10 Good Matches From Wrestlers You Wouldn't Expect
1. André The Giant (Vs Stan Hansen) - NJPW 1981
André was a star attraction everywhere he went, a rare spectacle crowds would pay just to see. By the time of his fabled clashes with Hulk Hogan in the mid-80s, he was becoming immobile and incapable of wrestling for long stretches at a time. Most fans who watched him today know him only as a lumbering exhibit first, professional wrestler second.
But the Eight Wonder of the World was a legitimate beast in the ring in his heyday. One of his matches from NJPW in 1981 pitted him against ruthless hard man Stan Hansen and the two of them took the occasion as license to beat the bejeesus out of each other.
The hefty Hansen looked like a middleweight in a match that showed what a genuinely frightening sight a fully capable André could be.
The ending, with ring workers flooding the ring and André going full Godzilla on everyone present, is exactly the kind of pure chaos needed to establish André as larger than life in every dimension.