| King Kong Bundy | |
|---|---|
.png) King Kong Bundy in 1983 | |
| Birth name | Christopher Alan Pallies[1] |
| Born | (1955-11-07)November 7, 1955 Woodbury, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, 2019(2019-03-04) (aged 63) Glassboro, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 1 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Daddy Bundy[1] Boom Boom Bundy[2] Chris Bundy[3] Chris Cannon[3] Chris Canyon[1][3][4] Crippler Cannon[2] King Kong Bundy[5] Man Mountain Cannon, Jr[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[5] |
| Billed weight | 458 lb (208 kg)[5] |
| Billed from | Atlantic City, New Jersey[5][6] |
| Trained by | Larry Sharpe[1] |
| Debut | March 7, 1981[1] |
| Retired | May 2007[1] |
Christopher Alan Pallies (November 7, 1955 – March 4, 2019) was an Americanprofessional wrestler,stand-up comedian and actor better known by his wrestling gimmick andring name,King Kong Bundy. Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, trash-talking villain character.
He appeared in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s and wrestled in the main event ofWrestleMania 2 in 1986, facingHulk Hogan in asteel cage match for theWWF World Heavyweight Championship.[1][5][6][7] He also headlined the inauguralSurvivor Seriesin 1987, as well as the first edition ofExtreme Championship Wrestling's flagship event,November to Remember,in 1993.
Christopher Alan Pallies was born inWoodbury, New Jersey, on November 7, 1955,[8][9] to Donald Pallies, a railroad freight agent, and Margret (McCarthy) Pallies, a department store clerk.[1][10][11] He attendedWashington Township High School inSewell, New Jersey, graduating in 1974.[1][12][13] He had two sisters and three brothers.[10] While in high school, Pallies wrestled heavyweight on the wrestling team. He won two regional titles. His brother Jeff, also a member of the wrestling team, later wrestled for Glassboro State, now known as Rowan University. He was a two-time Metro Conference champion.
Pallies was trained to wrestle byLarry Sharpe at the "Monster Factory" inBellmawr, New Jersey. He debuted on March 7, 1981, wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name "Chris Canyon".[1][4] His first victory was againstStrong Kobayashi in WWF on July 10, 1981. In the early years of his career, he also used the name "Chris Cannon".[3] In 1982, Pallies relocated toTexas, where he joined theWorld Class Championship Wrestling.[3] He was developed by theVon Erich family as thebabyface "Big Daddy Bundy" (afterShirley Crabtree's "Big Daddy" moniker),[14] wearing blue jeans with a rope belt, but turnedheel 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.[15] He lost his hair during the feud, adding to his signature look. Bundy wasFritz Von Erich's opponent for Fritz's 1982retirement match at theFritz Von Erich Retirement Show held at theTexas Stadium.[16][17] He also competed in various territories such as theAmerican Wrestling Association andGeorgia Championship Wrestling where he teamed withthe Masked Superstar to defeat his former stablematesthe Road Warriors for theNWA National Tag Team Championship. He also had a tendency to demand a five-count (as opposed to the usual three count) forpinfalls whenever he dominated his opponent in asquash match, agimmick he began while wrestling forMid-South Wrestling. During this time Bundy also wrestled inMemphis often teaming withRick Rude andJim Neidhart against opponents such asJerry Lawler.
After making a few appearances onNew Japan Pro-Wrestling/World Wrestling Federation joint shows in early 1985, Bundy officially debuted in the WWF on the March 16, 1985 airing ofWWF Championship Wrestling, defeatingMario Mancini.[18][19] First managed byJimmy Hart, he was immediatelypushed 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.[18] He defeatedS. D. Jones in what was announced as only nine seconds at thefirst WrestleMania atMadison Square Garden (it was actually about 17 seconds).[20] This remained the shortest match inWrestleMania history until 2008 whenKane defeatedChavo Guerrero Jr. in a legitimate eight seconds atWrestleMania XXIV.[21]
In September 1985, Hart traded Bundy to managerBobby Heenan in exchange forAdrian Adonis andThe Missing Link.[18] After joiningthe Heenan Family, Bundy feuded extensively withAndré the Giant, a feud which started during anangle where Bundy interfered in one of André's matches and delivered several splashes, giving the Giant a brokensternum.[18] They feuded for several months, including a pair of tag team matches onSaturday Night's Main Event II andIII in late 1985, where Bundy, and André's other nemesis,Big John Studd, first faced André andTony Atlas and then André andWWF World Heavyweight ChampionHulk Hogan.[22][23] On September 23, 1985, Bundy faced André the Giant atMadison 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.[24] Bundy also began targeting Hogan and the WWF World Championship in late 1985. AtSaturday Night's Main Event V, Hogan was dominating challengerthe Magnificent Muraco when Bundy (with Heenan in tow) ran to ambush Hogan. With Muraco's help, Bundy repeatedly gave Hoganavalanches andbig splashes, which caused Hogan to severely bruise his ribs. Bundy demanded a match and claimed Hogan was afraid of him, setting up theirfeud.[25] Hogan demanded revenge and agreed to asteel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship as the main event ofWrestleMania 2 in theLos Angeles portion of the event, which Hogan won.[26]
Later in 1986, Bundy reformed his tag-team partnership with Studd and began a feud withThe Machines,Bill Eadie andBlackjack Mulligan wrestling under masks (as the Super Machine and Big Machine, respectively) and often joined by Andre the Giant (as the Giant Machine). The storyline was that Bundy and Studd, along with Heenan, claimed that the Giant Machine was a masked Andre 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 Andre 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 Andre's health was starting to deteriorate at this time, the Giant Machine made occasional appearances, but more often than not, it was either CaptainLou 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 againstThe 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.
AtWrestleMania III, Bundy was involved in a mixed six-man tag team match, teaming up withmidget wrestlersLittle Tokyo andLord Littlebrook againstHillbilly Jim, theHaiti Kid andLittle 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.[27][28] At the1987 King of the Ring on September 4, Bundy made it to the finals of theKing of the Ring tournament, where he was defeated byRandy Savage. In November 1987, Bundy defeated Hulk Hogan via a count-out on an episode ofSaturday Night's Main Event XIII,[29] but lost to Hogan in a rematch on the next episode of the series;[30] the match was best known for the referee becoming legitimately injured when he was accidentally caught between Hogan and a charging Bundy, and Andre the Giant's post-match attack of Hogan shortly after Bundy left ringside. Although no longer appearing on the WWF's syndicated TV shows, Bundy continued to wrestle house shows in early 1988 (often losing toBam Bam Bigelow); his last match during his initial WWF run was a televised match atMadison Square Garden in February 1988, teaming up with Butch Reed in a loss toDon Muraco andThe Ultimate Warrior.
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 ofEastern Championship Wrestling's inauguralNovember to Remembersupercard, appearing as the mystery tag team partner ofTerry Funk in a losing effort againstRoad Warrior Hawk andSabu. On May 13, 1994, Bundy defeatedPapa Shango at NWA New Jersey. In the summer of 1994, he made a couple of appearances forUnited States Wrestling Association and also feuded with "Friendly" Frank Finnegan in the WWA in 1994.
Bundy returned to the WWF in the fall of 1994 as a member ofTed DiBiase'sstable,The Million Dollar Corporation.[31][32] He had a successfulpay-per-view return at theSurvivor Series, when he and fellow "Million Dollar Team" member Bam Bam Bigelow survived a match againstLex Luger's "Guts and Glory" team.[31] Bundy was then billed as a favorite in the1995 Royal Rumble, but lasted only three minutes before being eliminated by another big man,Mabel.[33] Bundy made his return to WrestleMania atWrestleMania XI, wherehe was defeated bythe Undertaker,[31][34] Bundy was later pushed down the card before being released in October 1995 after teaming withKama losing toBam Bam Bigelow andHenry O. Godwinn for a dark match forWWF Superstars of Wrestling.
After leaving the WWF in late 1995,[31] 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 byKenny 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 byPro Wrestling Illustrated. His feuds against"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka,Doink the Clown, andTom Brandi were among many main events in the northeast independent circuit. In 1999, at the Kolf Arena inOshkosh, Wisconsin he won theAWA 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 theDee Events Center in Ogden, Utah. That night ended differently for Bundy, losing a "body-slam match" to Koszmar Polski who was managed byKen 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. King Kong Bundy's last match is thought to have been at the Legends of Wrestling Show at the Pulaski County Fair in Somerset, Kentucky in 2007. Bundy lost to"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan in that main event. He 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.[1]
In 1986, Pallies appeared in television commercials and print advertisements for theVendex HeadStart personal computer.[35] Bundy had two guest spots and one big part onMarried... with Children, as the creators had named the lead characters "Bundy" as an homage to him.[36] In 1987, he played Uncle Irwin, the brother ofPeggy Bundy. In 1995, he appeared again as the King Kong Bundy character, teaching Bud how to wrestle. In 1988, he appeared in theRichard Pryor filmMoving as Gorgo, part of a trio of ex-cons who are insolent and careless movers. In 1996, he appeared on an episode ofWeird Science as himself. He is on the cover of Belgian band Belgian Asociality's 2009 albumKabaal. On April 24, 2008, he was on aNorwegian TV show calledGolden GOAL!. Bundy also starred as Otto Belmar in the 2011 independent filmFight the Panda Syndicate.
After retiring from wrestling, Pallies would also try a career instand-up comedy. He would perform regularly at various comedy clubs such as the Coffee Dot Comedy inSea Isle City.[37][38][39][40]
Pallies was previously married and had a stepson named David that Pallies raised as his own.[10][41][11] Pallies was fond of cats and had "about 10" at the time of his death.[42]
In July 2016, Pallies joined aclass action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred "long term neurological injuries" and that the company "routinely failed to care" for them and "fraudulently misrepresented and concealed" the nature and extent of those injuries. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.[43] The case was dismissed by US District JudgeVanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.[44] Anthony Mango ofBleacher Report wrote that Pallies had a strained relationship with WWE over the years and his involvement in the lawsuit likely prevented the company from inducting him into theirHall of Fame.[45]
On March 4, 2019, Pallies died from complications ofdiabetes at his home inGlassboro, New Jersey, at the age of 63.[10][11][46]
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1988 | Moving | Gorgo | |
| 2002 | Bill's Seat | Big Swede | Short film |
| 2010 | Card Subject to Change | Himself | Documentary film |
| 2011 | Fight the Panda Syndicate | Otto Belmar | |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1987, 1995 | Married... with Children | Uncle Irwin/Himself | Episodes: "All in the Family", "Flight of the Bumblebee" |
| 1996 | Weird Science | Himself | Episode: "Men in Tights" |
| 1998 | Boy Meets World | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2008 | Golden Goal | Himself | 1 episode |
| 2014 | The Swerve | Himself | Episode: "King Kong Bundy" |
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,Wrestlingdata.com,Internet Wrestling Database| International | |
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| National | |