Paul Ellering Explains His Transition From Wrestler To Manager
Paul Ellering explains his transition to manager.
After bringing his in-ring career to an end, Ellering quickly rose to prominence in the world of managing. Outside of The Road Warriors, Ellering went on to work with teams like the Authors Of Pain and singles names like Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts.
Speaking with Busted Open Radio for a new interview, the WWE Hall Of Famer said that a conversation with Ole Anderson led to the transition.
“I was wrestling Robert Gibson in Columbus and I ruptured my Patella tendon. Jerry Owens takes me to the hotel, we’re going to go the hospital the next morning. Who’s there but Dr. Jimmy Andrews, who was head of the Birmingham clinic. He operated on me the first time and I was rehabbing for about seven months. Ole [Anderson] calls me up and he says, ‘You ready to get back to work yet?’ I go yeah, I guess I’m ready. I worked really hard to get back, I hadn’t done anything in the ring though. After I wrestled on TV, Ole says, ‘You know, maybe we should give the leg just another month or two, it seems like you’re favoring it.’ I said, ‘Okay, that’s fine.’ He said, ‘Did you ever think about being a manager? Be careful because you get stigmatized as a manager, then that’s where you’ll be the rest of your career.’”
As it turns out, Ellering even had a dream about being a manager before he even entered the business.
“Even before I got into wrestling, I was in college and I had a premonition dream that I was a wrestling manager. This was five years before I even thought about wrestling. When Ole said that, I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ The rest is history.”
Ellering and the Authors Of Pain was released from WWE back in 2025. The former noted that he would be interested in managing his daughter, Rachel Ellering, in AEW/ROH.
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