12 Things We Learned From The Eighth Wonder Of The World: The True Story Of André The Giant

4. Jerry Lawler's Faux Win Over André

The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of Andre the Giant
WWE.com

While social media these days gives anybody on the planet the power to turn fiction into fact, back in the 1970s things were obviously vastly different, yet scarily similar.

Back on April 5, 1977 at the Louisville Gardens, Jerry Lawler faced off with André the Giant - and won!

Well, that's according to Lawler.

During those days, wrestling magazines were a vital tool in keeping wrestling fans up to date on what was happening across the various territories across the US and even internationally. And so, when the world saw a printed story pegged as "the night a midget defeated André the Giant", it was a truly shocking moment in wrestling history.

The midget in question was Jerry Lawler. Lawler, who for the sake of this story billed himself as 5'6", wrote to New York-based wrestling journalist Bill Apter to inform him that Jerry had managed to overcome the odds and somehow toss the Giant over the top rope on the way to a count-out victory for the future King of Memphis.

With these words backed up by images of the contest, Apter ran the story and caused huge controversy across the wrestling business. The thing is, the match itself didn't play out as Lawler was claiming. Instead of a count-out win for Jerry Lawler, that contest actually resulted in a DQ win for André after interference from Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condrey.

At this point in time, Lawler was trying to make the jump to superstardom and was far from being the huge name that he'd later become. And with the world under the impression his biggest star and biggest attraction had lost to a supposed midget, Vince McMahon Sr. was furious at the next NWA conference he attended - with McMahon having previously informed all promoters that André could never lose a singles match.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.