Paul Ellering Paul Ellering ( August 22 , 1953 ) is a retired manager and wrestler . Professional wrestling career . Before entering the wrestling business , Ellering was an accomplished weightlifter . He set a World Record in the deadlift with a lift of 745 pounds . Ellering was trained in Minneapolis , Minnesota at a camp run by American Wrestling Alliance ( AWA ) owner and promoter Verne Gagne and wrestler / trainer Eddie 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 wrestler Steve 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 manager Jimmy Hart . His notable feuds were with Jesse Ventura as a face , and as a heel with Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant , from whom he won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship . While wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling , Ellering severely injured his knee in a match with Robert Gibson , reinjuring it after returning to the ring , which ended his full - time wrestling career . Georgia booker Ole Anderson recognized his speaking ability , however , and gave him a job as a manager . Ellering is best known for managing The Road Warriors , also known as the Legion of Doom from 1983 until 1997 during their stints in the American Wrestling Association , the National Wrestling Alliance , New Japan Pro Wrestling , and the World Wrestling Federation in 1992 . 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 . Throughout 1998 he managed the Disciples of Apocalypse , who were then feuding 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 on Sunday Night Heat , during a tag - team battle royal for a shot at the tag titles later in the night at WrestleMania XV , though they were unsuccessful . Although primarily a manager , Ellering has stepped between the ropes as a competitor , notably at the 1987 NWA Great American Bash in which he joined the Road Warriors , Nikita Koloff , and Dusty Rhodes to face The Four Horsemen and their manager James J . Dillon in the first ever WarGames match . Ellering would also face Teddy Long in a ' Hair vs . Hair ' match at the World Championship Wrestling Capitol Combat event in 1990 . In 2011 , Ellering was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame , along with the Road Warriors , by " The American Dream " Dusty Rhodes . Personal life . After retiring from professional wrestling , he traveled to Alaska to become a sled dog racer , participating in the Iditarod . In 2004 , he worked as Rachael Scdoris ' assistant during the Iditarod . He currently owns and operates The Historic Rock Tavern in Grey Eagle , Minnesota on Big Birch Lake . He has three children : Rebecca , Rachael and Saul .