Caractacus wrote:I wonder how much they had to pay Andre the Giant to have been body slammed and lose his final wrasslin match
to that overly tanned dufus.
It certainly wasn't his last match, not by a long shot. Andre wrestled until 1993 in some capacity. The last popular stint in his career was being co-tag team champion alongside King Haku as the "Colossal Connection"... his last Wrestlemania appearance was in the sixth installment of the pay-per-view in 1990 and he and Haku lost the tag-titles to the team called Demolition.
In those latter years, Andre was mainly in tag-team matches where his younger, more fit counter-part would do most of the action and Andre would get into the ring and his opponent would be scared shitless and then run away, etc. It was more or less the easiest and most convienient way of making him still apart of the company--- but without risking him as looking more pitiful than he was to the public.
Check out the funny moment at about 8:10 of this clip
when Andre the Giant reacts to a punch to the ol' garbanza from Wepner.
(also Andre the Giant looks near exhausted when the fraccas occurs at the end )
Anyone remember what started the "feud" between Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan?
They had been supposedly great friends. Then WWF gives Andre gets a huge trophy for being undefeated for 15 years.
Then Hogan gets a trophy for being the champion for 3 years; alas his trophy is even bigger than Andre's! What a slap in the face at Andre
Andre naturally takes exception to this and one thing leads to another and he winds up hiring Bobby Heenan as his manager and challenges Hogan for the title.
Leading up the showdown, Heenan's biggest concern is that the WWF title belt isn't big enough to go around Andre's waist.
This was classic WWF back when it was pretty funny.
According to the storyline, from what I can remember of it...
Andre and Hogan had been teaming up in tag competitions. And when Wrestlemania 2 was over with, Andre received a trophy for "most battle royals won" and the fact that he had been undefeated for fifteen years--- which was a lie, because he had been defeated before by Antonio Inoki and one/two others in Japan and elsewhere. Hogan was receiving so much publicity and fanfare, and was also given a huge trophy, etc. and this began feelings of jealousy.
It also didn't help that Bobby Heenan and some others were getting in Andre's ear that he never was given a title shot, despite being the biggest name in all of wrestling--- and on Piper's Pit the two men had a show down, where Andre challenged Hogan on the spot, and Hogan was all confused and begging Andre not to do this, that they were friends, etc. and to that Andre ripped off Hogan's necklace and said he wanted Hogan at Wrestlemania. Andre leaves the set, and Piper asks Hogan what is he going to do, and will he answer the challenge (defend the belt against him) and Hogan (pissed off Andre ripped off his crucifix necklace) yelled "Yessssssssssssssssss!" and ripped off his shirt, etc.
Now... in reality... the judgement call of who should win... wasn't determined until the night before Wrestlemania. There were plenty of people in the business with their opinions, and Vince McMahon allegedly listened to all sides before making a decision. Andre had been loyal to Vince and his father for almost two decades, and more or less made the WWE what it was. Andre, more than anyone else in the company, put the WWE on the map as this worldwide power in wrestling. Why? Because as a giant, he was marketable to EVERYWHERE on the planet. Prior to him you seldom ever saw wrestlers on television shows or movies--- and Andre had been in the Six Million Dollar Man, Conan The Destroyer, The Fall Guy, etc. and he was the #1 talent in the business, because the McMahon's loaned Andre out to territories all over the world.
Alot of people backstage, and worldwide, honestly felt that Andre should win. Why? Simple respect and loyalty to the man who helped make the McMahon brand. However, Vince saw things a bit differently. Had the Wrestlemania concept began years earlier, and Andre was in his prime, etc. it would of been the decision to make Andre the champion. However, he was getting older, slower, sicker, etc. and McMahon knew that Andre couldn't carry the company in the way he wanted. With Hogan, he was coming off the celebrity of Rocky 3 and the whole "Rock and Wrestling" concept with him at the helm was booming. Hogan was marketable, also, everywhere he went because he was being sold as a real-life superhero come to life. He was in music videos, cartoons, movies, etc. and he was more than likely going to wrestle for another ten, twenty years. That was a man Vince could invest in.
And that is why Andre lost to Hogan at Wrestlemania 3, though Hogan will admit to this day that if Andre wanted to change his mind, and win in front of 93,000+ at the Silverdome, he could of very easily of done it and there would of been nothing that Hogan or Vince could of done about it.
Cap wrote:Geez! I hate to tell you guys this, but wrassling is fake.
Am well aware of this.... which is why I stated on numerous occasions on this thread that it was.
I will say, though, that comment reminds me of a zealous boxing writer I debated once who was under the delusion that the UFC and STRIKEFORCE and mma in general was "strong style" professional wrestling like they have in Japan.
June 25 1976 - Andre the giant took on HW contender Chuck Wepner
for a scheduled ten round exhibition at Shea stadium in NYC.
Notice Andre the giant looks very serious as does Wepner,totally diiferent atmosphere.
there was the feeling of true danger in the air that evening.
Here is the link to youtube to the Andre/Wepner bout.
( also be sure to check out Andre the Giants "jab-deflector, which he employs early on )
and watch Wepner land the left hook on the Giant's chin a 6:49 of the clip .
Last edited by Caractacus on 05 Feb 2018, 19:54, edited 1 time in total.
of course this fight was real, (IMOP)
even if there was sometype of a pre-arranged "Understanding" between the two going in to it.
Show me another videotape/film footage were Andre the Giant was sweating so profusely and looks to be
somewhat on edge,
particularly after the first round.Andre the Giant's objective was to floor and pin Chuck Wepner to the mat,
and Wepner objective ( most likely) was to keep away and punch and not get pinned and " Go the Distance".
Look at how fast and agile he was then. Couldn't have been more than 275-295 in the movie. I can see him actually competing in martial arts or boxing at that time.
There is a video clip from 1977 showing Andre the Giant in a boxing match.
Makes you wonder how good he may have been if he had taken up boxing years earlier.
