanger Thrasher. He remained a heroic character until the promotion folded in late 1995.
World Wrestling Federation (1995–1996, 1997, 1998, 1999) After Cornette closed SMW, both Cornette and Landel went to the
World Wrestling Federation. It was right after this match that Landel suffered a serious injury outside of the arena, slipping on ice and tearing his right quadriceps. He was out of action for six months as a result. On May 19, 1998, he worked a dark match against
Edge. He had one last short run with the WWF in 1999, wrestling two matches on
Shotgun Saturday Night, first on February 20, 1999, against
The Godfather and then on February 27, 1999, against
Triple H.
Late career (1996–2010) After leaving WWF and recovering from his quadriceps injury Landel began wrestling on the independent scene, appearing first for Tennessee Mountain Wrestling and competing for them on multiple occasions. Landel also returned to the
World Wrestling Council. In 1997 and 1998 he would wrestle for numerous other promotions as well, including
IWA Mid-South,
Ohio Valley Wrestling, NWA New Jersey, and the National Wrestling League. Landel won the AIWF World Title in 1998. He retired in 2003 where he teamed with
Jerry Lawler and
Jimmy Valiant defeating
Bill Dundee,
Mabel, and
Jimmy Hart for
Memphis Wrestling on September 28, 2003. In 2005 he worked at NWA Rocky Top promotion in Knoxville doing color commentary with Tony Basilio. Following a six-year absence from the ring, Landel returned at the XCW Mid-West: Legends Of The Louisville Gardens on March 3, 2009, to wrestle
Flash Flanagan for the XCW Heavyweight Championship. On October 24, 2009, Landel appeared at the TWA Reunion Show in Vorhees, NJ. Still holding onto the TWA Heavyweight Championship, he then lost the title to
Glen Osbourne. Landel was honored as Most Influential WWF/WCW Wrestler from
Kentucky by the state's governor and made a
Kentucky Colonel in 1990. He wrestled his final match at the NWA Wrestle Birmingham: The Big Bang event on November 19, 2010, where he teamed with Cameron Valentine and
Greg Valentine to face
Brutus Beefcake, Brickhouse Brown, and
Jake Roberts. On August 27, 2011, Landel was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. == Personal life ==