[1980-09-22-WWF-MSG, NY] Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-09-22
WWF
Andre the Giant vs Hulk Hogan
Special Referee: Gorilla Monsoon
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, USA
Card
★★

Unlike his involvement in the Backlund/Patera title match, Monsoon’s presence here felt like a distinct negative. He was a big enough guy to handle these two behemoths, but I would have much rather seen these two slug away than being called on every minor rule infringement. One thing’s for sure, Monsoon was not shy in sticking his nose in the action.
When the match was Andre and Hogan wailing on each other, it was fantastic. The problem was that you either had Monsoon diving in and breaking the flow or a long slew of Bear Hugs from both men. I appreciate that the holds were integral to the psychology of the match, and especially the finish, but long stretches of Bear Hugs are never going to be interesting to me.
After targeting Andre’s back for the majority of the back nine, Hogan got him up for a slam and then, going for the another, his back gave out (due to Andre’s own focus on Hogan’s back) and Monsoon was down there in a flash to quick count Hogan, who similarly to the Shea Stadium finish, looked like he kicked out before three.
Hogan is no Stan Hansen, but I think these two had an Andre/Hansen 09/81-lite match in them. It might just have happened here, but it had too many things going against it.