Nope, this isn’t a dream match, but a real life feud between two of the titans in sports entertainment.
Many of us remember King Kong Bundy as a type of giant killer in the Heenan Family stable. He took on Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan and pushed both to the brink of defeat. He was known to demand a five count instead of a three following his avalanches on his opponents. He became legendary as one the meanest personas in the wresting world.
Out of the ring, he was said to be a wonderful human being and got along with most people he met. While many of us never got the chance to meet him in person, the stories of those that did give us an insight into the man behind the character.
In the other corner, we have Vince McMahon, the genius behind what has become the world’s largest wrestling promotion, the WWE.
As an announcer in the 80s, Vince often teamed up with Gorilla Monsoon or Jesse “The Body” Ventura. The latter was the perfect foil as Ventura sided with the heels every time, and his off the cuff remarks gave Vince plenty to work with as he defended and supported the babyfaces.
At the time, few knew he was the owner or the trouble that brewed backstage.
So, what went wrong?
According to an interview King Kong Bundy did on the Swerve with Vince Russo in 2014, Bundy said after he returned (in 1994) from his six year hiatus, he sat around for eighteen months waiting for them to do something with him.
It had gotten to the point he thought about contacting WCW to see what he could do there. It was about then that Vince called him, and when Bundy asked if he was going to get a super push, Vince told him he would.
Nothing happened.
“If I was working first, second, third match and making good money, I wouldn’t have cared,” Bundy said about the time. He then explained that he’d done a computer commercial in 1987 and it ran for two years. He ended up being in full page ads in USA Today, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated. He hoped Vince wouldn’t see it, but he apparently did.
Bundy said he was told by someone in the company that it was “the kiss of death” to his career there. He went on to call Vince a control freak and had nothing nice to say about him, or to him, up to the day he died.
In what must’ve been an olive branch on Vince’s part, he had tribute video to King Kong Bundy made and honored his memory.
Ya know, sometimes, we don’t need a ring for entertainment.
