Andre the Giant

by Michael Krugman

  Hogan is fading, collapsing down onto one knee. Marella raises an arm, once it drops; twice, it drops halfway and the hulking up begins. Hogan shakes as he rises to his feet, then muscles André’s arms above his head. A knee to the gut drives André back. Hogan swings away, and then clotheslines the Giant into the corner. Hogan signals his plans to slam André, but Virgil is now distracting the referee. As Hogan goes to scoop André up, DiBiase comes from behind with a steel chair. Whack! across Hogan’s lower back.

  The Hulk turns and chases DiBiase from the ring. He grabs the chair and swings at André, who catches it. They struggle, but Hogan gets a boot into André’s belly. He folds, allowing Hogan to at last bring the chair down.

  Marella pulls the chair from Hogan’s hands. But André has other ideas. He takes the chair and goes for a direct shot on Hogan’s head. Hulk catches it, but this time it’s André who scores the boot. Hogan doubles over, and André hits the chair hard onto Hogan’s cranium. It lands with an audible crack, and Hogan goes down. Marella finally calls for the bell at 5:22.

  But Hogan isn’t done. He picks up the chair, comes off the ropes, and nails André, planting him onto the canvas. He gets ready for a second shot, but DiBiase and Virgil are there to drag André out of the ring. Hogan goes outside and chases them off. DiBiase places Virgil in front of himself and trash-talks Hogan. Hogan responds, and the Million Dollar Man throws his bodyguard into Hulk and scurries off. Alas, poor Virgil—Hogan suplexes him to the concrete floor and then returns to André in the ring.

  A decision is made—both André and Hogan are disqualified. Not pleased at the news, Hogan walks straight up to André, scoops him up, and slams him to the mat, an easier if less historic slam than at the previous year’s WrestleMania.

  As the winner of the Hulk-André match would have met either DiBiase or Muraco, the victor in that bout would receive a bye all the way to the finals. The Million Dollar Man defeated the

  DiBiase interferes, WrestleMania IV.

  André and Hogan battle it out, WrestleMania IV.

  Magnificent One, and then sat back as Randy Savage depleted his strength taking on both Greg Valentine and One Man Gang. The latter match saw Savage winning ugly, scoring a DQ victory after One Man Gang attacked using his manager Slick’s trademark cane. Nevertheless, the main event for WrestleMania IV was set—Ted “The Million Dollar Man” DiBiase vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage for the most prestigious title in the sport, the World Wrestling Federation World Heavyweight Championship.

  Robin Leach brings out the title belt on a regal red cushion.

  The guest ring announcer, Uecker, is accosted by a drunk from the crowd on his way to the ring. He introduces timekeeper Vanna White.

  DiBiase is “accompanied by himself ...uh uh, he’s got the big boy with him, André the Giant, here is the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase.”

  Savage wears white robe, red tights, and yellow boots.

  DiBiase forces Macho to the corner, but Savage blocks his blows and deters DiBiase with an elbow. DiBiase reels back, but André grabs Macho’s leg and trips him up. Referee Earl Hebner admonishes André, who professes innocence.

  Hammerlocks are reversed; Savage gets DiBiase in a side headlock. DiBiase sends Savage into the ropes, who hits a shoulderblock. Savage shoots into the ropes, DiBiase drops flat, and André trips Macho on the other side. DiBiase drops an elbow, but Savage gets up and complains about André. The crowd chants “Hogan!”

  Armwringers are exchanged. DiBiase drives Savage’s head into the top buckle, then hits forearms and chops. An elbow between the shoulders puts Savage down. DiBiase whips Macho into a lariat. Cover for two.

  DiBiase comes off the ropes and shoulderblocks Savage down. Coming off the other side, he tries a sunset flip but can’t get Macho over, and Savage drives a fist down into his head. Savage clotheslines DiBiase and hooks the leg for two.

  DiBiase rolls to André and confers. DiBiase doubles Savage with a knee to the abdomen, with forearms and chops putting him down. Stomp to the face, whip into an elbow. He lifts Macho up and hits an elbow to the back of the neck before smashing his face into the buckle. Savage is whipped for an elbow, but he avoids it and returns with an elbow of his own. He takes DiBiase’s hair and springs over the top, clotheslining DiBiase on the top rope. Back in, Savage hits a high knee into DiBiase’s back, sending him over the ropes. Macho goes up top but André stands over DiBiase, blocking the way. “Jump,” André says, grinning.

  DiBiase and André consult before DiBiase gets back in. Macho talks to Miss Elizabeth, sending her to the back. DiBiase goes to work on Savage, dropping three fists to the head. Cover only gets two, so DiBiase hits a snapmare into a reverse chinlock. Meanwhile, Elizabeth returns to the ring with Hogan in tow. The Hulkster grabs a chair and sits in Macho’s corner.

  Macho and DiBiase go at it in the corner. Hebner pulls off DiBiase, so André grabs Savage by the tights. Hogan is there in a hurry, breaking it up with a shot to André’s neck. Macho fights DiBiase off with elbows, but DiBiase rakes Savage’s eye. A clothesline and elbow set up a pinning attempt, but Macho kicks out at two. DiBiase suplexes Savage and covers again for two. Gutwrench suplex gets two. Scoop and a slam; DiBiase goes up top, but Macho catches him. He slams him down, then goes outside and up. DiBiase rolls away from the flying elbow. Macho favors his elbow as DiBiase locks the sleeper on. Hebner is distracted by André, so Hogan comes in and hits his steel chair across DiBiase’s back. Savage doesn’t quite know what happened but goes up, drops the elbow, hooks the leg, and wins the championship at 9:27.

  Hogan takes the title belt from the cushion, runs in and hands it to Macho, then ducks out between the ropes to fetch his chair. Savage and the lovely Miss Elizabeth celebrate their triumph as Hogan keeps André at bay outside.

  “Savage didn’t need my help with DiBiase,” Hogan told the official publication of World Wrestling Federation after the match. “I just wanted a cheap shot at that nasty Giant.”

  Though the Hulkster attributed his involvement in WrestleMania IV’s finish to purely selfish reasons, his assisting Savage to obtain the World Heavyweight Championship led to the formation of one of the World Wrestling Federation’s most renowned storylines—the rise of the Mega Powers.

  With “The Million Dollar Man,” Ted DiBiase.

  12

  André was reunited with manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan soon after WrestleMania IV. DiBiase and André would still partner up in the ring, while Heenan would act as adviser and business representative. Heenan was brought into the fold to amplify the heat the faction drew from the fans. Heenan’s first order of business was to challenge Randy “Macho Man” Savage for his recently acquired World Wrestling Federation Championship. Another wrestling legacy, Savage was born Randy Poffo, the eldest son of wrestler/promoter/world-record-holder-for-most-consecutive-sit-ups Angelo Poffo. An aspiring baseball player, Poffo got into the family business during the minor league’s off season and never looked back. He took on the “Randy Savage” moniker while working in Georgia Championship Wrestling, but his lack of a push soon lead to his leading his dad’s International Championship Wrestling promotion. When ICW folded, Savage—along with his younger brother, “Leaping” Lanny Poffo—hit the Memphis territory. There he became a top heel via feuds with Jerry Lawler and the Rock ’n’ Roll Express.

  In 1985, Savage was brought up to World Wrestling Federation, where he allied on camera and in the ring with his then-wife, Elizabeth Hulette. Under the managerial aegis of the lovely Miss Elizabeth, the Macho Man rose through the heel ranks feuding with Tito Santana, Bruno Sammartino, and a Miss Elizabeth–smitten George “The Animal” Steele.

  Though André vs. Hogan captured most of the attention at Wrestle-Mania III, Savage’s Intercontinental Championship match with Ricky Steamboat is regarded by aficionados as the event’s true highlight. A masterpiece of psychology and athleticism, the match was a fifteen-minute nailbiter, with close to twenty breathtaking near-falls before Steamboat too
k Savage’s title away. The match was hailed as an instant classic, going on to be honored as “Match of the Year” in both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the hugely influential Wrestling Observer.

  Savage’s thrilling physicality and outsize personality—not to mention the lovely Miss Elizabeth—made him a perfect Superstar for World Wrestling Federation in the Hulkmania Era. He soon turned babyface and began feuding with the Honky Tonk Man. When WrestleMania IV arrived, Savage emerged as the top candidate to carry the World Heavyweight title after Hogan’s 1,474-day reign.

  Of course, there were those who disagreed. “André is the true champion,” Heenan said in the official company magazine. “He will prove that when he meets Savage. The title belongs to André, not to Savage or any other humanoid. I’m going to see that André gets the chance to take it for himself.”

  June 21, 1988: Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY

  Randy Savage, the newly crowned champion, hits the stage to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance,” accompanied of course by Miss Elizabeth.

  “All right, champ,” Craig DeGeorge says, “I think everyone would agree here that the madness has never been madder! But—and there is a ‘but’ here—there are many, many good contenders on the horizon for you, Macho Man.”

  “Oooooh yeah! I’m ready for anybody—big, tall, got money, don’t got money, challengers come and go.”

  André—in tights, ready to wrestle—and Heenan emerge from the back. “Wait a minute,” says Vince. “What’s this? They’re not scheduled to be out here.”

  “Is André gonna challenge the Macho Man?” wonders Ventura, as Savage stands his ground on the stage.

  André promises to choke out Randy Savage, June 21, 1988.

  The Giant makes good on his promise, June 21, 1988.

  “You’ve got something to say to me, say it now,” the champion dares. “No way, ’cause Macho Madness surrounds you now!”

  André smiles wide, gesturing his intent to wring Savage’s neck, while Heenan mimes the wearing of the title belt. All of a sudden, Ted DiBiase leaps onto the stage from behind and Pearl Harbors the Macho Man, sending him hard to the floor.

  “From behind, Ted DiBiase, knocking the Macho Man off the platform!” says Vince. André lifts Savage by his bandana and begins strangling him. DiBiase jumps down and throws a series of blows to the trapped champ’s midsection. Virgil holds Miss Elizabeth by the shoulders, forcing her to watch as DiBiase puts the boots to Savage. André picks Savage up and continues to throttle him, letting Heenan and DiBiase hammer away on his belly.

  “Look at this attack, this double team,” exclaims McMahon. “Big, strong tough guys, give me a break! They didn’t even have enough guts to come on him head-to-head, face-to-face! They came at him from behind, and that Giant is choking the life out of Savage!”

  “But you’ve got to remember, McMahon, it’s not how you play the game, it’s whether you win or lose,” philosophizes Ventura as the beatdown continues.

  “Come on!” yells Vince. “Get somebody out here!” The crowd agrees, chanting, “Ho-gan! Ho-gan! Ho-gan!”

  It matters not to André, who maniacally continues to choke the champ, with DiBiase joining in with punches to the head.

  “How much punishment can one man take?” wonders McMahon.

  André grabs a virtually unconscious Savage’s feet, and DiBiase takes the arms. “One, two, three!” They swing him up onto the platform, dropping him at a crying Elizabeth’s feet. Heenan tosses the title belt onto Savage as Elizabeth tends to him.

  “DiBiase and André the Giant have fallen to new depths here in World Wrestling Federation,” says Vince. “How can they possibly justify what we just saw?”

  TED DIBIASE: “I don’t think André cared for Randy too much. I don’t know why. Of course, Randy is a peculiar guy. His relationship with Elizabeth was like she was a bird in his cage. In the dressing room, if you said hello to her he’d give you a dirty look like, ‘What are you doing?’ Really suspicious. I don’t know, but that might have played into it, but André didn’t really care for him much.”

  JAKE ROBERTS: “Randy Savage hated wrestling [André], ’cause he’d chew Randy up and spit him out.”

  BLACKJACK LANZA: “He almost kills Savage one night in one of the main events. Savage is laying down and André just kept sitting on him and jumping on him, just beating the hell out of him. He got disqualified, which saved the championship, and afterward Savage said to him, ‘This isn’t the way to get me over.’ André just said ‘Thank you’ and left.”

  Despite his antipathy toward the Macho Man, André was willing to tolerate Savage thanks to the new champ’s commitment and respect for the wrestling business. Others, however, were not so lucky. Over the years a number of wrestlers incurred André’s wrath in the ring, usually due to excessive ego or simple disregard for the time-honored wrestler’s code. As the unofficial—but universally acknowledged—head of the locker room, it was André who meted out lessons to disruptive influences. In June 1988, Bam Bam Bigelow was put through André’s school of very hard knocks.

  TED DIBIASE: “Randy Savage and I were wrestling against each other. It was a double shot day—we were the main event in Baltimore at a matinee show, then they shot us out to a Learjet and flew us into New York City and we were the main event in a cage in Madison Square Garden. The limo takes us right up to the top of the ramp and we’re running in, putting our shoes on, and getting ready to go. Bam Bam Bigelow comes in the dressing room, grabs his bag, and goes. Doesn’t shower, gets his stuff, and out the door he goes. Turns out André had wrestled him that night, and he made the guy miserable. He didn’t hurt him to the point where he was injured, but he let him know he didn’t care for him. So Bigelow just quit.

  “He came back shortly afterward, but I could tell that the incident changed him. What was wrong with Bigelow, and I noticed it right off the bat, was he came in with an attitude, like ‘I’m a star and you’re gonna treat me like one.’ André just let him know, you know what, we’re all the same here. When Bam Bam came back, he really was a different guy. I think if he were still with us, he’d tell you, ‘I needed that.’”

  TIM WHITE: “I remember what he did to Bam Bam Bigelow in the Garden. Bam Bam got this big push, but he didn’t show the proper respect. So André gave him a little dose of reality in that ring. He just rag-dolled him all over the place. It was kinda hard to watch. But he got back into André’s good graces because of the fact he learned. Bam Bam turned out to be one hell of a great wrestler, and God rest his soul, as well.

  “André was the boss of the locker room. He didn’t have to say but two words— all he had to do was look at you, and you knew to shut up. Easy as that. That’s the kind of leadership he brought into the locker room. He did it like a father would do to his family. That’s what it was, it was his family, and if someone needed discipline or needed to be talked to, André would take care of it.”

  June 21, 1988: Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY

  CRAIG DEGEORGE INTERVIEWS ANDRÉ, HEENAN,

  DIBIASE, & VIRGIL

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” introduces Craig DeGeorge, “here are my guests, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, Virgil the bodyguard, Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, and the Eighth Wonder of the World, of course, André the Giant. The moment is here; now it’s time to get the response, the response to the challenge, of course, Brain, from Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage. He has stated, of course, that he has issued a challenge to meet the tag team to my right, Eighth Wonder of the World, André the Giant, the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase. On Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage’s team, a partner to be named later, and that is of his choice. The challenge is out, Mr. Heenan—what is your response please?”

  “I’ll tell you exactly what my response is,” the Brain replies. “You know, I’ve had some lengthy meetings lately with World Wrestling Federation President Jack Tunney. And I have asked for a concession. I have asked for something that needs to be asked for. Now if he, Randy ‘Macho Man
’ Savage, the World Wrestling Federation Champion, wants to go out and scrape up some partner, pay some hamand-egger to hang with him, to be his partner, that’s fine. You want to challenge this team of André the Giant, Million Dollar Man, that’s fine. But under one condition and one condition only will that take place. And that’s if we get an official, a referee that isn’t some nambypamby sissy that doesn’t have the backbone to back up a decision, not like a Dave Hebner or a Dave Hebner look-alike or a Joey Marella that can’t count past two. We want somebody, we want a man, a man that can control law and order in that ring. And you ask me, will we sign for that? Read my lips, humanoid—yes, we will!”

  André holds DiBiase’s arm high, waving to the crowd.

  “You know, gentlemen, this might be your lucky day, Mr. Heenan. Because just prior to this interview, the office of the president indicated to me that a referee has in fact been assigned to this matchup, to this challenge by the Macho Man Randy Savage. And that guest referee is none other than Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura!”

  “What?” exclaims commentator Vince McMahon as Jesse chuckles. DiBiase waves a handful of cash, gesturing not to worry. André, Heenan, and DiBiase all laugh loudly, obviously pleased with the announcement.

  July 13, 1988: LaCrosse Center, LaCrosse, WI

  CRAIG DEGEORGE INTERVIEWS

  RANDY SAVAGE (W/MISS ELIZABETH)