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WRESTLER OF THE DAY: KING KONG BUNDY


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My initial thought when seeing this is how the hell did Andre/Bundy go nearly 20 minutes in 1985?

 

Then I sat through the endless head scissors sequence and it all made sense.

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King Kong Bundy did an indie show in the Philly burbs in 1996. i went with two of my buddies. I also was putting together a fanzine an interviewed Bundy. In this interview, he said Andre's last match was with him and Andre died a few months later, largely because of the injuries he sustained. I also interviewed "Iron" Mike Sha rpe about being Canada's Greatest Athlete. My buddy sampled his response in a song that I no longer have a copy of.

My brother also wormed his way into being a manager at a show at Seton Hall University a few years after that fact -- some friends of ours were somehow tied into it. My brother's managerial debut was absolutely insane and terrific. My brother was managing some dude in his first match. The kid started having a major anxiety attack backstage. First, the money mark who put this thing together -- the son of an auto detailer from Newark, NJ -- decided to do some evil boss Mr. McMahon/Bischoff rip-off and his promo, as it was, went for like 30 minutes. Before the match, when they were putting it together, the opponent of my brother's "client" gave my brother crap for being an untrained dude and threatened his life if the end spot got messed up.

The end spot was supposed to be my brother hitting this dude with a cane (my brother was "White Magic" who was a nerdy pimp, naturally) leading to his demise. My brother missed his cue completely because he was trying to get heel heat from our friends, and then had to turn around as this dude was hung in the ropes waiting for it. My brother then tapped this dude with the cane with the intensity of Michael Cera booping Jonah Hill on the nose near the end of SuperBad. Dude sold it like he had been put down with a rifle. It was so, so, so great.

Afterwards, some (worked) brawl happened with some factions that got formed. Someone whipped my brother into the large cafeteria-style table that was put upright to serve as a wall for the locker room. (Oh yes, this took place in a college dining hall.) The table got knocked over and scraped Bundy's toes. A few inches more, and this thing would have seriously hurt and possibly killed King Kong Bundy. My brother then spent the rest of the night apologizing to King Kong Bundy.

Bundy's match ended the show. It wasn't supposed to. He was taking on some jobber tag team in a handicap match. They did a double dropkick spot that led to him taking a back bump. The power of his back bump set off the fire alarm and sprinkler system, so everyone fled at once -- workers included, since I imagine they made sure they got paid ASAP.

Truly two of the most memorable nights of my life.

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Truly two of the most memorable nights of my life.

Yes, it made for one helluva story.

 

I never liked King Kong Bundy, for whatever reason. Considered him kinda vanilla. Would probably like him now. Did he ever get to be one of the dudes who put Hogan out for seven months while Hogan went off to film another crappy movie?

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They should redo the Lawler/Bundy $ angle with Rusev and a lower card WWE guy. Perfect way to get one over on a monster, without said monster having to lose or look too vulnerable. The look on Lana's face as Zack Ryder won another thousand roubles by running out of the ring and hiding would be well worth it.

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Back in the 80/90s I always assumed Bundy was an old dude, I was surprised when I found out he wasnt that old!

 

I always liked him going up against other big dudes. Here he is vs. Bam Bam Bigelow, which is a good little sprint for 2 big dudes.. Love the first bump he takes and Bigelow's cartwheel in celebration!  Bundy's facial expressions were always great.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBZg8b_OZTQ

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Any opinions on Bundy in Japan? Not that he was some amazing wrestler over there or anything.

 

KING KONG BUNDY IN NEW JAPAN 1985

 

1/11/85 Bundy, Wild Samoan vs. Antonio Inoki, Kengo Kimura
1/18/85 Bundy vs. Seiji Sakaguchi
1/25/85 Bundy vs. Tatsumi Fujinami
2/1/85 Bundy vs. Hulk Hogan
2/8/85 Bundy vs. Antonio Inoki
2/15/85 Bundy vs. Antonio Inoki
5/31/85 Bundy, Adrian Adonis, Dick Murdoch vs. Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura
7/19/85 Bundy, Bruiser Brody vs. Antonio Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi
7/26/85 Bundy, Bruiser Brody vs. Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami

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Bundy was great on Married With Children.

 

Yeah.  Couldn't find the 80s ep with him as Peggy's uncle, but here's ten minutes of the one from the 90s where he faces Bud in a squash match.

 

 

About 15 years or so ago, Bundy was on an indy show in town. When there was a chinlock spot, and it was silent, I yelled out "Hey! Uncle Irwin! Are you gonna put your head through the TV again?". Without missing a beat, Bundy looked in my direction, and yelled back "If you're good!"

 

At that point, Earth could have exploded. My life was complete.

 

Also this:

 

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Should i (re)tell my story of when KKB yelled at me at an MCW for accurate timekeeping?

 

Hells yeah, I wanna hear it.  Anytime one of these WOTDs is someone I know, I sure as hell love re-telling tired old stories that everyone else has gotten sick of hearing.  I don't have any stories here, except for once trying to find in my tape collection footage of King Kong Bundy matches that I could give to a local promoter who had television and was bringing in Bundy for a one-shot; I found in those pre-youtube days that my options were embarrassingly limited to the Wrestlemania cage match and a buncha jobs to Jake Roberts.  

 

 

Good looking offense

 

Well, supposedly that's one reason why he didn't go further: Bundy was stiff.  He didn't give a shit about his opponent's safety for the most part, he just wanted to get himself over.  

 

Bundy also wins the award for "least memorable Streak victory ever".  

 

I was randomly watching shit on Youtube, and this entertained me in a Kmart sort of way.  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYoW7aVS3lMm

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Looking around to find the full card for that show, I did find that Bundy worked USWA twice in 1994.. including a Sid/Spike Huber v. Jeff Gaylord/Bundy MSC main event. Followed by Sid/Huber v. Lawler/Bundy.

 

So there's presumably 1994 interviews of face King Kong Bundy out there

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