#74 – Andre the Giant v Stan Hansen, September 23, 1981
HUUUUUUUUUUUUU! Hope you don’t want potatoes for dinner, because we used them all up in this match and we take a look at the sad, sad story of Crusher Blackwell.
This episode has been archived in the Season 2 digital box set available for $9.99 at the OSWP Merch Store!
Is it me or is this era Andre, cast as a heel in NJPW, ten times scarier than his WWF heel turn in the mid-’80s? HE IS SLAPPING FANS IN THEIR FACES AS HE’S WALKING INTO THE RING! He ENTERS THE RING with one of his finishing moves! Great moves from both of these guys in this match; excellent choice.
Absolutely. Andre with any sort of agility is far more terrifying than an Andre i could easily run away from.
Dre and the Black Cat-ster:
In reference to the article read at the end of the podcast, I found two possible places Crusher Blackwell must of been walking to (being from Minnesota, I had easy sources [along with being in St. Cloud, I live a few blocks from downtown, I should know these places]),
St. Petersburg, Minnesota: the St. Petersburg Restaurant and Vodka Bar
http://www.yelp.com/biz/st-petersburg-restaurant-and-vodka-bar-robbinsdale
St. Cloud, Minnesota: the Red Carpet
http://www.yelp.com/biz/red-carpet-nightclub-saint-cloud#query:the%20Red%20Carpet
Wanted to share these links, too, if you guys ever make it to Minnesota and wanted to find what possible places Blackwell waddled to, these may be the places.
And a fellow Minnesotan, we all waddle (well, majority) when we’re tired and not feeling well. I was waddling while at work tonight listening to episode 74, being tired and sad for Blackwell. If I ever see him after work one night, I’ll flag him down and bring him in, and share road stories.
P.S.: number 75 is around the corner! Can’t wait for another two weeks!
Eric, there is no St. Petersburg, MN. That place you linked to is in Robbinsdale. Where Rude, Nikita, Hennig, Flapjack Nord and all the rest are from.
There is a St. Peter, MN, home to both a college and the state security hospital. Hopefully Crusher Jerry wasn’t going either of those places.
My best bet is that Jerry, as a true southern boy (from GA), he would be walking toward some fried chicken establishment. Probably Skinner’s or the Coop in St. Paul. Not a long way from the Civic Center.
Good episode fellas. I sometimes feel like “young Andre” is given too much credit just for being able to put one foot in front of the other. I love Stan Hansen though. The story of him running over the AWA belt with his truck then sending it to Verne is one of my favorites.
I’m curious as to why you hope he’s not going to St. Peter’s to attend the university? And a state security hospital sounds like where they possibly found Norman the Lunatic. I’m going to agree with you on the chicken places. Good research.
Young Andre gets all the attention he wants. I suspect we’ll talk about Stan again. The truck story is awesome.
I’d be afraid of the havoc he’d cause in the dining hall as well as all the coed hearts he’d be breaking.
My former roommate:
When I Googled “St. Petersburg, MN,” that link was the first link that popped up. Just like the opening of the podcast, my facts aren’t always correct. 🙂 Thanks for having my back when we lived together and thanks for having my back on the boards!
The bigger question is what would’ve Crusher’s Yelp review been if they wouldn’t have given him a table?
And again, he’s dead, so I hope you don’t see him.
In words of one of the “best” play-by-play men that the WWE has had…: “Anything’s possible in the World Wrestling Federation!” 😀
Loved the Crusher Blackwell story. No better example of how the Apter mags would just make up stories and plaster them all over the cover as news. And I ate it up as a kid. Now I just go for the PWI 500 and the Year End Awards.
I still check them out at the store when I see them. Sadly my grocery store stopped carrying PWI last year.
I actually got a subscription purely because it costs the same as the two or three issues a year I would buy at the store, and the rest I cut up for pictures. Haven’t figured out what to do with the shoeboxes full of wrestling photos I cut, but when I do I’ll be all set.
Let us know what you figure out. I recommend a dark, shameful corner in the basement like I have for my wrestling paraphernalia.
Hah! I actually have the boxes in my basement right now, along with most of my wrestling figures, and most of my wrestling cards. But it’s purely because I just moved (3 months ago) and haven’t quite finished unpacking yet.
On a side note, I ordered the Special Edition Box set of the first 50 episodes, even though I had already downloaded them. Love the packaging and the artwork, and I can’t wait to hear the bonus episodes.
New opening theme! What show was it from?
This match wasn’t hardcore? This is the true hardcore!
I’ve been saying all along that Andre used to awesome!
I love Dre’s Andre impression.
Hey! The Honeycomb cereal commercial was missing “Andre’s” singing part.
No Listener feedback? Denied!
Where was the last bit where Andre’s fishing from?
The theme was from Starrcade 86!
Bummed I didn’t know it wasn’t the full Honeycomb commercial…that was all I found on YouTube.
Here’s Andre fishing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUX2V_FgSHg
First time since I was a little kid , soda came out through my nose when you all started talking about the kid shooting 10 feet in the air and landing head first in the sand! Great show!
I watched the match, and holy jeebus. They just beat each other up. I mean, I guess there were a few spots that weren’t stiff, but 95 percent of it was. Just a brutal match, and one of Andre’s best.
Another stellar show today, gents!! The Crusher Blackwell story was classic!! I “marked out” each month to the “Apner Mags”, if you will! The second Tuesday of each month would find me in eager anticipation for the latest “Wrestler”, “Inside Wrestling”, “Ben Strong”, etc. waiting for Rich’s Pharmacy to get them, so I could spend the next couple days revelling in the wrestling that I never saw in WWWF country. Why, I even sent results from the Spectrum to be published in PWI! Great stuff!! Like me, did you wonder why Blackwell didn’t file some sort of suit against the Twin Cities Auto Mechanics Association for not fixing his car? Or the police for taking their sweet time in removing his fat bulbus body from being lodged in the trunk? What a dummy! Take care + thanks again!!!
Atomic Elbow should commission Box Brown to portray the sad, sad story of Crusher Blackwell in comic strip form.
I approve of this suggestion!
I just plagiarized that Crusher Blackwell story for my creative writing night class and got a D+. Thanks a lot guys.
Then your creative writing instructor needs to get their head out of their ass and redefine their idea of classic literature.
Try the Virgil story next time, should get a few tears.
Loved the Crusher Blackwell story & also endorse seeing his story illustrated in the pages of Atomic Elbow.
I saw Blackwell vs. Stan Hansen in Oakland for the AWA belt.(Same match where my friend & I threw ice & cups at Colonel DeBeers). Hansen was one of the scariest people I’ve ever been in a 5 ft. radius of. (Manute Bol doesn’t really count). He was wildly throwing his cow bell adorned bullrope around and spitting his chewin’ tobaccy around. Makes me wonder what BBQ joint Blackwell visited in Oakland or maybe he took a detour at Chez Painsse? http://www.chezpanisse.com/about/chez-panisse/
Not only could Andre do a full on “slobber knocker” match, be a pitchman for Honey Comb but he could also be the comic relief on a French sitcom. http://youtu.be/Ilqe-Uf6qbE In this show, Andre plays the role of a Monsieur Petite who’s hired to fix stuff around the house.
Thanks for this, a classic match I had never seen.
I’m going to watch it again with beer and muscle relaxers in true 1980’s wrestling fashion.