re: RIP the Nature Boy

Always monitor a blow to the head, even if there are no immediate symptoms. I wonder if they wanted to keep him for observation and he refused.

ETA: or he could have passed out resulting in the car wreck, which would have been another red flag that something was wrong.

Landel was actually a pretty decent wrestler. Without googling or wiki, I can't tell you why he chose that name, but he may have even had it before Flair. By no means is he Flair and he's actually younger, but this cat was a territory name in the 1980's. He never did big things in WWF or WCW, so that likely is why no one cares.

Flair, if you look at his old matches, wrestled out of Minnesota (where he's actually from) before he was billed out of Charlotte. He also was merely an NWA guy who dropped the belt to Kerry Von Erich (briefly) and did not gain the notoriety he has today until he and The Andersons and Tully Blanchard formed the original 4 Horsemen.

Again, Flair is older and likely more experienced. Landel, prior to about 1985, was just as big a name among NWA territories.

quote:

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Landel had runs with WCW, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, Smoky Mountain and other promotions. He was hired by WWE in 1995 but suffered a bad knee injury just days after being hired.

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He was never any contender with WCW.
I don't think he even had a televised match with WWF.

quote:

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Man still would have loved a real feud between flair and landel in the mid 80's

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Sounds like he was entering Mid-Atlantic Wrestling as Flair exited it. Flair was likely in Dallas while Landel was either in Tennessee or the Carolinas. I highly doubt any promotion would have had them wrestling within the same territory with the same nickname.

It was so close. Check out this interview/promo

LINK

I remember him from the old Mid-South wrestling days.