Just one day later Former AEW star “The Butcher” Andy Williams has diedthe wrestling world lost another key figure when Bill Dundee has died at the age of 82. Ten days later, the country star and former wrestling booker continues to be revered by many of his contemporaries, including AEW host Tony Schiavone. Remembering Dundee “What happened when” Schiavone credited Dundee with having one of the most intelligent personalities in wrestling, as well as signing the Memphis Continental Wrestling Association and developing several legendary tag teams.
“He knew so much about wrestling,” Schiavone said. “And he knew what worked and what didn’t. And when I think of the Memphis area, you obviously think of Jerry Lawler, but you think of Bill Dundee in the same breath, at least I do. And he came up with some great angles and some… and look at that picture (of Lawler and Dundee). That’s what Memphis is.
“And they just… Bill brought his intelligence, as you said, developing the Midnight Express with Jim Cornette, developing the Rock N’ Roll Express. And he invented a lot of great angles featuring Jerry “The King” Lawler. I could be wrong, but he may have had something to do with the famous Andy Kaufman/Jerry Dundee angle because Bee was very close behind the case. the legendary stuff you saw with Jim Crockett Promos in the early ’80s, mid-’80s came from Bill Dundee, so that’s one of those guys that’s obviously going to be missed.
Schiavone and Dundee were briefly staffers in the 1990s, when Dundee worked as the manager of future WCW star William Regal, then Stephen Regal under the name Sir William. Schiavone was also connected to Dundee through his son-in-law, the late Bobby Eatonwho was a longtime veteran of WCW and Jim Crockett’s promotion from the 1980s to 2000.
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