R.I.W Wrestling Legend: Killer Khan

Posted on April 12, 2023 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink Arena, the place that we come to talk about Pro Wrestling and enjoy celebrating the legends of the sport that we all love. Today’s “R.I.W Wrestling Legend” update is going to be killer, and by that I mean it will be about one of the biggest, meanest foreign heels in wrestling through the 1980’s, the one and only Killer Khan, a man who broke the ankle of a giant and would challenge for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship several times terrorizing opponents and fans from America, Canada, Mexico and Japan. So let’s find our seats and order a drink or two as this update might get crazy and who knows what Killer Khan will do, and here he comes now so let’s get this update and matches started.

Killer Khan started his pro wrestling career in 1971 and was working for Japan Wrestling Association as well as New Japan Pro Wrestling and was going under the name Masashi Ozawa and was making a name for himself as he was booked strong and was becoming a draw for New Japan as he was put into many big matched with many names that would go on to become legends of the sport. He would leave Japan in 1978 and headed Mexico for a brief sting and would have matches against the likes of El Santo and Mil Mascaras. During his time in Mexico, he was going by the name Temojin El Mongol. In 1979 he would head to America and work for Championship Wrestling From Florida and start using the name Killer Khan, and he would be put in a tag team with Pak Song, the two would even win the companies tag team titles. Khan was also being booked as a singles wrestler and was racking up the wins, gaining attention and was hated by the fans becoming one of CWF’s top heels. After his run in CWF he would head to Georgia Championship Wrestling and Universal Wresting Federation and would have good quick runs at each, and while in GCW he would have his first run in with Andre The Giant. In early 1980 he would also do a run in Mid-South Wrestling circuit and by now Killer Khan was one of the top most hated heels in wrestling as he would have wins over many popular heels and his aggressive style made fans fear and hate him. In late 1980 Killer Khan was brought into the WWF for the first time and was made a monster heel that from the start was getting wins over names like Dominic DeNucci and Rick McGraw. By early 1981, he was already getting a WWF World Heavyweight Title shot against champion Bob Backlund and would even make an attempt at the WWF Intercontinental title held by Pedro Morales. And from there his first major long feud in WWF was against Bob Backlund as the pair would square off a number of times in title matches as well as stipulation matches like a Texas Death Match. After his feud with Backlund ended, Killer Khan would stick around striking fear and gaining wins and having a match even against the likes of Bruno Sammartino and Dusty Rhodes. But in late 1981 he set his sights on Andre The Giant and the biggest feud of his career was about to start as this was a legendary as Killer Khan would break the ankle of Andre and take him out of wrestling for a short time, the heat from the fans that Khan got locked him in as one of the companies top heels at the time. And once Andre The Giant returned from his injury the two would have an epic feud and would have even a “Mongolian Stretcher Match” and in the end Andre The Giant was the winner of the feud and it was so epic that in 1981 it won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s feud of the year!

After his feud with Andre The Giant came to an end, Killer Khan would stick around the WWF and have matches with names like Tony Atlas and would still try in failing attempts to capture the WWF Heavyweight and Intercontinental Gold. And in 1982 he would leave the WWF and head back to New Japan Pro Wrestling for a stint and then would end up back in America working for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling as well as Houston Wrestling and Mid-South Wrestling once again. In 1983 he would head back to New Japan Pro Wrestling before heading to Stampede Wrestling in Canada where he would have a feud with The Mongolian Stomper, and then he would head to World Class Championship Wrestling out of Texas and work against The Von Erichs as well as The Freebirds, that later he would later team with and teach member Terry Gordy the Oriental Spike finishing move. In 1985 Killer Khan would spread terror back in Japan this time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling and would have matches against Giant Baba as well as Giant Haystacks and The Road Warriors. Killer Khan would stick around in All Japan until 1987 and then would return back to America and work once more for WWF for a short run and this time around he was managed by Mr. Fuji and would be pushed once more as a major heel and would even take on WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan for the title at House Shows. His run in 1987 would be over by the end of that same year and while booked as a big heel he never was as big of a threat as he was his last run. During this stink in WWF he would have matches against many of the companies top baby faces including Outback Jack, SD Jones, Ken Patera, Tito Santana, Hillbilly Jim, Junkyard Dog, Paul Orndorff and George “The Animal” Steele to name a few. And after this run Killer Khan would quietly step away from full time work in wrestling and would retire from the sport shortly after and would open his own restaurant in Japan that he is still running to this day.

Update: Sadly Killer Khan passed away on December 29, 2023, this is very sad news.

Growing up Killer Khan was one of wrestling’s greatest foreign heels at the time as he always seemed like a major threat to any baby face that was in the ring with him, and I mean the guy broke Andre The Giants ankle! And yes I know that Andre really broke his own ankle by accident and they used Khan’s attack to write him off TV in order for the injury to heal. And in 1987 when he made his return to the WWF I can remember thinking it was a bigger deal then it really was as I always looked at Killer Khan with the notion in my head that he would one day be a major threat to Hulk Hogan and would try and take his world title away, plus adding the sneaky Mr. Fuji as his manager just made him even more of a heel in my young eyes. Something about Killer Khan made him scary to younger fans at the time, as you never seemed to know what he was going to do and if he was going to take out your favorite wrestler. It’s also very odd that Killer Khan never got a LJN WWF action figure in 1987 as apart of Series 4 as it would have been a cool one to get, but he did make it to the Topps WWF Trading cards at that time. Plus his move the Oriental Spike always seemed so devastating and was a great finishing maneuver for that time and era. And for kids of the 1990’s they might know Killer Khan for playing Ishikawa the bodyguard to Konga in the 1994 film “3 Ninjas Kick Back” and in 2006 he had a cameo on the Japanese series “Lion-Maru G”. And for fans of Killer Khan who travel he owns and runs a restaurant in Japan that is called “Killer Khan No Mise Izakaya Kanchan” and its said to be amazing food and that Killer Khan will take pictures with fans as well as sign autographs, and if I ever get the chance this would be one must stop for me if I ever get the chance to visit Japan. To sum this up I have been a fan of Killer Khan sense I was a kid and I am very much looking forward to watching his matches again as I want to see his brutal style again or see if its as brutal as I remember.

We are now at the point of this review were we will be taking a look at the DVD set and review some of the matches on the discs like always between 4 to 8. I want to thank Coliseum Of Wrestling & Boxing for having this set in stock and also want to thank Killer Khan for his hard work in the world of wrestling. I also want to remind you that I will only be breaking down randomly select matches from this set and will be breaking down the match and will be rating the matches on a 5 Star rating system. I also only choose from single matches, as I want to break down his matches that showcase his style. Here is what the stars mean ½ Means a really terrible match, * Means a bad match, ** Means a below average match, **1/2 Means a good average entertaining match, *** Means a good match, **** Means a great match, ***** Means an epic match. So if you are ready lets step into the ring with Killer Khan.

Best Of Killer Khan

Match 1: Killer Khan vs. Ray Candy

Killer Khan starts the match off in charge as he knees Candy in the stomach and then body slams the big man before using his knees more to knock Candy into the corner and continues the assault on Candy who is not given a chance to fight back yet as Khan is super aggressive and wants to hurt Candy as its clear as he take him to the ground and drops several jumping knees on him over and over as well as axe handle hits. And then he puts the Iron Claw onto Ray Candy’s stomach and forces him to quite the match and Kahn wins by submission. This is a total squash match as Ray Candy is destroyed by Killer Khan who beats the hell out of him, lands some brutal movies like the dropping knee over and over and then finishes him off with a claw to his stomach. Killer Khan looks just like his name says a killer as he is super aggressive and is looking to destroy his opponent. Meanwhile on the other hand Ray Candy looks like a total jobber and does a good job of selling for Khan and being enhancement talent. Not much else to say besides Khan really is a killer in this quick squash match.

Grade: **1/2

Match 2: Killer Khan vs. Andre The Giant

This is a stretcher match were to win your opponent must be carried out on a stretcher. As the bell rings Andre stalks Khan and once he gets his hands on him he nails a big head butt and then starts unloading massive clubbing hits. Even as Khan gets out of the ring to try and escape the beating he is grabbed by the hair by Andre and forced back into the ring and his beating continues as Andre is fired up and is a very angry giant. Andre then takes Khan down with a big boot and then sits on him with his massive weight, crushing Khan, the referee calls for the stretcher and Khan shoves it away and the match continues and Andre hits Khan with a piledriver! But Andre misses a falling headbutt and this gives Khan a chance to stomp on the head of Andre over and over, and then gets Andre’s ankle the same one he broke tied up into the ropes and starts working it over. Khan then drops a knee on the head of Andre and the referee calls for the stretcher, and Andre pushes it away and then picks it up and hits Khan over the head with it and then starts beating on and sitting on Khan again causing the hated heel lots of pain and Khan once more fights off being placed on the stretcher. Andre then starts his attack once more of sitting on Khan over and over, and like before Khan fights off being put on the stretcher. Andre this time suplexes Khan before squashing him again with his sitting assault and then lands a big splash and then Killer Khan is placed on the stretcher and taken away given the win to Andre The Giant. This was a true battle between two big men and it was mostly a one sided fight as Andre dominated most of the fight and just pounded and squashed Killer Khan throughout the match. Andre is winded pretty early one and mostly just sits on and uses clubbing hits to take down Khan who does a great job of selling for The Giant. Andre does do some moves that later in his career he could not pull off like the piledriver and suplex and while limited even at this point the fans loved Andre and I found myself as well enjoying him in this match. Killer Khan pretty much only gets off one brief moment of taking the lead in the match and he gets the crowd hot as he goes after the ankle that he had broken some months back. While not a great technical match nor even really that great of a brawling one, the stipulation, the big match feel and the story telling of Andre wanting revenge is what made this a very entertaining match.

Grade: **1/2

Match 3: Killer Khan vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

As the bell rings both men show off and try intimidating one another and once they lock up its Bigelow that backs Khan into the corner, and once they break apart Bigelow stares down Khan. They lock up again and this time Khan backs Bigelow into the corner and this time when they break apart Killer Khan punches Bigelow in the gut and starts hammering him with punches, and then the two bounce off the ropes and clash in the middle and then they start slapping each other across the face and then Bigelow hits Khan with an atomic drop. Khan roles out of the ring to shake off the move and once back in the ring tries to shake the hand of Bigelow but of course this is a trick and Khan attacks him and even chokes him on the rope and this allows Mr. Fuji the manager of Killer Khan to hit Bigelow with his cane and Khan continues his attack and even gets a two count with a pin attempt. And Khan and Fuji continue to cheat behind the referees back. Bigelow is able to make a comeback and pull off a big clothesline, hits a body slam as well as a diving headbutt and gets a two count on Khan. As the match continues Khan is able to kick Bigelow in the face and goes for the green mist and it misses allowing Bigelow to hit him with a dropkick and a big splash and get the three count and the win. This is a match between to big guys that was just an ok match as Khan was on and hit many of his big moves and even went for the green mist spit, it was Bigelow who seemed a little off and was sluggish, looked like he was in a cocky mood and was just mediocre at best in the match. While Bigelow’s splash looked great as did a few of his moves it was clear he was not fully into the match. While Khan on the other hand tried to make the best of it and sold well for Bigelow and did what he could to get the match over. The fans in the arena seemed to enjoy it so that counts for something as Bam Bam Bigelow was a big baby face for the WWF at the time, for me though this was just an ok match between two wrestlers who have done better. And to be honest the more I think about it, Bam Bam seems like he is more worried coming off as a badass then he was getting a good match with Khan.

Grade: **

Match 4: Killer Khan vs. Randy Savage

As the match starts its Killer Khan who takes the lead and starts hitting Savage with big hits, but Savage is able to take over when Khan misses a knee in the corner and bounces off the turnbuckle allowing Savage to start landing some punches of his own and even hits a back elbow that hurts Khan, but Khan is able to land some knees to Savage’s gut when he backs him into the corner, and as Khan distracts the referee Mr. Fuji starts choking Savage with his cane and even hits him in the small of the back. Savage falls out of the ring and almost gets counted out, but makes it back just in time and Khan continues his attack working on the back of Savage and gets him into a backbreaker. Savage is able to get out of the hold by kicking himself off the ropes and then starts punching Khan in the face and drops him with a running elbow to the head. The Savage runs to the top rope and lands an axe handle hit and then goes for the pin, but Khan kicks out and uses his kicks to knock down Savage, and when Savage stands up Khan goes to spit the green mist in his eyes and misses as Savage dodges and then rolls up Khan to get the pin. This was a good match between these two as their styles work well together and while Savage gets the win Khan does not look weak in defeat as he puts a good beating on Savage throughout the match. The backbreaker that Khan puts on Savage looks painful and while it would have been nice to see Savage land is classic elbow drop finisher on Khan, the rollup win does protect Khan in defeat. This is a good match between two top notch WWF Superstars and their styles worked well together.

Grade: ***

Killer Khan is an awesome heel from the 1980’s wrestling scene and was one that has always stuck with me mostly due to his feud with Andre The Giant and his brawling style always made him standout from the other heels of the time in the WWF. I think the greatest thing about Killer Khan is that he could have a great match against any company’s top stars from Hulk Hogan to Kerry Von Erick to El Santo and every baby face in-between. But as you can see, the Rotten Ink Arena is closing for the night as the matches are over and the cleanup crew is out cleaning up all the thrown popcorn so before we leave these arena doors I would like to let you all know that my next update will have us coming back to the Rotten Ink Arena and this time we will be taking a look at one of the WWF’s biggest tag teams from the 80’s and early 90’s and I am talking about Demolition! So let’s head on out and let the crew clean up and until next time watch a wrestling match or three, read a comic or two and as always support your local indie wrestlers. See you next time as Demolition shows us destruction in the ring.

Andre The Giant The 8th Wonder Of The Comic Book World

Posted on May 23, 2015 by bloodlinematt

Welcome to Rotten Ink’s main event for the night as we witness First Second Book’s own Box Brown step into the ring with the one and only 8^th wonder of the world, Andre The Giant! It’s no surprise that growing up I was a huge fan of pro wrestling, and you long time readers know this about me. One of the biggest names around when I was a kid was Andre The Giant who was always billed as the biggest man in the world and seeing him dwarf the likes of King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd and Killer Khan was a sight to behold. So this update will be all about the man, the myth, the legend known around the world for being the biggest athlete in sports entertainment, Andre The Giant! So get ready to cheer for Andre as we take a look not only at the bio comic but also the man who was the true giant of pro wrestling!

Andre Rene Roussimoff was born on May 19^th 1946 in Grenoble, France, and by the age of 12 he weighed 240 pounds and was 6’3” and dropped out of school by the 8^th grade to work on a farm as well as other manual labor jobs. By age 17, he became a pro wrestler after a promotor saw that he could make money off Andre’s size and the fact he was a true giant thanks to the fact he had gigantism. Going under the name Great Ferre, he wrestled for promotions in France, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Africa. In 1970 Andre, under the ring name Monster Roussimoff, dominated the Japanese federation International Wrestling Enterprise even winning the tag team titles with Michael Nador. After Japan Andre went to wrestle in Canada as well as a few dates for AWA (American Wrestling Association) In the US, he meet Vince McMahon Sr. who turned him into Andre The Giant and changed the character into a unstoppable monster, and together they made lots of money in the WWF as well as off other federations that Vince would lend him out to. Andre The Giant started WWF in 1973 as one of the company’s top good guys and had many great feuds with many great and talented wrestlers like Killer Khan who he defeated in a Mongolian Stretcher Match, Big John Studd who he had a body slam challenge match against as well as had his long afro hair shaved off by Studd, Ken Patera and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd even got Andre suspended during this run, and he returned as a masked wrestler called Giant Machine and teamed with the tag team The Machines. Durning this run as a good guy Andre was also the king of Battle Royals even winning one at Wrestlemania II by throwing out Bret Hart. Beloved by fans, Andre was a top draw as well as a main attraction for the WWF, but something was about to change!

In 1987, Hulk Hogan was WWF Champion, and Hulkamania was in full swing. On Piper’s Pit, the interview segment hosted by Rowdy Roddy Piper, Hogan was given a trophy for being champion for three years. And during this time of celebration Andre The Giant came out with Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and ripped the shirt off Hogan as well as his cross necklace and challenged him for the title, changing himself from a fan favorite to a heel in the matter of minutes! Hogan and Andre clashed at Wrestlemania III, and Hogan won under some controversy. After Hogan’s win, he also began a feud with Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase who could not beat Hogan but wanted the title. So DiBiase hired Andre to win the belt for him, and he did in 1988 making it the first and only time Andre was the WWF Champion. But this win was also very controversial, and the belt was taken away from him and put up for grabs at Wreslemania IV in a tournament that was won by Randy “Macho Man” Savage. This sparked fights between the Mega Powers (Hogan & Savage) and the Mega Bucks (Andre & DiBiase) that ended with Mega Powers getting the upper hand and would spark the next major feud for Hogan as he and Savage split off. Andre from this point on was stuck in tag team matches and feuds with such superstars as Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Ultimate Warrior. He would also team with Ted DiBiase for a while as well as Haku, who he would win tag team gold with under the name The Colossal Connection. In 1990, they lost the belts to Demolition at Wrestlemania VI, and at this point Haku and Bobby Heenan turned on Andre who ended up beating up his partner and turned from Heel to Face. This ended Andre’s major role as a full time wrestler for WWF. And besides some angles with Earthquake and Jimmy Hart, Andre’s health was so poor that he left WWF in 1992. His last TV appearance was for WCW during their Clash Of The Champions XX event on TBS. This is the era of Andre that I remember the most, and boy when I was younger, I thought no one could beat him. When they did, I was awe struck! I mean other wrestlers in the back would call Andre The Boss because they all respected and some feared him. Andre was a strong good guy but in my opinion was a way better bad guy and his feud with Hulk Hogan was legendary. Now being a grown up and watching old matches on VHS and DVD, I find some of his later in ring work very sad to watch as you can tell he was in pain just barely moving around and had to use the ropes to walk around the ring. It’s sad to see Andre The Giant in that kind of shape, and you could really tell he was in the twilight of his career and his health was in decline. I should also say that sadly Andre died in his sleep on January 27^th 1993 from heart failure while in Paris to attend his father’s funeral. This update is dedicated to Andre who entertained this pro wrestling fan all through my youth, not just in the ring but also in movies and TV.

So I should get a little more into Wrestlemania III, the pay per view event that shattered attendance records for a live sporting event as well as truly brought WWF into the main stream culture. Wrestlemania III took place on March 29^th 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan in front of 93,173 fans locking it in as the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America! The card was filled with many great matches like Ricky Steamboat vs. Macho Man Randy Savage for the Intercontinental Belt, Billy Jack Haynes took on Hercules in a Full Nelson Match and Honky Tonk Man took on Jake “The Snake” Roberts who had rockstar Alice Cooper in his corner! But the main event was Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant for the WWF Championship, and I can remember all the build up for this match. All the while WWF did a fantastic job of making Hogan look like the underdog having Andre best him on many altercations that happened before the match. During the match, it was clear that Andre was not in the best of shape and Hogan was having to carry the match for the most part, but when Hogan tried to slam Andre for the first time and buckled under the weight and was almost pinned, the odds really did look against the champ! But later in the match when Hogan slammed Andre and hit him with the atomic leg drop and got the three count, the torch was passed and Hogan’s star shined brighter. I can remember many kids from school who were WWF fans talking about the slam heard around the world and the feat of Hogan picking up Andre seemed something straight out of a comic book or greek myth, but as I grew up and became wiser to the world of pro wrestling I found out Hogan had slammed him before when Andre was good and Hogan was bad early in his career. Also to slam Andre was El Canek and Harley Race. No matter who you were in 1987, you knew that Hogan slammed Andre, and WWF was the major force in pro wrestling. But we have covered Andre in wrestling so it’s only right we cover his acting career briefly!

Besides being a pro wrestler, Andre was also an actor, and one role I remember him playing was the Bionic Bigfoot in the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man. Andre played Bigfoot in two episodes called “The Secret Of Bigfoot I & II” that had Steve Rogers running into the famed creature and after doing battle with it finds that it’s a robot! The original episode aired in 1976, and the follow up aired in 1976 as well. Even after Andre stopped playing the role, the Bionic Bigfoot continued for three more episodes and was played by Ted Cassidy, better known for playing Lurch on The Addams Family. The episodes and character of Bionic Bigfoot were so popular that action figures at the time was made based on his likeness. If you watched Six Million Dollar Man, I am sure you remember Bionic Bigfoot like I do!

Andre’s most popular acting role was the 1987 comedy fantasy film “The Princess Bride” where he played Fezzik the loveable giant friend of Inigo who helps in the kidnapping of the Princess as well as later helps rescue her along side Westley the film’s lead. Fezzik turns from a bad guy to a good guy and was loved in the film for being loyal to his friends and having a big heart. Growing up, I loved this film and watched it many times. One of the best Andre lines from the movie has him offering peanuts to other characters. It’s funny to think that in 1987 Andre was in this move as a loveable character and also turned on Hulk Hogan and became one of the most hated men in pro wrestling!

One role many people do not know about that Andre The Giant played was that of the horn God Dagoth in the 1984 fantasy film “Conan The Destroyer”! That’s right, one of the world’s top pro wrestlers wore a rubber suit and fought Arnold Schwarzenegger who was playing Conan in a fake blood drenched scene….and I must say that’s awesome! And in fact, I did not even know Andre played that part until recently, and this helps add to my enjoyment of this film. I loved the Conan movies, and I will tell you readers this when the new Conan movie comes out in the coming years, a Marvel At The Movies Conan edition will be going up!

Andre The Giant was also an animated superstar as he was used in the fun Saturday Morning Cartoon “Hulk Hogan’s Rock N Wrestling” as one of Hogan’s good guy friends along side the likes of Junkyard Dog, Wendi Richter, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Hillbilly Jim and a few other WWF wrestlers. The cartoon would have Hogan and the gang having to stop evil plots by the bad guys lead by Rowdy Roddy Piper and aired for 26 episodes lasting two season starting in 1985. The series was made by DIC Entertainment who also made such cartoons as M.A.S.K., Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors, The Real Ghostbusters, COPS, Camp Candy, The Legend Of Zelda, Swamp Thing, Street Sharks and so many other classics that entertained the youth. Andre in the cartoon was portrayed as a dimwitted giant who would fumble and bumble around all the while never meaning to harm nor break the stuff he did. So in looking back, he was the slapstick goof of the cartoon. He was voiced by Ron Feinberg, who also lent his voice to such characters as Ming The Merciless in Defenders Of The Earth and Vladimir Goudenov Grizzlikof in Darkwing Dunk. Growing up I loved this silly cartoon and watched it any chance I got and that was mostly on USA Cartoon Express. While Andre was silly and goofy, he still was one of the characters I liked. While the cartoon has long been off the air and has not been released on DVD or Blu-Ray, you can find episodes on VHS and the grey market.

So Andre was a part of TV shows, movies and even cartoons, but he also tackled music videos when he had a cameo in the video for Cyndi Lauper’s hit song “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” where he played a genie from a bottle who runs off debt collectors played by the likes of Roddy Piper and Iron Sheik! This video is epic for many reasons, and I will share them all with you real quick! The first thing about this video that I loved when I was younger was Cyndi Lauper herself as I found her cute as well as fun to watch as she could sing her heart out and never took herself seriously. The second thing was the fact that it starred Pro Wrestlers as characters and some of the WWF’s best bad guys were great running around as pirates…imagine Iron Sheik as a pirate! The third amazing thing about this video is that it’s attached to The Goonies, one of the most iconic adventure kids films of the 80’s and one I loved, not to mention The Goonies themselves show up to help Cyndi get away from the pirates! I guess I should also explain what the music video is about; Cyndi and her family own a gas station and are about to lose it when Piper and the rest of his goon squad show up to take it away! Cyndi has a map to treasure that could help save the gas station, but while on the hunt Piper and goons become pirates and try to stop her until The Goonies show up and help. In the end, she uses a lamp and frees Andre The Giant dressed as a genie who runs off the bad guys, and they save the gas station. It’s a great music video for a catchy song that will get stuck in your head after you hear it.

Honeycomb was a popular kids breakfast cereal in the 80’s, and the one and only commercial made about it that would air during Saturday Morning Cartoons that I remember had Andre The Giant playing a giant and trying to grab kids and their robot while they were eating Honeycomb in their club house. The kids are scared of the giant, but when they share some Honeycomb with him, he mellows out and they gain a new friend! I should also say that after they share the cereal, the cheesy jingle starts that goes “Honeycomb’s Big….Yeah Yeah Yeah! It’s Not Small…No No No! Honeycomb’s Got..A Big Big Bite! Big Big Taste In A Big Big Bite”…you’re welcome. The jingle will be in your head all day now. I always liked seeing Andre in this commercial, and it has always stuck with me; thanks to Youtube I can watch it again!

Because he was one of the biggest superstars in WWF history, Andre had a lot merchandise come out that used his likeness, and much of that came out via WWF itself and could be bought from their catalog like posters, magazines and the classic t-shirt with his red handprint on the front. LJN had three Andre The Giant figures come out for their WWF Wrestling Superstars series. One Andre had the afro hair, the next had short hair and the third was the bad Andre. Hasbro made an Andre The Giant action figure come out via their WWF line, and not to mention tons of other stuff like VHS tapes, trading cards, drinking glasses, DVDs and much more! My favorite Andre toy I owned was the short hair LJN figure that I would bring to school and win matches during the WWF events we would have at recess, a great figure with Andre’s good guy smile intact. So if you like Andre The Giant, there are some great collectibles out in the world for you.

Andre The Giant has also been in some video games, starting with WWF Wrestlemania for NES and even in the most recent WWE Game, WWE 2K15. Also Andre was in the arcade game WWF Superstars that had your team having to will a series of matches to take on Andre and Million Dollar Man to win the game. But the one I played the most was WWF Wrestlemania made by Acclaim in 1989 for the NES, and I must say Andre was one tough cookie to beat and Hulk Hogan was the only character that was able to slam him! One odd Andre The Giant in video games has to be the 2011 THQ game WWE All Stars where Andre was overdone as were all the wrestlers, who look like cartoon characters. So if you’re a gamer and like wrestling, there are many games out in the world that you can play as the one and only 8^th Wonder Of The World.

Before we get to the comic, I should also talk about the underground phenomenon known as Andre The Giant Has A Posse created by Shepard Fairely for the skateboarding culture and beyond as an experiment of phenomenology. Stickers, flyers and posters of Andre The Giant with the phrase Has A Posse began popping up in Rhode Island and then went around the USA and spread like wildfire. The craze went on for many years and even when WWF tried to sue over it, the stickering did not not slow down. Over the years the sticker has changed and now has a closer image of Andre’s face and instead of him having a posse, it now reads “Obey”. I can remember seeing these stickers around town when I was younger and always getting a chuckle from them.

So now that we have talked about Andre as a wrestler, actor, video game character and everything in between, I think we are ready to look at him as a bio comic character! I need to thank Mavericks for getting this graphic novel in stock for me and also should remind everyone that I will grade this on a standard 1-4 star rating and base it on how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So let’s lace up the boots and step into the ring with the 8^th Wonder of the World, Andre The Giant, and First Second Books.

Andre The Giant: Life And Legend *** Released in 2014 Cover Price $17.99 First Second Books #1 of 1

Andre lives in France and when he was 12 years old, he already was a giant and could not even ride the school bus and had to catch rides in the back of people’s pick up trucks. Years pass, and Andre just keeps growing and taking odd jobs around town. By the late 1960’s he became a pro wrestler in his homeland and became a major attraction cause of his large size. Andre leaves the European wrestling behind and heads to Japan to make a name for himself and then goes to Canada where he starts out as major star selling out events, but his attraction starts to run thin and he finds that fans are sick of seeing him. Andre goes to the United states and with the help of Verne Gagne and Vince McMahan Sr., he becomes a super star as they travel him around from territory to territory and make him unbeatable in some cases even beating two men at the same time! This also starts Andre’s run working for WWF, where he was one of the company’s top baby faces. But while things were looking good for Andre, around this time his health began to decline. He was drinking a lot, and he had many run-ins with fans and fellow wrestlers like Bad News Brown and Black Jack Mulligan outside the ring. During a feud with Big John Studd and Bobby The Brain Heenan, Andre takes some time off to get surgery on his back to release pressure and pain due to the fact his giantism disease is causing him to still grow, causing much pain in his joints and bones. During his time away from wrestling, Andre also takes a role in Princess Bride, and then he gets the call from Vince McMahan Jr. that he wants him to come back to WWF and be a bad guy and wrestle Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III! Andre comes back to wrestling and becomes one of the company’s biggest bad guys and is in pain but does so due to his friendship with Vince. Andre sticks around in the WWF for a while even after his feud with Hulk Hogan ends until his body just can’t take it any longer and the fans could see the pain in Andre’s face when he moved. Andre after WWF went to Japan one last time and did a few gimmick matches before his death in 1993.

The first thing I want to say about this comic/graphic novel is that the artwork is not what I would want for this style of comic, but it does hold a very Jason Young of Veggie Dog Saturn look to it so that makes it a little cooler. But while I feel the artwork is a little weak. I know many fellow comic readers who loved its style though. What makes the comic good for me is the fact that the story of Andre’s life is nicely wrapped up in a little 240 pages bundle and most of his life highlights are showcased. In fact my write up leaves some elements of his life out as I would really encourage you, if you’re a fan, to give this graphic novel a read. One thing I really enjoyed about this comic is that lots of it focused on Andre’s life outside the ring from his medical issues all the way to how he treated fans showing that while he was larger than life in the world of Pro Wrestling, he still was real person with issues. At times Andre comes off lovable, while other times he comes off a a jerk by being rude to his fans, starting fights at parties and even telling inappropriate jokes on the tour bus that cause drama among some of his fellow wrestlers. One thing I learned from this comic is that after leaving the WWF for the last time, he did a few matches in Japan and was in no shape to do so but did them for a paycheck. The book ends on a higher note with Andre on a plan playing poker against a fellow wrestler and only in a small paragraph mentions that he passed away from heart issues. This was the right way to end it as I feel to go all the way to his death would have really been a downer. It also has lots of humor like Andre watching Princess Bride with Terry Funk over and over again while Funk kept falling asleep! Box Brown did a fantastic job with this Bio-Comic, and I would love to see him do some more like it based on wrestlers like Macho Man Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior or even Big John Studd. Reading this made me very nostalgic and miss the days of classic wrestling. So if you’re a fan of independent bio comics or of Andre The Giant I would recommend checking this one out I am glad I did.

Even if you don’t like Pro Wrestling, or as it’s called now Sport Entertainment, you still have to respect the performers who go from town to town and entertain the crowds of people who pay to see them. Much like the Road Warriors, this update was one comic I was happy to bring to you, and I can safely say look for other wrestling-inspired comic updates in the future. One other thing I should bring up about Andre The Giant is that I remember when Hulk Hogan and Andre had to sign a rematch contract for Wrestlemania IV. With the encouragement of The Million Dollar Man, the 8^th Wonder Of The World used Hogan’s head as the stamp of approval and tipped a table over on him. Now that’s when wrestling was wrestling! Well our next update will take us out of the squared circle and into the woods along side comic strip icon Andy Capp. So with that I am going to end this update with Rest In Peace Andre The Giant, and thanks for all the memories.