This day in wrestling history has witnessed some of the best, worst, and mediocre events in professional wrestling, but there could be a new category for oddest as well. What makes this moment from June 4, 1983 interesting is it wasn’t planned, scripted, or expected by anybody there, and it set an unofficial record as the longest front facelock at 8 minutes 35 seconds.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has seen it’s share of historic moments, but this may be one they don’t want on the record books sports-wise as Andre the Giant and Big John Studd crawl through an eighteen minute match.
Andre was money
Andre the Giant was a guaranteed draw no matter where he went. It’s why he’s often called the one true giant, and is one of my personal favorites. But all of that aside, it was rumored he hated Big John Studd because, as Hulk Hogan put it, Studd entered the ring by stepping over the top rope.
It’s a standard thing now as any skyscraper from Kevin Nash and the Big Show to Kane and Braun Strowman do it. But back in the 1980s, it was Andre’s thing and wrestlers were very protective of their styles then.
Studd may have done this purposely to get heat with Andre to make their rivalry more exciting, and it makes sense. Except Andre would allegedly beat the crap out of Studd for doing it.
But it made their matches all the more thrilling for fans, as we got to see these two larger then life men pound on one another in a battle of goliaths.
As we all know, nothing ever goes completely smoothly, and this is one of those times.
Andre fell asleep
Yep, Andre the Giant fell asleep during the facelock, leaving Studd to sell it for eight and a half minutes while trying to wake the giant.
To my knowledge, there is no definitive reason as to why he did so, but many believe it was because he was drunk. Andre’s alcohol consumption was legendary, and he was rumored to drink a couple bottles of wine before his matches.
Combined with travel fatigue, it’s easy to see how this could’ve happened and it left John Studd to try to work it out.
While that sounds innocent enough, there is room for speculation here. If we look at the claims by Hogan and Vince McMahon about Studd and Andre’s relationship, it can be argued that this was done on purpose to embarrass Studd.
After all, what better way of embarrassing and/or destroying another’s drawing ability than by ruining their match? Andre was always going to be a draw due to his size, but Studd would’ve had to work harder to gain that level. And while Studd was a stud, a clunker like this could hurt.
Andre could’ve also done it to make a point with Vince about his booking. In fact, it could be argued Andre was faking being asleep as some claim he did this in a match with King Kong Bundy. Basically, two people he allegedly had problems with.
Honestly, this day in wrestling history is most likely due to a combination of too much drinking, fatigue, and other factors. It’s impossible to tell for sure, but it’s hard to imagine Andre doing something like this on purpose given how much he loved the business.
Of course, we could be wrong and this day in wrestling history was orchestrated to mess with Studd and cause Vince to rip his hair out. We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so drop us a line in the comments section below.
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