Although the professional wrestling industry has become a little more loose with kayfabe in recent years, there was a time when performers and promoters did everything in their power to make fans and the public believe that everything they did was real. Whenever something happened to upset that illusion, there were often consequences, such as Paul “Triple H” Levesque getting punished for the “curtain call” incident by Vince McMahon.
Other promoters, such as Bill Watts, took it even more seriously than McMahon. Watts, the promoter of Mid-South Wrestling in the 1970s and 1980s, had a brutal reputation among talent that continues to this day. Among the many absurd stories centered around Watts is a tale involving “Cowboy” Bob Orton Jr., father to WWE star Randy Orton.
During his tenure at Mid-South, Watts was so adamant about maintaining kayfabe that he would later boast about firing any wrestler who lost a bar fight. Bob Orton Jr. found himself on the receiving end of this policy after he got into a bar fight and came to a Mid-South event looking battered. Watts supposedly inspected his hands and found that there weren’t enough bruises for his liking, meaning the wrestler didn’t put up a good fight. For this, Watts fired Orton.
Differing Versions Of The Knuckle Inspection Story
That was Watts’ version of the story, at least. He told it at a 1997 banquet paying tribute to the late wrestler Eddie Gilbert, and referenced it again in later interviews without naming Orton. However, like many wrestling stories, there are other versions floating around, depending on who you ask.
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan previously claimed that Watts had fired Paul Orndoff because he had lost a bar fight. It’s possible that Duggan was mistaken, Watts was lying, or the promoter had fired both men for the same reason.
Either way, if he was truly fired from Mid-South, it didn’t seem to affect Orton too greatly. Following his run in that promotion, Orton spent years in WWE, serving as an ally to “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as well as getting his own singles matches and a tag team run alongside Don Muraco.
Bob Orton Jr. was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. Apart from taking a year off here and there, he continues to wrestle independent matches, with his most recent bout taking place in February 2025. He is currently 74 years old. His son, Randy, debuted in WWE weeks before his 22nd birthday in 2002. From the time of his arrival, he was pushed as a major talent, and he remains at the top of the card to this day.