.jpg) Ellering in 2018 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1953-08-22)August 22, 1953 (age 72) Melrose, Minnesota, U.S.[4] |
| Alma mater | St. Cloud State University |
Spouse | |
| Children | 3; includingRachael Ellering |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | The Body Doc Mr. Dot Com Paul Ellering[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 244 lb (111 kg)[2] |
| Trained by | Verne Gagne Eddie Sharkey |
| Debut | December 25, 1977[3] |
Paul Ellering (born August 22, 1953) is an Americanprofessional wrestling manager and retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure inWWE, where he most notably served as the manager for theRoad Warriors in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as theAuthors of Pain (AOP) from 2016 to 2018, and from 2024 to 2025 as part ofThe Final Testament. Retiring as an in-ring performer in 1983 due to injuries, Ellering spent most of his wrestling career managing the Road Warriors, working with them from 1983 to 1990 and again on occasion between 1992 and 1997. From 1998 to 1999, he briefly managedDisciples of Apocalypse. Ellering and the Road Warriors were inducted into both theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and theWWE Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2016, he returned to WWE atNXT TakeOver: The End as the manager of the Authors of Pain until 2018. He made his second on-screen return in 2024 as part of The Final Testament until his release from the company in 2025.
Before entering thewrestling business, Ellering was an accomplishedpowerlifter, setting a world record in the deadlift at 745 pounds (338 kg) a record that has since been beaten.[5]
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Ellering was trained inMinneapolis, Minnesota at a camp run byAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) owner and promoterVerne Gagne and wrestler/trainerEddie Sharkey in the mid-1970s. According to Ellering's RF Video shoot interview, of the thirty-plus trainees in the camp, only himself and later AWA mid-card wrestlerSteve Olsonoski (a.k.a. Steve O) made it through the camp. Ellering would later go on to wrestle in singles and tag teams for Gagne in the AWA,Bill Watts's Mid-South promotion, and for Jerry Jarrett's Memphis promotion, where he was paired with managerJimmy Hart. Ellering became known as "Precious" Paul Ellering. His notable feuds were withJesse Ventura as a face, and as a heel withJerry Lawler andJimmy Valiant, from whom he won theAWA Southern Heavyweight Championship.
In April and May 1981, Ellering wrestled in Japan for theInternational Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its Big Challenge Series. During the tour, Ellering and Terry Latham defeatedMighty Inoue andRusher Kimura in atwo-out-of-three falls match to win theIWA World Tag Team Championship. Kusatsu and Inoue regained the titles Ellering and Latham from 12 days later.[6]
While wrestling forMid-South Wrestling from 1980 to 1982, Ellering severely injured his knee in a match withRobert Gibson. He started doing workout segments with kids for Mid South, re-injuring it after returning to the ring. The injury ended his full-time wrestling career.
Georgia bookerOle Anderson recognized his speaking ability, however, and gave him a job as a manager.[4]Ellering formed a stable named the Legion of Doom including such wrestlers asThe Spoiler,Jake Roberts and theRoad Warriors. This was later reduced down to just the Warriors who held theNWA National Tag Team Championship three times before moving to theAmerican Wrestling Association where they held theAWA World Tag Team Championship for a year, during which time the Warriors – and Ellering by association – turnedfan favorite.
Ellering is best known for managing the Warriors, from 1983 until 1992 during their stints in the AWA, variousNational Wrestling Alliance territories,New Japan Pro-Wrestling, All-Japan Pro Wrestling, and theWorld Wrestling Federation in 1992.[1] Ellering was also the real-life manager for the team; he booked their matches, lined up their flights, set up hotel reservations, and kept track of their expenses.[1]
Following the loss of the AWA tag title, Ellering and the Warriors headed to Jim Crockett Promotions where their accomplishments included theCrockett Cup (1986) and theWCW World Tag Team Championship in 1988 (the team and manager briefly turningvillains to achieve the latter.) Although primarily a manager, Ellering stepped between the ropes as a competitor, notably at the 1987 NWAGreat American Bash in which he joined the Road Warriors,Nikita Koloff, andDusty Rhodes to faceThe Four Horsemen and their managerJ. J. Dillon in the first everWarGames match. Ellering would also faceTeddy Long in a 'Hair vs. Hair' match at theWorld Championship WrestlingCapital Combat event in 1990, coming away with a victory.
Ellering returned as the manager of Hawk and Animal (by now using the Legion of Doom as their actual team name) atWrestlemania VIII and stayed with them until they left the WWF afterSummerSlam (1992). During a promotional angle where Hawk and Animal "rediscovered" their childhood toy "Rocko", a ventriloquist's dummy, Ellering was the puppeteer and voice of the dummy.
Throughout 1998 he managed theDisciples of Apocalypse, who were thenfeuding with the Legion of Doom; according to Ellering and Animal on the Road Warriors DVD, Ellering had a hard time working with another team against Hawk and Animal, and had difficulty ripping on his former team on the microphone. By the end of his second WWF run, though, he was back to managing the LOD, most notably onSunday Night Heat, during a tag-team battle royal for a shot at the tag titles later in the night atWrestleMania XV, though they were unsuccessful.
In 2011, Ellering was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame, along with the Road Warriors, byDusty Rhodes.
Ellering made his return toWWE programming atNXT TakeOver: The End on June 8, 2016, revealing himself as the manager of a debuting theAuthors of Pain (Akam andRezar), after their attack onAmerican Alpha.[7] On January 28, 2017, atNXT TakeOver: San Antonio, Ellering led Akam and Rezar to their first reign asNXT Tag Team Champions. On April 9, 2018, Paul Ellering made his debut on Monday Night Raw with Akam and Rezar as they answered an open challenge fromHeath Slater andRhyno. After they were victorious in their match, Akam and Rezar ended their partnership with Ellering by pushing him away and leaving him ringside as they returned backstage, which marked Ellering's final on-screen appearance in WWE.[8]
On the December 29, 2023 episode of Smackdown, a vignette was shown ofKarrion Kross andScarlett, showing that they have aligned with the Authors of Pain and Paul Ellering, signalling their return to WWE in 2024.
OnSmackDown: New Year's Revolution, Ellering, alongside the Authors of Pain, made their televised return, assisting Karrion Kross and Scarlett in attackingBobby Lashley and theStreet Profits, confirming their alliance in the process.[9]
Ellering was released from his WWE contract after a combined total of fourteen years with the company for Ellering, along with the Authors of Pain on February 7, 2025.[10]
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After retiring from professional wrestling, he traveled toAlaska to become a sled dog racer, participating in theIditarod.[11] In 2000 he came in 54th place.[12]
In 2002, Ellering became the owner and operator of the Historic Rock Tavern on Big Birch Lake in Grey Eagle, Minnesota. In 2020, it was sold to new ownership after being on the market for three years. He has three children: Rebecca,Rachael and Saul. His daughter Rachael won the bronze medal at the 2014 World Powerlifting Championships.[13] She made her professional wrestling debut in December 2015.
Ellering made his video game debut as a non-playable character inWWE 2K18 and WWE 2K25.
,Cagematch,Internet Wrestling Database
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