ANDRE THE GIANT vs. HULK HOGAN

The legendary Andre the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan feud began in 1980, contrary to popular belief. It was then that Hogan, who had entered the World Wrestling Federation about one-half year before in December 1979 by pinning Ted DiBiase at Madison Square Garden, and Andre first collided. Hogan, then using the backbreaker as his finishing move (that's right; He didn't always use the leg drop!), was managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie at the time, and was not the legendary icon that he was in the late '80's. He was just starting to make a name for himself, and a match with Andre the Giant was just the way to do so. The match was scheduled after Hogan used a hard elbow pad to attack Andre with, leaving the goliath a bloddy, battered mess. Hogan was a star in the WWF, but it wouldn't be until 1984 when he pinned The Iron Sheik to win the WWF World Heavyweight Title that his "say your prayers, eat your vitamins" popularity would soar higher than that of wrestling pioneers like Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, and Buddy Rogers.

So, it was on August 9, 1980 at the legendary Shea Stadium in New York that the two first collided, several years before they waged war over the WWF Title. At WrestleMania III, Hogan did the unthinkable by bodyslamming the giant (read on), but that wasn't the first time that he had scoop slammed the 500 pounder. During their Sea Stadium bout, Hogan awed fans in attendance by body slamming Andre, a seemingly impossible feat at the time (and still as of today). Hogan did eventually lose the match, but, by scooping up the colossal superstar, he solidified his status as a man to watch.

After a brief hiatus in Japan that saw him win New Japan's International World Grand Prix (IWGP) World Heavyweight Title, he returned to the Federation around a few years later, and on January 23, 1984, Hulk Hogan walked in under the spotlights of New York City's Madison Square Garden and pinned WWF Champion The Iron Sheik in five and a half minutes (following a leg drop) to win the WWF World Heavyweight Title. Hulkamania was born that night, and only the most uninformed fan would argue that that match was one of the most influential bouts in the history of professional wrestling, possibly even more so than Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels at Montreal, Canada's Survivor Series '97.

Hulk Hogan's legend was born, and for the next several years, he plowed through anybody in his path, whether it be Rowdy Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, King Kong Bundy, Don Muraco, or Big John Studd. As the WWF's savior, so to say, he was surrounded by a bunch of opposers to his fame, but very few men ever served as an ally to him. One of those men that did was Andre the Giant. Together, the dream team of Hogan and Andre fought several foes and backed eachother up when one was in trouble. However, Andre gradually became jealous of Hogan's seemingly unending grasp on the WWF World Heavyweight Title, and Andre's (storyline) heat towards Hogan would soon explode in a way that nobody ever thought possible.

Andre and his brand-new manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, entered Rowdy Roddy Piper's famed "Piper's Pit" segment in early 1987 and stated that Hogan was afraid to face him face-to-face, and demanded a WWF Title shot from the then-champion, Hogan. Hogan then encountered Andre, but Andre trashed him on the WWF microphone that Pipeer was holding up to his mouth, and then ripped off the champion's necklace chain and tore his "Hulkamania" muscle shirt, before walking off. This left the WWF Champion confused, yet obviously and rightfully angered. On the weekly WWF telecasts, Andre began routinely interfering in Hogan's matches and attacking him, which solidified his status as a monster heel with the late-'80's WWF faithful.

Their heated rivalry led to several historic confrontations between the two, the first being during the blockbuster main event of 1987's WrestleMania III, pitting the WWF Champion, Hogan, against Andre the Giant for the World Title in what would go down as one of the most celebrated and legendary matches of all-time. Back in that day, and to this very day, this was truly a match for the ages, pitting the "Immortal" Hogan against his biggest (and in more ways than one) challenger, the monstrous Andre the Giant in an epic encounter at the WWF's biggest show of the year, and possibly even of all-time. Going into the match, nobody thought that Hogan would overcome the Giant, as they had no idea how he would keep the goliath down for the three-count.

Before the two entered the ring area at WrestleMania, Bob Uecker was introduced to fans as the guest ring announcer, while Mary Hart was brought out as the Guest Timekeeper. Andre made his entrance first, accompanied by Heenan, to a chorus of boos. However, it didn't take long for the atmosphere of the Potiac Silverdome fans to change. Hogan's "Real American" theme song hit, and the crowd went absolutely bonkers for the WWF Champion and most popular Superstar in the history of the business, Hulk Hogan. Hogan climbs into the ring, and walks straight up to Andre. In what may be the most famous video clip in the history of professional wrestling, the 80's two biggest Superstars in the business went to chest-to-chest in the infamous staredown. "The Immortal One" stands face-to-face with the colossal goliath.

The two legends trade insults before Hogan quickly takes the first shot by attempting to Bodyslam on the 500-pounder, but Andre quickly reverses it into a pinfall attempt, but Hogan kicks out at two. Andre keeps the advantage, hitting Hogan with power-manuevers and eventually lifts him into a massive bearhug. Referee Joey Marella lifts Hogan's hand up, but it drops. Once again, the same thing happens. If it drops one more time, Andre has won the WWF Title via submission. This isn't the case, though, as Hogan stays alive by escaping the bearhug, only to get chopped and big-booted right back down, all the way to the outside ring area, by Andre. Andre misses a gigantic headbutt on the outside, which allows Hogan to plant a comeback of sorts.

Hogan pulls the ringside mats up, unveiling the cold, hard, concrete floor. He attempts to Piledrive the 500-pounder, which, although it may sound ludicrous right now, was something that seemed remotely possible back in 1987. Andre, of course, reverses it, backdropping Hogan over his massive back and dropping him on the solid concrete floor. "The Imortal One" is really hurting now, as he grabs at his back, moaning in pain. Back in the ring, Hogan becomes the first man ever to knock Andre off his feet and down to the mat with a massive Clothesline. He "hulks-up," and regains the advantage.

Then, in perhaps the most celebrated moment in the history of professional wrestling, Hogan wrapped his "pythons" around the massive body of Andre, and, with all of the strength he could gather, lifted the goliath, turned him over, and bodyslammed (scoop slammed) Andre, something that is almost impossible, and still, in some ways, is. Hogan was the first man to bodyslam (scoop slam) Andre. The Pontiac Silverdome absolutely exploded, camera lights flashing everywhere. 93,173 WWF fans are going absolutely nuts, screaming their heads off, realizing that they just saw one of the most legendary spots ever.

Hogan then ran towards the ring-ropes, bounced off, and delivered his trademark Leg Drop to his opponent. Three seconds later, the match was over. Hulk Hogan had defeated Andre the Giant by Bodyslamming and Leg-Dropping the 500-pounder in what Hogan himself has called the greatest match of his legenardy career, retaining the WWF World Heavyweight Title in the process. 93,173 Hulkamaniacs were shouting at the absolute top of their lungs, obviously aware that they had just seen the stuff of legend. Even now, over a decade later, this match is one of, if not the most, celebrated match in the history of the business. The atmosphere and build-up to the match was absolutely incredible, and, along with the classic Ricky Steamboat-Randy Savage Intercontinental bout, helped make WrestleMania III possibly the greatest 'Mania ever.

The Hogan-Andre feud continued after WrestleMania. A few months after WrestleMania, at the inaugural Survivor Series later that year, Hogan teamed with Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, and Bam Bam Bigelow (the faces) challenged the team of Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, One Man Gang, the late-Rick Rude, and Butch Reed in an Elimination Match. Reed's eliminated first, followed by Patera, Ordorff, Rude, and Muraco. Then, the least-expected thing occurs: Hogan gets carried away, brawling with Bundy and Gang on the outside, eventually eliminating himself via Count Out. Andre eventually won the match for his team and becomes the "Sole-Survivor" by eliminating Bigelow via pinfall, but the real story was Hogan's countout elimination.

After the match, Andre' was in the middle of an interview when Hogan, still the WWF Champion, attacked the giant, bashing him across the forehead with the World Title belt. Although that may seem like a heel tactic, Hogan was so beloved by the fans that they cheered for it, realizing that Hogan had spoiled the glorious moment of his arch-nemesis.

For months, Andre's ally, Ted DiBiase, had been trying to "purchase" the WWF Title out of the possession of Hogan. At the first-ever WWF Main Event, on February 5th, 1988, on prime-time television on NBC, Hogan defended his title against Andre. The referee for the match was scheduled to be Earl Hebner, but instead was his twin brother, Dave. Ted DiBiase, who had "purchased" Andre's contract, had "paid" Dave to screw Hogan out of the title, foreshadowing the real-life situation that his twin brother would do almost a decade later to Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series.

So, during the match, when Andre wrapped Hogan in a pinfall attempt, Dave made a fast three-count, screwing Hogan out of the title and awarding it to his arch-nemesis, Andre the Giant. Hogan had clearly kicked out before Hebner's fingers touched the mat for the third time, but, as a way to cheapen Andre's title win and increase his heel heat, Hebner continued to count to three, awarding the title to Andre in controversial fashion. The announcers, of course, achknowledged that Hogan had his shoulders up, which would become a deciding factor in continuing the feud between the two superstars to find out if Andre could cleanly beat Hogan.

So, DiBiase's goal had been accomplished, as his ally, Andre, had "defeated" Hogan to win the WWF Title. Andre handed the title over to DiBiase, who began carrying it around with him for the next couple weeks, showing off how he had accomplished his goal of "purchasing" the belt. However, then-WWF President Jack Tunney ruled that the title had to be won in the middle of the ring in order for it to change hands, or even possession. So, the belt was vacated, and, att the March 27th, 1988 WrestleMania IV, a 14-man elimination tournament was held to declare a new World Wrestling Federation Champion, due to it's then-vacancy.

Andre and Hogan were both participants in the tournament, but each received "Bye's" in their first-round bouts because they were the two disputed champions and the reason the tournament was even occurring in the first place. They both advanced to the second-round (referred to as "Quarter-Finals"), where, thanks to the brackets, they were scheduled to face eachother once again for the second year in a row at WrestleMania.

Andre, thanks to his cheap title win and arrogant ways, along with DiBiase, had become a monster heel, and Hogan, of course, was still the most superstar ever going into the match. Andre was nearing the end of his career, and, sadly, life, entering this match. The poor giant had a lot of trouble moving around, and this was obvious during the match. The match began with Andre dominating Hogan with his usual power-manuevers, until Hogan starts to regain the advantage. Virgil, a movie-star/wrestler that Hogan had also been feuding with entering this match, climbed up onto the ring apron, to distract the referee from seeing DiBiase, who climbed in behind the ref's back and bashed Hogan in the head with a steel chair. Hogan, however, lives up his "Immortal One" nickname, as he is barely affected by the chairshot. This causes DiBiase to abruptly drop the chair quickly get out of the ring.

Hogan, picks up the chair just as the referee turns back around, and nails Andre with it. The referee does nothing about the chairshot except for take it from Hogan. Andre then grabs it from the referee and smashes Hogan with it, causing the referee to disqualify both participants, eliminating both from the title tournament. Hogan is furious, and grabs the chair and bashes Andre with it, and then attacks Virgil, nailing him with a suplex. He then chases DiBiase to the backstage area, before climbing back into the ring and, just like he did the previous year, Bodyslamming the 500 lb. Andre to the mat. He poses for the crowd, looking like a winner, however, obviously not the winner. Nobody was really, as both Andre and Hogan were eliminated.

Later that night, Randy Savage faced DiBiase in the final-round of the tournament. Andre was at ringside, and kept getting in shots at Savage behind the ref's back. Furious at what he was seeing, Hogan came out of the crowd and attacked DiBiase, nailing him with a chairshot behind the ref's back. This gave Savage enough time to climb up to the top-rope and leap off, delivering his trademark Flying Elbow Drop. The referee counted the 1-2-3 pinfall, and Savage, partially thanks to Hogan's help, had won the vacant WWF Title for the first time in his career. Hogan hands the belt to Savage in a moment that effectively "passed the torch" from one era to the next. Savage had won the WWF Title, and Hogan had gained revenge toward Andre and DiBiase for screwing him out of the title at The Main Event. Miss Elizabeth, Hogan, and the newly-crowned WWF Champion, Randy Savage, celebrated in the middle of the ring. After this night, Hogan and Savage began regularly teaming up with eachother as the tag team, "The Mega-Powers." It was a dream team of sorts, with two of the top WWF Superstars ever on the same side. They continuously dominated opposing teams, defeating one after another.

Around this time, another one-on-one match between Hogan and Savage occurred, this time at Wrestlefest '88 on July 31, 1988. It was a "Steel Cage Match." An interesting fact: The cage was only a total of about 11 feet off of the concrete and about eight feet off of the mat. Andre was only about a foot shorter than it (when measured off of the mat), as he was about 7'0". Anyway, the match began with Andre choking Hogan. Hogan took back control with some chokes and punches. Andre locked Hogan in a bearhug for awhile and then bashed him with a piece of the turnbuckle (he had pulled it off of the corner post). Hogan blades, so he's now juicing a fair amount. Andre uses some of his usual punches and headbutts, but his offense ends when Hogan ducks an attempted big boot and begins hammering away on the giant, eventually knocking him down onto the mat. Hogan, of course, bounces off the ropes and hits his leg drop. He gets some pops for beating up Andre's manager, Bobby Heenan, for a few minutes, and he then climbs up, over, and out of the cage for the win at 9:52.

Finally, at the inaugural SummerSlam later that year, a team that posed a challenge to them came along. That team was christened, "The Megabucks," and was comprised of Hogan and Savage's arch-enemies, Andre the Giant and Ted Dibiase. The Special Guest Referee for the Tag Team Main Event Match of the inaugural summer-sizzler was the notorious Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Hogan and Savage dominated DiBiase in the early part of the match, until Hogan made the mistake of attacking Andre. Andre and DiBiase gain the advantage and dominate Hogan with various double-team and power-manuevers. Hogan eventually "hulked-up" and tagged in Savage, who "cleaned house," dominating Andre and DiBiase until he missed a shoulder-tackle, allowing the 'Bucks to regain control.

DiBiase tags Andre in, who proceeds to use his remarkable power to dominate Savage. Andre tags DiBiase back in. DiBiase goes up top and misses a backspring reverse elbow, evening it up, as both legal men attempt to crawl to their corners and tag in their respective partners. DiBiase tags Andre in just as "The Macho Man" slapped the hand of Hogan. Hogan charged his legendary rival, smacking him around before going to DiBiase and doing the same. He then locks a Sleeper-Hold on DiBiase. At the same time, Savage leaps off the top toward Andre, only to get the giant's foot bashed into his face. Andre broke apart Hogan's Sleeper on DiBiase, and tosses him, along with Savage, to the outside ring area.

Heenan and Virgil hop up onto the ring apron so as to distract the referee to allow Andre and DiBiase to destroy their two opponents on the outside, but their plan backfires. The Mega-Powers valet, Miss Elizabeth, who's, as usual, hot as hell, climbs up onto the ring apron and bends down, directing her ass toward the participants in the ring. She then proceeds to rip the bottom of her skirt off, revealing...well...you get the picture. This distracts everybody: Andre, DiBiase, the referee, Heenan (or course), Virgil, the ringside officials, the security guards, the timekeeper, the announcers (the late-Gorilla Monsoon and "Superstar" Billy Graham), the cameramen, and, of course, the fans.

This gives Hogan and Savage just enough time to climb back into the ring and send Andre to the outside and DiBiase to the ring mat with a bodyslam. Savage takes advantage of the big man's abscence, climbing up to the top-rope and leaping off, delivering a Flying Elbow Drop into the heart of DiBiase, followed by Hogan dropping his trademark Leg Drop. Ventura slaps his hand against the mat surface once, twice, but hesitates after that. Savage grabs his arm and slams it onto the ring mat to complete the three-count, and give the Mega-Powers the pinfall win over their arch-enemies, Andre and DiBiase. They, along with 'Liz, celebrate their win as the inaugural SummerSlam goes off the air.

This was the end of the legendary Andre the Giant-Hulk Hogan feud, and, while technical wrestling was something never thought of during their matches, the feud was, and still is, the stuff of legend. It provided us with some of the most amazing moments in the history of the business, such as the infamous staredown at WrestleMania III, Hogan's stunning Bodyslam of the giant later that same night, and Andre defeating Hogan for the WWF Title in controversial fashion. The feud would be ended gradually, as Hogan was nearing the end of his peak and Andre's health problems were worsening, culminating in his tragic death in the early 90's. God Bless his soul and Rest In Peace.

Pay-Per-View/SuperCard Match Results:

1. WWF Show (8/9/87; New York; Shea Stadium): Andre d. Hogan via pinfall
2. WrestleMania III: "Bigger, Badder, Better" (3/29/87; Pontiac, MI): Hogan d. Andre via pinfall (12:01) to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Title
3. Survivor Series 1987 (11/26/87; Richfield, OH): Andre the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, & Rick Rude d. Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, & Bam Bam Bigelow (22:00) in an "elimination" match. Andre the Giant became the sole survivor when he pinned Bigelow (22:00).
4. The Main Event #1 (2/5/88; Indianapolis, IN): Andre d. Hogan to win the WWF World Heavyweight Title
5. WrestleMania IV (3/27/88; Atlantic City, NJ): Andre & Hogan wrestle to a Double DQ (5:22) in a Quarter-Final Match in the WWF World Heavyweight Title Tournament; Both are eliminated from the tournament
6. Wrestlefest '88 (7/31/88; Milwaukee, WI): Hogan d. Andre in a "Steel Cage Match" by climbing out of the cage (9:52)
7. Summerslam 1988 (8/29/88; New York City, NY): Hogan & Savage d. Andre & DiBiase via pinfall (13:57) when Savage pinned DiBiase; Jesse "The Body" Ventura was the Special Guest Referee.

Final Tally:

Andre: 3 wins; Hogan: 3 wins; No Decisions: 1 Double DQ

UNDISPUTED WINNER of the ANDRE the GIANT vs. HULK HOGAN feud:

Tie (according to win/loss records)