Il a ainsi inspiré le combat de Rocky Balboa1face à Apollo Creed dans Rocky. Unable to see, he was hurled onto the third base line by Sammartino. Thankfully, that match didn't last 15 rounds. The onslaught caused Andre to duck, release, and attempt a head butt from an almost Thai plum. During the third round, in a move highly recognizable to all Andre fans, the wrestler clearly headbutts his own hand, rather than Wepner’s skull. This all has the look and feel of a completely unscripted and chaotic occurrence, with tempers flaring across the board. While neither as famous nor infamous as its counterpart Ali vs. Inoki, Andre vs. Wepner rightfully deserves to hold a very high place in the history of mixed match fighting. On the restart, Andre moved forward and got double underhooks, which he then used to hit a fairly well executed lateral drop, landing in side control. On June 25th, 1976, Chuck Wepner took on Andre at Shea Stadium. Immediately after “Showdown” had concluded, the New York crowd of almost 33,000 were able to watch Ali vs. Inoki live on a three-sided video screen, placed on the baseball infield. The fight was a the headliner of the WWWF’s Showdown at Shea and was held in conjunction with the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki bout in Boduokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Ce combat devait être une formalité pour Mohamed Ali. Wepner attempt to defend by throwing his free right hand to Andre’s body. Absent was the big man grace that Andre exhibited so freely in this era during his pro wrestling matches. Rinse and repeat. The news media was seated on only three sides of the ring “so the wrestlers can have one side to fall out of,” according to an official. Last year, Wepner stated in an interview with entertainment writer David Onda, “We met at a hotel and we practiced some of the moves, because it is, you know, show business. A head butt that was the only suspicious looking blow of the bout led last night to the disintegration of Chuck Wepner, the boxer, at the huge hands of Andre the Giant, the wrestler. Over the course of the match’s seven minutes, 17 seconds, Wepner lands exactly one hook to Andre’s head from range, and it’s with his left hand. During the one minute rest period, McMahon did a live read for JVC as a still photo of the then state of the art Model 3050 combination TV/radio was shown. For those who cling to the belief that Andre vs. Wepner was a legitimate fight, the brawl which took place in the closing seconds and immediately after the bell sounded—and which moved from the Shea Stadium infield into the ring—is almost always cited. I edited my post to take that out. Cependant, Wepner perd ce combat lors du dernier round par K.O. I could beat him.”, Andre, though, who watched the Ali fight still wearing his shorts, and dripping with perspiration, contended, “I could have knocked him out in the first round, but he kept holding on to the ropes.”. It wasn't a shoot, it was pretty obviously worked. Andre then picked up Wepner as if plucking a tomato off the vine, walked to the ropes — and tossed Wepner out toward the pitcher's mound. Whereupon Andre, in a more than usually fell swoop, angrily snatched his smaller opponent into the air and pitched him forthwith over the topmost rope, ending the bout.”, In 1986, HBO included Andre vs. Wepner in their special “Son of the Not So Great Moments in Sports,” in which host Tim McCarver stated, “Without his normal script, Andre the Giant just went after Wepner.