The 9 Wrestlers Who Fought Both Andre The Giant and Giant Gonzalez in Singles Matches

Griffin Kaye

I was reading an old edition of the Wrestle Me! newsletter (exclusive to the Wrestle Me! Patreon) where writer Marc Haynes noted that Kuniaki Kobayashi may be one of the few wrestlers who fought both Andre the Giant and Giant Gonzalez. Upon reviewing this, newspaper writer and editor Marc Haynes noted that there were actually many wrestlers who had accomplished this feat. However, my research has provided results for just 9 wrestlers to have had one-on-one matches with both “The Eighth Wonder of the World” and El Gigante. 

Please note this list will only include those who have had SINGLES matches against BOTH men. There are a plethora of performers who stood on the opposite side of the ring with both men in multi-man matches, a list including (but not limited to): Michael P.S. Hayes, Arn Anderson, Stan Hansen, Cactus Jack, Harley Race, Bobby Eaton, Kevin Sullivan, Abdullah the Butcher, Matt Borne, Butch Reed, Jimmy Garvin, Dick Slater, and Dick Murdoch. These men will not be counted on this list.

*Much of the information in this piece is from Cagematch and wrestlingdata.com. These materials are the most complete and comprehensive resources, but may not document every match. Information used largely relies accessible on these sources for its reporting.

1. Moondog Rex

Moondog Rex, real name Randy Colley, was the first man to have singles matches with both men, completing the feat in July 1990. 

Colley had a long career in the industry, debuting in 1970 and competing across various southern territories such as Memphis, Georgia, and Houston. He perhaps had his best exposure during his time in the WWF as Moondog Rex as part of the team of ragged, wild mountain men.  

Rex shared the ring with Andre The Giant throughout their time together in the WWF in 1981. These primarily came in tag bouts, in which Andre teamed with a diverse collection of partners including Rick Martel, Pedro Morales, and Pat Patterson. However, their only singles match and their only televised bout was an August 1st sub-two-minute encounter at the Philadelphia Spectrum.  

Ironically, Andre would later feud with Rex’s one-time tag team, Demolition. 

As for Gonzalez, Colley was one of the Argentinian’s first opponents during his WCW run as El Gigante. Together, they had two dozen matches with Rex serving as enhancement talent, competing under his Moondog persona, and that of The Shadow and Dr. X. 

No doubt Colley was chosen as an experienced veteran who could sell for the big man and teach the amateur the ropes. 

2. Bill Irwin 

Bill Irwin’s unfortunate legacy is comparable to that of Terry Taylor, a terrifically talented territorial worker who was given a memorable and overshadowing gimmick. In Irwin’s case, he would become The Goon in the tawdry neon of the WWF’s New Generation Era. Ironically, in the year 2026, The Goon would probably get over massive (not only because the word ‘Goon’ has a very different meaning but a hockey gimmick would thrive in the wake of the popularity of ‘Heated Rivalry’ – a show with its own notable quantity of gooning).

Irwin’s one singles match with Andre The Giant took place in a TV taping in January 1982 in Big Time Wrestling (the future World Class Championship Wrestling) out of Texas. Footage, which exists on YouTube, shows an unshaven Andre defeating “Wild” Bill in short order, emerging victorious after the Frenchman delivered his famous sit-down splash. 

Irwin found himself as enhancement talent in 1990 WCW, which is where he would face El Gigante. Irwin had been used in the months prior to put over mid-card performers including Terry Taylor and Tommy Rich at WCW supercards prior to entering the ring against Gigante at a November 1990 house show in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

3. Ric Flair 

In 1990, ex-basketball player Jorge Gonzalez made his first pro wrestling appearance, debuting at the Capitol Combat pay-per-view to save Sting from a Four Horsemen beatdown. Joining the babyface Dudes with Attitudes group against Flair’s men, the two shared the ring with “The Nature Boy” on 49 different occasions, often in multi-man tag matches. 

They had two dozen solo bouts from February through June 1991, all matches for Flair’s world title. Often ending with a Gigante winning via disqualification, the two fought in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, New Jersey, Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Iowa, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In his book, Flair called Gigante “completely awkward” to wrestle, with WrestleCrap adding: “to all those who say Flair can carry anyone, I give you the Flair-El Gigante matches.” 

As two of the most prolific workers of the 1970s and ‘80s, Flair and Andre faced off several times throughout the year, the first being in the AWA in 1972. However, they only ever had two one-on-one bouts. 

The first was in 1977 in Mid-Atlantic, in which Andre The Giant challenged Flair for the United States title during the first of his six title reigns. Andre won by DQ, meaning Flair retained the belt. Their second encounter was in February 1983 in Florida where Andre challenged for Ric’s NWA World Heavyweight title. This time, the match ended in a double count-out. 

4. One Man Gang 

Two giants of the ring, El Gigante was an obvious rival for One Man Gang when he signed on with WCW in 1991. 

This feud was prompted when Gang and ally Kevin Sullivan launched an attack on the Argentinian after a match against Sid Vicious at the SuperBrawl PPV. They became common house show opponents and fought in steel cage matches and a notable Loser Leaves Town vs Hair match at the Omni, after which the duo shaved Gigante’s head. 

They had a PPV match at the Great American Bash 1991, which Gigante won with a clothesline to the back as Gang was incapacitated by a face full of powder. The match was described by Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer as “really bad”; he gave minus one-and-a-half stars.  

OMG had previously shared the ring with Andre on two solo occasions. The first was in 1983 for Jack Tunney’s Maple Leaf Wrestling and the second was the next year at a High School Gym in Homestead for Championship Wrestling from Florida.  

They more famously teamed up and were the last two heels in the main event of the first-ever Survivor Series PPV in 1987. 

5. Larry Zbyszko 

Zbyszko was another worker whose popularity in the 1980s allowed him to continue into the ‘90s, seen as a steady hand to work with younger and more inexperienced talent. 

Zbyszko and Andre only shared the ring in the late ‘70s when Zbyszko was a meat-and-potatoes babyface. The two most often teamed up, taking on teams like The Executioners and The Valiant Brothers.  

Their one and only singles match took place in Japan in 1979 as a part of New Japan’s Madison Square Garden Series. The four-minute match in Aomori could not be that memorable since Zbyszko told The Hannibal TV that he and Andre never had a one-on-one match. 

After a legendary and lucrative feud with mentor-turned-rival Bruno Sammartino in 1980, Zbyszko found himself in WCW in the early 1990s. Here, he had success in both the Dangerous Alliance and with Arn Anderson in the Enforcers. 

On New Year’s Day 1992, he wrestled El Gigante in a singles bout, which the lanky lumberer won in under five minutes. Just days earlier at Starrcade, the two had formed an unlikely and unsustainable impromptu as part of that year’s BattleBowl contest. 

6. Tito Santana 

(Photo courtesy of WWE.com)

As two of the most prevalent babyfaces of the WWF, Andre and Santana were common tag partners during the late ‘70s and early-mid ‘80s, tagging together at MSG shows. They also paired up during a brief excursion in New Japan. 

By 1988 however, Andre had turned to the dark side after his famous heel turn on Hulk Hogan the previous year. By this point, Andre – perhaps the biggest heel in the world – was severely limited, and Santana was a strong worker and reliable performer who could sell and guide Andre to a competent match. They had two bouts during a tour of Italy, fighting in Milan and Rome on successive dates. 

Footage does exist of both matches, with Andre winning by sitting down during a sunset flip attempt during the first bout and winning the second via an elbow drop. 

Santana’s one and only Giant Gonzalez match took place under a different gimmick. Prior to their match in February 1993 at the San Diego Sports Arena, Santana had ditched the white tights and mullet for green tights, a pink and yellow rag, and slicked-back ponytail when he became “El Matador”. Their match took place during a mass Wrestling Challenge TV taping. 

7. Kamala  

The 400-pound “Ugandan Giant” was perhaps the most famous fellow giant Andre ever tussled with.  

They first wrestled in 1983. Although they had a rocky start to their relationship, with Andre allegedly using racist remarks towards Kamala, leading to him pulling a gun on the Frenchman, after that incident, the two had an amicable working partnership. 

Their first major solo bout was in April 1983 at one of Mid-South’s Superdome Extravaganza shows, competing in front of 21,400 fans. During their feud under Bill Watts, a notable spot saw Kamala effortlessly pick up and slam Andre. 

They also competed against one another in the WWF in 1984. Their most memorable encounter was a steel cage match at the Maple Leaf Gardens. During the match, Andre hit a top-rope sit-down splash, a clip often used in Andre compilation pieces. 

Prior to a Raw taping on March 22nd 1993, Kamala lost to new WWF star Giant Gonzalez, preparing for his WrestleMania IX match with The Undertaker. The dark match took place shortly before a taped match in which Kamala lost to Doink, meaning Kamala suffered losses to two jokes in clown costumes!  

8.  Randy Savage 

Just one day after his match against Kamala, Gonzalez had the first of several occasions throughout 1993. 

Their house show encounters were always inconclusive, ending with disqualifications, similar to their encounter during a WWF Superstars taping. Their most consequential encounter was on WWF on TSN, in which Savage beat Gonzalez in less than two minutes in a rare pinfall loss for Gonzalez. The billed 8-foot monster fell out with manager Harvey Wippleman at the time and attacked him after the match, after having distracted him and thus cost him the match. 

“The Macho Man” faced off numerous times, most famously being the tag main event at the first SummerSlam in 1988.  

In singles bouts, the two wrestled in dark matches for Savage’s WWF belt (which he won from Andre ally Ted DiBiase in a title tournament after the championship was vacated when Andre awarded it to the “Million Dollar Man”) at Superstars tapings, ending in DQs or count-outs. They also had a house show match at Madison Square Garden for the belt. 

Their biggest match was at Saturday Night’s Main Event #18 in front of 15,900 fans in Sacramento. The match, as expected, was also inconclusive, with a Jake Roberts run-in causing a DQ and the segment ended with Andre narrowly escaping Damien’s clutches. 

9. Jerry Lawler 

(Photo courtesy of TheSportster)

The final man to fight both men was Memphis legend Jerry “The King” Lawler. 

His match with Andre The Giant in 1977 at the Louisville Gardens is the most famous, more so for its aftermath than its contents. In the match, Lawler defeated “The Eighth Wonder” by count-out in a result orchestrated to attract maximum publicity. 

After the result, magazine owner Bill Apter ran the next edition of Wrestling Superstars with the headline “The Night A Midget Beat Andre The Giant”, while showing pictures of the 7-footer towering over “The King”. The reputational damage infuriated Vince McMahon Sr., the foremost booker of Andre, who called out Lawler, landing the Memphis promoter in hot water with the elder McMahon in one of their few business dealings, according to Lawler’s autobiography.  

In 1993, Lawler wrestled Giant Gonzalez during an oft-forgotten angle in which WWF stars like Randy Savage, Tatanka, and Koko B. Ware won the promotion’s Unified World title. Another top-flight name was Bret Hart, Lawler’s WWF rival who was a face in the WWF but a heel in Memphis. 

During a steel cage match at the Caged Kings event in August, Gonzalez interfered to aid Hart defeat “The King” but missed, and Lawler was able to get the pinfall. Nonetheless, Gonzalez left Lawler unconscious with a chokeslam as the heels stood tall. This prompted two matches between Lawler and Gonzalez, house show bouts Lawler won by DQ.