Buddy Landel Buddy Landel ( August 17 , 1962 - June 22 , 2015 ) is a professional wrestler better known as " Nature Boy " Buddy Landel . Career . Buddy Landel started his career in 1979 as a young talented athlete in ICW . He left high school even though he had received letters of intent to play baseball and football at the University of Tennessee ( and 15 other schools ) . At the time , his sister was dating Barry Orton ( aka Barry O ) , and she introduced him to Buddy . Barry took Buddy to meet Boris Malenko . Malenko had try - outs with 25 prospectives Buddy was the only one to make it . Buddy moved in with Bob Roop in Knoxville and he worked for All - Star Wrestling before going to ICW . He soon dyed his hair blonde and changed his name to " Nature Boy " Buddy Landel . He made a name for himself in the Tennessee area promotions and went to the NWA ' s Jim Crockett Promotions in 1985 and joined Manager James J . Dillon . Landel has claimed that he was considered to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Ric Flair and said he was supposed to win it at a TV taping when he came in late . A Landel - Flair match in July 1985 broke Elvis Presley ' s attendance record in Dorton Arena in Raleigh , North Carolina , in July 1985 . Landel went back to the Tennessee area , where in 1986 set records with Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantell and Jerry Lawler , and it was the last sold out show ever in the Mid - South Coliseum . and then to the Alabama territories in 1987 and 1988 . He came back to the NWA in 1990 but never got above a mid - card level push . He did get a chance to wrestle " Nature Boy " Ric Flair in a " Battle of the Nature Boys " on TV . He wrestled and lost to Flair in a " Gauntlet " match which aired on November 24 , 1990 . In early 1991 , he was under consideration for membership in Alexandra York ' s York Foundation but he lost the matches he was supposed to win and she did not offer him a spot . He went back to the independents in 1991 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 . He had a good run in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994 and 1995 . Whilst originally considered for the New Jack gimmick , booker Jim Cornette instead opted against painting Landel in blackface , and so instead he became one of the main members of The Militia , a stable managed by Jim Cornette himself ( who wore camouflage gear ) and held the SMW Heavyweight Championship for a spell in 1995 . After losing the title and enduring a string of losses , he was kicked out of Cornette ' s Army and became a babyface . He remained a babyface until the promotion folded in late 1995 , Landel and Shawn Michaels set a record at the Knoxville Coliseum it was the last sold out wrestling show in the history of that building . He had a very brief run in the WWF in late 1995 and early 1996 in which he wrestled Bret Hart in a WWF Championship Title match televised on January 13 , 1996 . Landel also appeared at in a losing effort to Ahmed Johnson . He continued to use an appearance similar to Ric Flair , and even used Flair ' s early 90s WWF entrance music . Landel suffered a serious injury shortly after his debut . Later on in his career , Landel made several one night returns on the Shotgun Saturday Night program , in losing efforts , on February 27 , 1999 , where he lost to Triple H Since then , Landel wrestled in the independents with a brief appearance in World Championship Wrestling before it folded . Buddy Landel was the first person to wrestle Bill Goldberg ( June 1997 , Dalton , Georgia ) . His retirement match was against Tommy Rich in Birmingham ' s Boutwell Auditorium on August 11 , 2001 . [ 2 ] He filmed a shoot interview for RF Video in 2002 talking about his career . Landel was honored as Most Influential WWF / WCW Wrestler from Kentucky by the state ' s Governor and made a Kentucky Colonel in 1990 . On August 27 , 2011 Landel was inducted into the Legends Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame . Death . On June 22 , 2015 , Ansor died in Virginia after reportedly being involved in a car accident a few days prior . He was survived by his wife .