The winners of WrestleMania 1: Where are they now?

King Kong Bundy

Ent — The innovator of the famed 5-count

King Kong Bundy defeated S.D. Jones in a record-breaking time of 9 seconds.

King Kong Bundy was one of the first big men that became popular through the power of the network television era. Billed at 6'5" and weighing in at 468 pounds, Bundy was truly a feared villain of not only his time but in wrestling history in general.

Bundy became known for his plea to the referee to give a five-count upon his command. This was an attempt to add insult to injury when defeating his opponent.

Where is he now?

Following his time in the WWE, Bundy went on to have a very successful independent run. Thanks to the huge impact that was made during the 1980's wrestling revolution, King Kong Bundy was in high demand after leaving the company, resulting in plenty of phone calls from indie promotions all over the world.

Bundy completely retired from all in-ring action in 2007. While he no longer competes in the ring, he has been known to still accept bookings for photo-ops and autograph signings.

In mid-2016, Bundy was officially announced as one of the many names listed in a class-action lawsuit filed against WWE. In the lawsuit, a number of former WWE Superstars make the claim that WWE officials would often times misrepresent, or conceal the nature of injuries and that they would routinely fail to offer acceptable care to talent following injury.

About the author

Jonathan Carpenter is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda. After obtaining a degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he started writing WWE articles in 2016. Jonathan believes integrity is vital in journalism and ensures his work is high on accuracy. He conducts in-depth research and verifies information from various sources before curating a feature.

Jonathan has engaged in many meaningful conversations with prominent pro wrestling personalities like Drew McIntyre and DDP. He grew up in Memphis, admiring Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan during WWE’s Golden Era in the ‘80s. He has attended many pro wrestling events and credits The Hulkster for making his childhood memorable.

Jonathan, a big fan of Bray Wyatt, would like to see the latter's brother, Bo Dallas, continue his legacy as Uncle Howdy. If he were to work on the storyline, Jonathan would book the return of Erick Rowan as Howdy’s muscle. He thinks it would be a great way to honor the former Universal Champion.

When not writing pro wrestling features, Jonathan likes to collect sports memorabilia and has amassed a large collection of event-used and autographed relics over the years.

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Edited by Nishant Jayaram