Andre the Giant

by Michael Krugman

  “Okay, they’re putting up fifteen thousand,” argues McMahon. “And Heenan makes, I think, a good point, to a certain extent. What’s André the Giant putting up? I mean, shouldn’t André the Giant put up something if they’re putting up fifteen thousand dollars? Regardless of who wins this match, and it could be, as you well know, for the first time, bowing in defeat. Then again, it could be you finally writing all the wrongs. But they’re putting up fifteen thousand dollars. Bobby Heenan thinks that you should put up something, as a matter of fact.”

  “Why I have to put something up? They want to lose that money, I will take that money.”

  McMahon refuses to drop the point. “All right, but Heenan thinks that maybe you should put up something like, if you don’t slam Big John Studd, then you have to retire from wrestling. How do you think about that?”

  André takes a long pause to think over the challenge. “Bobby Heenan say that?”

  “Bobby Heenan, Ken Patera, they all state that you should put up something, and they think that’s the only fair thing for you to put up. That if you can’t slam Big John Studd, then you retire from wrestling. If you do slam Studd, of course you don’t retire—”

  “And I win that ten thousand dollars.”

  “Fifteen. Fifteen thousand dollars,” corrects McMahon. “But don’t you think you should put up something, André?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Okay, but there are gonna be people that state that there’s a bit of a yellow streak running down your back if you don’t put it up, if you don’t put something up, there’s gonna be people that state there’s a big yellow—”

  André is infuriated by Vince’s insult to his courage and integrity. He rises up and grabs Vince by his tie, yanking him up out of his chair. “I will tell you one thing, nobody call me yellow. And I will take that slam, and I will take that fifteen thousand dollars, and I will walk out that ring.”

  With that, André drops McMahon back behind his desk and storms off the set. Lord Alfred calls out to his longtime mate.

  “André . . . ,” he says, and then turns to McMahon. “Gosh, I guess you upset him.”

  JIM “J.R.” ROSS: “[Studd] was probably the first guy that really became a rival of André the Giant to that level that people had concern. And certainly the culmination of that, their Bodyslam Challenge at the first WrestleMania was certainly a very memorable night for big men in our business.”

  March 31, 1985: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

  WRESTLEMANIA: BODYSLAM CHALLENGE—ANDRÉ THE GIANT

  VS. BIG JOHN STUDD (W/BOBBY “THE BRAIN” HEENAN)

  Before the match, “Mean” Gene Okerlund interviews Studd and Heenan. “André the Giant,” he begins, “putting his entire career on the line—”

  “Oh, man, this bag is heavy, man,” butts in Studd. “This is what it was all about. The fifteen thousand dollars that we used for bait. [Heenan opens the bag of cash, displaying crumpled singles and fives.] John Studd, the only giant in wrestling, seven-foot-plus, nearly four hundred pounds of solid muscle. And this was what we wanted, to prove to the whole world that I am the giant, and in a few short moments, along with this fifteen thousand dollars, you’re gonna see me in the ring and you’re gonna see the last match of ‘Andréa,’ because he retires when he can’t do it....”

  Mean Gene reaches into the bag, but Heenan pushes him off. “Bobby Heenan, I’m just trying to count the money here—”

  “Keep your hands to yourself, pal,” says Heenan. “For fifteen thousand dollars and a haircut we’re eliminating André the Giant from professional wrestling. Oh, yeah, a lot of gladhanders around here today”—Studd reopens the bag, Mean Gene reaches in and pulls out a handful, Studd slaps his hand, scattering bills on the floor— “keep your hands outta there, pal. Only two people are gonna see this money, that’s Studd and myself, oh three, the people at the bank when we deposit this money—”

  “That’s right, we’re banking it,” says Studd.

  “—but not the Giant,” says the Brain. “He’s retired. He’s done! He’s done!”

  “Stand by,” says Okerlund, again attempting to get a hand into the duffel full of money. “It’s upcoming—”

  “Don’t you touch our money,” says Heenan.

  Moments later, Howard Finkel is in the ring announcing the match: “Introducing first to my left, the manager, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan. This is the fifteen-thousand-dollar Slam match”—Studd holds up the open duffel full of money—“one fall will win this contest, and the rules, if the gentleman to my left is slammed, he loses fifteen thousand dollars in cash.” [Studd displays a fistful of bills.] “If his opponent does not slam this man in the ring, he will retire from professional wrestling. And now, to my left, from Los Angeles, California, weighing 367 pounds, Big John Studd! And his opponent, from Grenoble, in the French Alps, weighing 476 pounds, the Eighth Wonder of the World, André the Giant!”

  “Look at the big grin on his kisser, Jesse,” says Gorilla Monsoon. “He looks very confident.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” responds his broadcast partner, Jesse “The Body” Ventura. “He better be confident, Gino Monsoon, because he’s stated that if he does not slam the Giant Studd, he will retire. So the wrestling fans of the world may be, just maybe, getting their last look at André the Giant as a professional wrestler.”

  Studd shows André a fistful of cash as he enters the ring, then gestures how André will have to slam him to get it. Studd tries to hand the duffel to Heenan to hold, but André demands that it be given to an unbiased official. The bell rings, and Studd attacks with punches and forearms. André is forced into the corner, where Studd drives rights into his gut and chin. But four knife-edge chops to the throat push Studd off, with a headbutt stunning him to his knees. A kick rolls Studd out to the floor, where he confers with Heenan. André, for his part, waits patiently.

  Studd climbs back in, and André wastes no time, wrapping his hands around his opponent’s traps and backs him into the corner. He chokes Studd violently against the ropes as Heenan yells to the ref, “Break it!” A roundhouse right doubles Studd over for a knee. A right to Studd’s kisser sets up a squash in the corner and another shot to the face. Studd responds with a knee below the belt and an attempt at a slam. André doesn’t budge and throws Studd off with a knee to the belly.

  Chops and a bearhug wear down Studd as the fans begin chanting, “Slam! Slam! Slam!” André lifts Studd up, and Studd rakes his eyes with a forearm. André, however, refuses to release the bearhug. Studd pushes at André’s face, but the Giant only squeezes harder. Finally, André releases, and hits a forearm against Studd’s kidneys. Studd turns, and André nails another blow to the lower back. Studd

  André shows Studd who is the true giant, WrestleMania.

  backs into the corner and throws a forearm at André, who catches him and turns him around in a facelock.

  Punches and a headbutt wear down Studd. He whips Studd into the ropes for a backdrop, but Studd raises a boot, which the Giant catches before impact. Studd begs for mercy as André laughs. Holding Studd’s foot, he hits a big right and a sidekick to Studd’s thigh. Studd drops and takes another kick to his leg.

  André chops Studd in the corner. Studd turns to Heenan, so André kicks at his leg again and again. As Studd reels from the kicks, André scoops him up and slams him flat at 6:06. Studd holds his lower back as the duffel is passed to André. He reaches in and tosses a handful of bills to the crowd. Heenan runs in and grabs the bag from behind and scurries up the aisle. Studd follows but isn’t as quick as the Brain, giving André time to yank a fistful of hair before he too gets away.

  In the back, Mean Gene awaits. “André the Giant, I’ll tell you what, 23,000 and millions around the world, you finally did it. Big John Studd slammed. Where’s that money?”

  “I don’t know,” grins André. “It disappeared somewhere, but I don’t care about that money. I just showed to John Studd and the Weasel and I showed to
all the wrestling fans, I can give him that slam. And I did it.”

  “You did indeed. Many saying that perhaps this would be the occasion for the retirement of André the Giant—”

  “No, no! No way. No way. I’m not ready to retire.”

  Mean Gene throws it back to the announce table, where Jesse Ventura rightly refers to the match as “the slam heard ’round the world.”

  BOBBY HEENAN “André slams Studd, then goes over and grabs the bag away from the referee. I was supposed to grab the bag away from him before me and Studd leave, but André says, ‘Let me have a little time with the bag.’

  “‘Do anything you want,’ I said, ‘you’re the boss, big man.’ So he reaches into the bag, grabs two or three big handfuls, and starts throwing it to people in the audience. People were going nuts, so I ran in the ring after two or three throws and grabbed the bag. André let me have it—if he wanted to empty the bag, he would have. I went back with the bag and saw Vince. I thought, ‘Oh man, am I in trouble! I didn’t get the bag back quick enough.’ But he never said anything to me, never said anything to the Giant.”

  HOWARD FINKEL “There were some doubting Thomases out in the crowd that thought there was nothing in the bag but sawdust or pillow feathers. When the match was over and André dove into that bag and started throwing the money around, I’m telling you, it was just an amazing moment. It made André even more of an attraction than he was before.”

  7

  In the months after WrestleMania, André disappeared from the World Wrestling Federation spotlight. He spent most of his time away wrestling in Japan, including a few cross-promotional matches with New Japan’s Antonio Inoki. Upon his return, the Giant picked up where he had left off and resumed his feud with Bobby Heenan and the Heenan Family. André battled regularly against Family members Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy, in both singles matches as well as Tag Team matches in which he paired up with Hillbilly Jim, Tito Santana, Capt. Lou Albano, and Hulk Hogan.

  July 29, 1985: Civic Centre, Brantford, ONT

  THE BODY SHOP W/JESSE VENTURA

  “This week in The Body Shop,” Jesse says, resplendent in tuxedo shirt and canary yellow boa, “I guess it’s old home week. Because I got a guest coming in here that to my understanding, as the way I see it, come on in here, big fella . . .”

  The camera pulls back to reveal André, smiling broadly, his hands on his hips. He’s wearing a silk beach shirt and very short shorts.

  “If you wanna talk to me,” he says, “come closer.”

  “I’m getting there,” Ventura says, accepting André’s authority, even over his own segment. “As I understand it, André, the way I hear it, you are retired. How is retirement?”

  “What do you mean, retired?”

  “The word that I heard. I heard from Bobby Heenan, Big John Studd, that they had put you out to retirement. I gotta say, you looking good! It must agree with you. You gotta nice suntan, looks like you just got in from the beach, you milking cows and stuff now?”

  “No, I’m still wrestling,” André says, looking somewhat perplexed. “I just come in from Hawaii, but I still wrestling. I never retire in my life, no way. I been wrestling in Australia and Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and I just come back.”

  “You haven’t retired?”

  “Not at all. And I will tell you one thing, maybe it will surprise you, and it will surprise John Studd, but I even put some weight on now.” André grins, rubbing his belly.

  “You put some weight on,” Ventura responds, incredulous.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “On. Can I ask you, how much you weigh?”

  “Can you pay me, for a dollar a weight,” André asks, then corrects himself. “A dollar a pound.”

  “Will I pay you a dollar a pound?”

  “Ya.”

  “An English pound?”

  André laughs, perhaps amused at the surreal turn the interview seems to have taken. “Well, I tell you how much I weigh. I weigh five hundred and twenty pounds now, okay?”

  “Five hundred and twenty pounds!” Ventura exclaims. André reaches out and fingers the feather boa. “Hey! Hey! Get your hands off my threads, man! Whatchu think you’re doing! I bring you out here, I bring you out on my program, and you start insulting my clothes. Get away from me, you big coot! Get the guy off my program!”

  André yanks the boa from Jesse’s neck, mocking his host. He begins softly whipping it into Ventura’s face as Jesse continues to rage.

  “I won’t stand for this anymore! I ain’t standing for it from you! No giant, no nothing!”

  The camera fades to black as André pokes further fun at Ventura’s fashion sense.

  WrestleMania was such a phenomenal success that World Wrestling Federation presented its sequel a year later. And as with any good sequel, it was obliged to be bigger and better than its predecessor.

  After the original spectacle, it was decided that one ring would not possibly be large enough to contain WrestleMania 2. In fact, the supercard would require three rings, at a trio of arenas across the country—the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Chicago’s Rosemont Horizon, and Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.

  Each venue would have its own main event, with André headlining a Twenty-Man Battle Royal in Chicago. In the ring with him would be a diverse lineup of Superstars, including Big John Studd, Tony Atlas, Bret Hart (in his WrestleMania debut), Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Ted Arcidi, Danny Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, Iron Sheik, B. Brian Blair, “Jumping” Jim Brunzell, and in their only WrestleMania appearances, wrestling legends Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino.

  To make the match even more extraordinary, World Wrestling Federation invited a number of the NFL’s top stars to participate, including Chicago Bears’ All-Pro offensive tackle Jimbo Covert, Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end Harvey Martin, Pittsburgh Steelers’ lineman Ernie Holmes, Atlanta Falcons’ Bill Fralic, and San Francisco 49ers’ Russ Francis (the son of famed wrestler/promoter Ed Francis).

  Of the football players, there were none bigger—both in terms of fame and sheer size—than Chicago Bears defensive lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry. The six-foot-two, 300-pound Fridge had become a cultural icon during Da Bears’ Super Bowl–winning season, celebrated for his enormous bulk and charismatic presence. In short, Perry was the perfect fit for a role at WrestleMania 2.

  August/September 1986

  “HOW BIG IS BIG? A LOOK AT HOW SOME ATHLETES MEASURE UP”

  William “The Refrigerator” Perry, 6-foot-2-inch, 308-pound sensation of football’s Chicago Bears ... is a mere pygmy next to André the Giant. While the gridiron star boasts of a ring the diameter of a half-dollar, the circumference of André’s finger is the size of a silver dollar. As a 12-year-old in Grenoble, France, he intimidated other sixth-graders with his 6-foot-3-inch, 200-pound frame. Two years later, he was up to 340 pounds. While the average human wrist is 7 inches, André’s is 12—the same as a western lowland gorilla!

  “The guys in other sports make me laugh,” [King Kong] Bundy says. ‘It’s a joke how 270 pounds means a giant in the NFL. That’s a paperweight to me.” About William “The Refrigerator” Perry: “I’d eat soup off his head.”

  [Jimmy Hart] says that football players lack intelligence: “William Perry might be big, rough and tough,” he rhymes, “but he’s not hard to bluff. Because he’s just a football player.”

  A secret dress rehearsal was held a few days before WrestleMania 2 for the benefit of the untrained football players. Afterward, Ernie Holmes ran off at the mouth, bragging how he was the toughest guy in the bunch, much to the annoyance of all around him. Finally, André said what everyone was thinking: “You talk too much, you know what I mean?”

  Duly chastised, and well aware of André’s power, Holmes shut up.

  April 7, 1986: Rosemont Horizon, Chicago, IL

  WRESTLEMANIA 2: BATTLE ROYAL

  Keeping with WrestleMania tradition, the event featured a num
ber of celebrities—guest timekeeper was Clara “Where’s the Beef?” Peller, while football legends Dick Butkus and Ed “Too Tall” Jones served as guest referees. Best of all, former NFL superstar and longtime André rival Ernie Ladd joined Gorilla Monsoon at the announce table.

  The participants, in order of introduction: Jimbo Covert, Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Harvey Martin, Danny Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, the Iron Sheik, Ernie Holmes, B. Brian Blair, Jim Brunzell, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic, Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, Russ Francis, Bruno Sammartino, William “The Refrigerator” Perry, André the Giant.

  André, in babyface yellow trunks and boots, goes at it with Studd immediately. They take a corner, and André chops and chokes Studd. Eventually Studd joins the fray and is replaced by the Hart Foundation. André stacks them up and shoulderblocks the team in the corner. He soon goes into the melee and returns to action with Studd. They part, and André challenges Francis, who begs off. André doesn’t care and tosses him over the top. Francis, however, catches a rope and pulls himself back in before his feet hit the floor. He comes right back at André, who headbutts him to the mat.

  Bored, André goes back to Studd and chokes him in the corner. Chops are followed by hair-pulling by both men. Perry goes for Studd, so André diverts his attention to Fralic. He tries to get him over the top, but Fralic holds on to the ropes. Martin intercedes, and is soon joined by Morales. André puts all three into a corner and shoulderblocks. Fralic and Martin keep punching at André’s belly, but he simply wraps his arms around their shoulders. Finally, André swats

  Battle Royal, WrestleMania 2.

  Martin away, while Morales holds Fralic for some chops. Fralic slips out and André takes a moment to rest up in the corner.