WrestleMania – Andre the Giant vs. Big John Studd
Big John Studd and Andre the Giant were the original hosses of WWE. They were the giants that everyone looked up to, literally. Naturally, the WWE only had room for one giant, so the rivalry between these two behemoths, both on and off the screen, developed. Andre took a huge issue with Studd claiming to be the only real giant, and this led to the original hoss battle that highlighted the first WrestleMania.
The main event of WrestleMania was the big sell, but many fans were there to see the body-slam challenge. ‘Mania needed some attraction matches to bring the crowd in, and that’s exactly what this contest was. Bobby Heenan put 15, 000 dollars on the line if Andre the Giant could body slam the 6 ’10, 365 lb Studd.
It wasn’t a fancy match, containing mostly punches and kicks, but it was as entertaining as any other on the card. Andre was still a massively over-babyface, and the crowd was rabid when he slammed Studd. Then would proceed to give some of the money away. The match proved that hoss battles were a huge commodity in World Wrestling Entertainment, and the sky was the limit from then on.
