Don Kernodle
Encyclopedia
Charles Donald Kernodle, Jr. better known as Don Kernodle (born May 2, 1950) was an American professional wrestler with the National Wrestling Alliance
's Jim Crockett Promotions
.
's Jim Crockett Promotions
. At first, he (now known as Pvt. Kernodle) was part of Sgt. Slaughter
's "Cobra Corps" and teamed with Slaughter and Pvt. Jim Nelson
. In 1982, the team of Kernodle and Nelson won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
from Porkchop Cash
and Jay Youngblood. They later lost the title to Cash and King Parsons
, from whom they also regained the title. After Nelson was removed from the alliance, Kernodle became the tag partner of Sgt. Slaughter, with whom he held the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) in late 1982 and early 1983. They lost the titles in a legendary steel cage match vs. Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood on March 12, 1983.
Following the title loss, Kernodle remained a villain
and formed a tag team
with Bob Orton, Jr.
and was managed
by Gary Hart
. He soon turned against America and formed a tag team with Ivan Koloff and won the NWA World Tag Team Title
. When Koloff's "nephew" Nikita Koloff
arrived in late 1984, Kernodle helped to train him. Also in 1984, the Koloffs turned on Kernodle after he and Ivan lost the NWA World Tag Titles to Dusty Rhodes and Manny "The Raging Bull" Fernandez and started a feud. Kernodle teamed with his brother Rocky to feud with the Koloffs and helped the Rock 'n' Roll Express
to win the Tag Team Title from them at Starrcade '85: The Gathering
.
In 1986, Kernodle left the NWA and wrestled in various independent promotion
s in the Carolinas. He later became a Sgt. for Immigration Customs Enforcement for Alamance County.
Since 2002, Kernodle and his brother have wrestled several times per year with CWF Mid-Atlantic near their home in Burlington, NC.
movie Paradise Alley
.
Don Kernodle and his brother Rocky won the $10,000 grand prize on an early 1990s episode of ABC
's America's Funniest Home Videos
(their video was of them getting their miniature Dachshund
to growl and snarl). They qualified for the $100,000 competition but did not win.
champion.
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
's Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
.
Professional wrestling career
After graduating from Elon College, Kernodle started wrestling in 1973 in the National Wrestling AllianceNational Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
's Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
. At first, he (now known as Pvt. Kernodle) was part of Sgt. Slaughter
Sgt. Slaughter
Robert Remus , better known by his ring name Sgt. Slaughter, is an American former WWE personality and semi-retired professional wrestler. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Slaughter had success in the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Association, and World Wrestling...
's "Cobra Corps" and teamed with Slaughter and Pvt. Jim Nelson
Jim Barrell
James Kirk Harrell is an American professional wrestler best known as Boris Zhukov in his time with the World Wrestling Federation.-Professional wrestling career:...
. In 1982, the team of Kernodle and Nelson won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship
The NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship is the tag team title currently defended in the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA Mid-Atlantic territory. The championship was originally created in the summer of 1968 and was originally named the NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Championship...
from Porkchop Cash
Porkchop Cash
Bobby Cash is a semi-retired American professional wrestler. He competed primarily in promotions operated by the National Wrestling Alliance...
and Jay Youngblood. They later lost the title to Cash and King Parsons
King Parsons
King Parsons is a former professional wrestler better know by his ringname Iceman King Parsons. King was called the Iceman from Jimmy Valiant after he saw him lying on a ice machine at a hotel.-Professional wrestling career:...
, from whom they also regained the title. After Nelson was removed from the alliance, Kernodle became the tag partner of Sgt. Slaughter, with whom he held the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) in late 1982 and early 1983. They lost the titles in a legendary steel cage match vs. Rick Steamboat & Jay Youngblood on March 12, 1983.
Following the title loss, Kernodle remained a villain
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
and formed a tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
with Bob Orton, Jr.
Bob Orton, Jr.
Robert Keith Orton is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Cowboy" Bob Orton. He is the father of wrestler Randy Orton, who is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment...
and was managed
Manager (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
by Gary Hart
Gary Hart (wrestler)
Gary Richard Williams, was a former professional wrestling manager, as well as a professional wrestler in his early career, best known by his ring name Gary Hart...
. He soon turned against America and formed a tag team with Ivan Koloff and won the NWA World Tag Team Title
NWA World Tag Team Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship is the professional wrestling world tag team championship within the NWA framework.-History:...
. When Koloff's "nephew" Nikita Koloff
Nikita Koloff
Nikita Koloff is a retired American professional wrestler,. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, which was a play on the nickname of fan favorite "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes .Nikita was brought into the National...
arrived in late 1984, Kernodle helped to train him. Also in 1984, the Koloffs turned on Kernodle after he and Ivan lost the NWA World Tag Titles to Dusty Rhodes and Manny "The Raging Bull" Fernandez and started a feud. Kernodle teamed with his brother Rocky to feud with the Koloffs and helped the Rock 'n' Roll Express
Rock 'n' Roll Express
The Rock 'n' Roll Express are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson. The duo began teaming together in Memphis in the early 1980s, followed by the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions . In JCP, they held the NWA World Tag Team Championship...
to win the Tag Team Title from them at Starrcade '85: The Gathering
Starrcade (1985)
Starrcade '85: The Gathering was the third annual Starrcade professional wrestling event produced by Jim Crockett Promotions under the National Wrestling Alliance banner...
.
In 1986, Kernodle left the NWA and wrestled in various independent promotion
Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions. They are roughly analagous to a minor league for pro wrestling, or community or regional theatre.Specific promotions on the...
s in the Carolinas. He later became a Sgt. for Immigration Customs Enforcement for Alamance County.
Since 2002, Kernodle and his brother have wrestled several times per year with CWF Mid-Atlantic near their home in Burlington, NC.
Other media
He appeared in the 1978 Sylvester StalloneSylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
movie Paradise Alley
Paradise Alley
Paradise Alley is a 1978 film about three brothers in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the 1940s who become involved in professional wrestling. It was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, and was given the green light by Universal Pictures after Stallone's success with 1976's Rocky...
.
Don Kernodle and his brother Rocky won the $10,000 grand prize on an early 1990s episode of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos
America's Funniest Home Videos is an American reality television program on ABC in which viewers are able to send in humorous homemade videotapes. The most common videos usually feature slapstick physical comedy arising from incidents, accidents and mishaps...
(their video was of them getting their miniature Dachshund
Dachshund
The dachshund is a short-legged, long-bodied dog breed belonging to the hound family. The standard size dachshund was bred to scent, chase, and flush out badgers and other burrow-dwelling animals, while the miniature dachshund was developed to hunt smaller prey such as rabbits...
to growl and snarl). They qualified for the $100,000 competition but did not win.
Personal life
In college, he lettered four times in amateur wrestling. He was also a two time national arm wrestlingArm wrestling
Arm wrestling is a sport with two participants. Each participant places one arm on a surface with their elbows bent and touching the surface, and they grip each other's hand...
champion.
In wrestling
- ManagerManager (professional wrestling)In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
s- Gary HartGary Hart (wrestler)Gary Richard Williams, was a former professional wrestling manager, as well as a professional wrestler in his early career, best known by his ring name Gary Hart...
- Oliver HumperdinkOliver HumperdinkJohn Sutton , better known by his ring name Oliver Humperdink, was a professional wrestling manager who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, Florida Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.-Career:...
- Gary Hart
- NicknameNicknameA nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
s- "The Pride of the USA"
Championships and accomplishments
- Maple Leaf WrestlingMaple Leaf WrestlingMaple Leaf Wrestling was the unofficial name in the 1970s and 1980s of the professional wrestling promotion run by Frank Tunney in Toronto.-Queensbury Athletic Club:...
- NWA Canadian Television ChampionshipNWA Canadian Television ChampionshipThe NWA Canadian Television Championship was a secondary singles title in Toronto-based NWA affiliate Maple Leaf Wrestling from 1982 to 1984, when the title was abandoned after the promotion left the NWA to join the World Wrestling Federation...
(1 time)
- Mid-Atlantic Championship WrestlingJim Crockett PromotionsJim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
- NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship is the tag team title currently defended in the National Wrestling Alliance's NWA Mid-Atlantic territory. The championship was originally created in the summer of 1968 and was originally named the NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Championship...
(3 times) - with Pvt. Jim NelsonJim BarrellJames Kirk Harrell is an American professional wrestler best known as Boris Zhukov in his time with the World Wrestling Federation.-Professional wrestling career:...
(2) and Ivan Koloff (1) - NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ivan & Nikita KoloffNikita KoloffNikita Koloff is a retired American professional wrestler,. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, he wrestled as "The Russian Nightmare" Nikita Koloff, which was a play on the nickname of fan favorite "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes .Nikita was brought into the National...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (3 times) - with Sgt. SlaughterSgt. SlaughterRobert Remus , better known by his ring name Sgt. Slaughter, is an American former WWE personality and semi-retired professional wrestler. From the late 1970s to the early 1990s, Slaughter had success in the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Association, and World Wrestling...
(1), Bob Orton, Jr.Bob Orton, Jr.Robert Keith Orton is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Cowboy" Bob Orton. He is the father of wrestler Randy Orton, who is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment...
(1), and Ivan Koloff (1)
- Pro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling IllustratedPro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
- PWI ranked him # 463 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
- PWI ranked # 29 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Sgt. Slaughter
External links
- Profile at Online World of Wrestling