Andre the Giant

[Log]

Andre in '72 looks like a giant version of New Morning-era Bob Dylan.

[ohtani's jacket]

Can't believe I watched a 35 minute, 2/3 falls Andre the Giant match. Wild.

[rainmakerrtv]

I have read of a match Andre had with Savage during his first World Title reign in, I believe, Los Angeles that was touted as a great late season Andre match. Can anyone vouch for this?

[khawk20]

Andre vs. Mad Dog from the Montreal Forum circa 1972-74 is worth checking out.

[Marty]

I've watched a bit of the E's Mid-South set and dug Andre's performance in the 6-man tag (w/JYD and Dusty vs. Ladd and the Samoans). It was weird because in the layout of the set, they were previewing JYD, yet Andre was the star of the face team, being pretty effective working underneath. Second-rope splash was awesome.

 

I think I've seen the Andre-Savage match Phil is talking about and really enjoyed it. I need to rewatch it. Speaking of Savage, Andre does the best interference at WM4 when he trips Savage in the main event. For such a large man, he does it so non-chalantly that you could easily miss it.

 

Finally, Andre disgustedly whisking his hands after eliminating Hogan at the SNME battle royal is one of my favourite WWF visuals, up there with Austin's WM13 crimson mask.

[goodhelmet]

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I have read of a match Andre had with Savage during his first World Title reign in, I believe, Los Angeles that was touted as a great late season Andre match. Can anyone vouch for this?

Phil enjoyed it. I thought it was ok. Probably won't make the 80s redo.

[BrickHithouse]

Andre vs. Mad Dog from the Montreal Forum circa 1972-74 is worth checking out.

Yeah this is a fantastic match. Andre is in peak physical form also.

[flyonthewall2983]

Andre in '72 looks like a giant version of New Morning-era Bob Dylan.

He reminds me a little of the actor John Vernon (Dean Wormer in Animal House).

[Log]

If Andre had played Dean Wormer, the Deltas would have gladly closed up shop and left campus. Movie over.

[Matt D]

There's a pretty fun Mid-Atlantic match on youtube vs the Masked Superstar which isn't a lot of action but the crowd is so hot for it that every time the two guys touch they go nuts.

[Guest TheGreatPuma]

I've been an Andre supporter since forever. The guy ruled at all points in his career including his underrated final run.

[KanadianKrusty]

Yeah, even at the very end he was great with facial expressions and subtleties to get a match going. Him and Baba vs. Demolition or even Williams/Gordy are good examples of this.

[Matt D]

Few bullet points on Monster Roussimoff vs Strong Kobayashi

 

-His headlock takeover are just amazing. They're just huge and the amount of air he gets dragging Kobayashi over is nuts.

-I love how they start from the headlock base and build to the headscissors counter. It matters a lot when it actually happens.

-I also love how pissed Andre gets when the fans say he's cheating on the top wristlocks. He's like king kong rampaging as they take all the pictures of him.

-Andre already has a lot of the Andre-isms, including the big set up to the nerve hold, etc.

-The slam is pretty huge but I love how it just pisses Andre off to lead to the first fall's finish. When did he stop using the tombstone because Andre the Giant fucking tombstoning someone is the awesomest wrestling thing imaginable.

-Kobayashi's attempts to find a way to hurt Andre are pretty great. The slam didn't work so he goes to the hand. That ultimately fails as Andre is able to start the nerve pinches again so he goes to the midsection.

-The "Choke in the ropes" spot is great. It's nuts heel Big Show doesn't use that. Would it not work with the WWF ropes?

-One of the most interesting things in the match is that Andre isn't Andre yet so there aren't all of those proscribed "Things you cannot do to Andre" rules that seemed to be in there by 1980 and mandated by the NWA and Vince, Sr. Here there's the old "Hanging on to the bottom rope as my opponent grabs my legs and pulls me out so I can take a bump" spot which would never happen to later Andre.

-He's already got the in the ropes tie-up spot down, and I loved the over the top rope bump.

-I really like the big TIIIIIIMMMBEEEER spot too and the epic battle for the crab.

-Andre's stooging with the handshake towards the end was great and the countout finish was beautiful.

[goodhelmet]

I watched it three years ago for a Schneider comp and loved it...

 

 

1st Fall

Andre starts working the headlock and it is so odd to see somebody turn him over for a headlock pin. Later on, he proceeds to snapmare Andre. Damn. However, Kobayashi keeps Andre grounded, and in a nice visual, hooks Andre in a leg scissorrs and drags his face across the mat. These guys were working. You knew the match was going long but it never felt boring like a Jack Brisco-Dory Funk match. Also, it doesn't matter if it is 1972 or 1982, you gotta love Andre jawing with the fans and blatantly cheating. Andre wins the first fall with a FREAKING TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER!!! Awesome First Fall.

 

2nd Fall

Andre injures his hand so Kobayshi does the logical thing and starts stomping it. Andre does the natural thing and grabs the leg. SK then proceeds to put Andre in an armbar and attacks the hand. Great stuff.

More Andre cheating, choking Kobayashi and tangling him up to the ropes to some good heat. When Kobayashi makes a comeback, it really gets the crowd into it. Oh yeah, Kobayashi has some nice punches but his hands look so small connecting with Andre's massive cranium. There were some slow points later on in the fall as Andre goes back to the leg. Not fun to watch but logical since Kobayashi was getting the best of him early in the round. Andre gets himself disqualified to end the 2nd round. Not as fun as the first round but still solid.

 

3rd Fall

Andre goes back to choking Kobayashi but gets tangled in the ropes. KObayashi rams him several times but Andre escapes and SK takes a nasty spill to the floor. Nice way to start the fall. Awkward spot as Andre fallas flat on his face and SK attempts a Boston Crab. However, Andre powers out with a twist. Whoa... Lucha Andre. When he finally gets it hooked, the crowd erupts but Andre is saved by the ropes. OH FUCK, Andre offers his hand in friendshipalmost 40 minutes in and KObayashi accepts and kicks him in the gut. Hell, he then puts Andre in a freaking bearhug, working on the back he was working on earlier with the crab. The end of this fall is insane and Andre is so fucking great.

 

Andre the cheating, big move, bumping machine, chickenshit foreigner. Badass. Kobayashi as Andre's near equal in power but still the underdog native. Badass. These guys went 40 minutes and while there were some slow spots it really flew by. DEFINITE NOMINATION!!!

[peachchaos]

found a link

[Sidebottom]

I love watching Andre for the spectacle. he was presented as larger than life when I was a child so part of that mystique has always, and will always stick with me. It doesn't change the fact I think his in ring work was the pits though, even in the 70's. Still, I have a lot of love for the man. Princess Bride was a brilliant film also...

[Superstar Sleeze]

Andre The Giant & Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs Roddy Piper & "Dr. D" David Schultz - MSG 3/25/84

"You don't throw rocks at a man with a machine gun" - "Rowdy" Roddy Piper after Andre humiliated him on Piper's Pit.

Andre is highly amused at how terrified Piper is of him and how Piper keeps forcing Schultz to wrestle Andre. Andre does a drop-down on a criss-cross and gets up, sticks his ass out and Schultz runs into the "immovable object". Thanks, Gorilla. Fun spot. Andre turns his back and Schultz blasts him with an axe-handle. Piper seeing his opportunity comes in and starts throwing combinations in the corner, but the Giant is unphased. He wallops Piper with a right then sends him across the ring to a huge pop. Piper charges again and again. He realizes he ain't getting anywhere and here comes Schultz, who has the presence of mind to stick his knee up to connect with Andre's head. Piper busts the prone Andre open with the knuckledusters and they work Andre over. Eventually, the ref has to call it and send Andre to the back. Snuka is red hot and demands to take on Piper & Schultz himself. He kicks both their asses until Piper pokes him in the eye and his trademark knee lift. Here comes a steaming mad, out of control Giant. Andre sporting a huge bandage comes in and clears house. This is a really fun match that makes everyone look good. I loved the spot with Piper coming in all cocky and Andre sending halfway cross the ring. The brass knuckles was a great way to get that extra heat on the heels. Snuka got to shine a little too. This is the kind of match the WWF excelled at in the 80s fun, but still getting everyone over.

[Jingus]

I loved that match. It really showed off Andre's ability to sell and look vulnerable, which is a fascinating dichotomy when we're used to Andre as Fezzik The Invincible. (BTW, total tangent, but, that fight in The Princess Bride had GREAT psychology. Compare it to Andre's pathetic fight against Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Destroyer; yeah, he's handicapped because he's basically the actor inside a Godzilla suit, but that movie just did a whole buncha things wrong.)

[JerryvonKramer]

Everyone needs to watch Andre and Ted DiBiase vs. Baron Scicluna and Jerry Valiant.

 

One of the best matches from 1979, and it marks the first time the Mega Bucks teamed up.

[Johnny Sorrow]

Everyone needs to watch Andre and Ted DiBiase vs. Baron Scicluna and Jerry Valiant.

 

One of the best matches from 1979, and it marks the first time the Mega Bucks teamed up.

Do not listen to this man. He is deranged and possibly dangerous.

[The Man in Blak]

As someone who had never seen a single match of Young Andre's work, I found Roussimoff/Kobayashi to be fascinating. Andre makes his living on the extra-curricular details here, perfectly timing moments of awesome old-school heeling and remarkably expressive selling in equal measure.

 

The first fall is certainly methodical, but smart. The headlock and headscissors counter provide a slow burn to escalate from later and build a narrative of Andre's remarkable height difference being a strategic pivot point.The flash Tombstone (!) to end the first fall would have usually seemed out of place but, coming on the heels of a body slam that "woke the giant," it was a great dramatic moment that put Kobayashi in the hole by one fall already.

 

The second fall starts out conceptually sound -- Kobayashi smartly avoids Andre's next enraged attack and capitalizes on the hand injury that results from it. But, from there, it fizzles. The work on Andre's hand doesn't end up going anywhere, as he continues to resort to nerve pinches anyway; meanwhile, those nerve pinches don't seem to wear down Kobayashi sufficiently either. Andre forfeits the second fall by DQ, which works well as a compliment to the ending of the first fall: the giant's rage giveth, the giant's rage taketh away.

 

The pace mercifully picks up in the final fall, which is punctuated by some surprising over-the-top bumps from Andre. Kobayashi doesn't strike me as being especially fiery or engaging in his comebacks here, but I don't really know his character; maybe he's more of a "stoic warrior" type? At any rate, Kobayashi rallies back, including a series of hope spots with the Boston Crab that pop the crowd. Eventually, he sends Andre out of the ring and, in a brilliant spot, Andre's foot gets tied up in the bottom rope, leading to a countout win. The giant's size, which was such a pronounced part of the strategy at the start, finally works against him.

 

Setting aside the second fall, which never really found a sturdy narrative footing to work from, this was a very clever match. I don't know that I'd be interested in watching it again, as the actual ring work isn't overly remarkable outside of a handful of moments, but it certainly drives home the idea of Andre as a surprisingly nimble and expressive big man. Cool match.

[JerryvonKramer]

Andre worked heel here? This would have been around the time he had that match with Bock and Stevens I watched last night and he was babyface. Kobayshi was heel vs. Bruiser in another match I saw in that sitting, being managed by The Big K. So ...

 

1. Did Andre turn heel?

 

2. Did Kobayashi ditch the Big K?

 

3. Where and when did this match take place? I've just assumed AWA around 72-3.

[goc]

Japan in 72. So Andre was the foreign menace and Kobayashi is the conquering hero.

[JerryvonKramer]

Andre homework, to do soon:

 

vs. Inoki, 1978:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrsxbGPJyPQ

 

vs. Masked Superstar:

 

 

vs. Bock:

 

 

vs. El Canek:

 

 

vs. Abdullah:

 

 

vs. Otto Wanz:

 

 

vs. Crusher Blackwell:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDDmplcR6C0

[shoe]

 

Everyone needs to watch Andre and Ted DiBiase vs. Baron Scicluna and Jerry Valiant.

 

One of the best matches from 1979, and it marks the first time the Mega Bucks teamed up.

Do not listen to this man. He is deranged and possibly dangerous.

Plus he's not eating enough carbs.