Forgotten Wrestlers - Big John Studd

Big John Studd is one professional wrestler that was forgotten and younger wrestling fans do not know much about him. His real name was John William Minton and was trained by well known legend of wrestling Killer Kowalski. Both of them started working together and Big John's first ever major title was the WWWF Tag Team title won in tag team with Kowalski. Both were then masked and members of a team called the Masked Executioners.

Big John Studd left the WWWF and eventually wrestled under different names like The Masked Superstar II, Captain USA and Chuck O'Connor. As time passed he had interesting feuds with Barry Windham, Sweet Brown Sugar and Dusty Rhodes. Some older wrestling fans will definitely remember his heel gimmick and the stretcher he brought to the ring. In 1982 Studd started a feud with NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and would eventually turn towards the WWF. That was when he started a huge feud with the WWF World Champion of the time, Hulk Hogan. In the WWF of the time we saw the wrestler managed by Bobby Heenan and we noticed one of the most memorable feuds of John Studd's career against Andre the Giant. There was a huge tag team match that showed Andre the Giant's hair being shaved after the match and the end of the feud was huge. Big John Studd offered $15,000 to anyone that could body slam him and this eventually led to a match between John Studd and Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania. The highlight was Andre body slamming Studd and claiming the money while also winning the match. The feud with Andre the Giant was probably the best feud that Big John Studd had in his wrestling career.

Big John Studd also participated in the well known Wrestlemania 2 Over the top Battle royal match. Studd set his focus on eliminating William Perry but eventually was eliminated by the professional football player, after the wrestler eliminated him. The winner of that Battle Royal was Andre the Giant. After this match and a tag team run with King Kong Bundy, Studd did not appear in the WWF for around 3 years. Big John returned to feud against members of the Heenan family and he eventually won the Royal Rumble of 1989. Unfortunately this was the most important moment of the wrestler's career. After serving as a special referee for the match between Andre the Giant and Jake "The Snake" Roberts at Wrestlemania V he started to take time off and eventually had to retire because of problems caused by taking growth hormones. Big John Studd eventually died because of Hodgkin's disease and liver cancer in 1995.

In conclusion, I would like to point out the ending of the famous Body Slam match against Andre the Giant at the first ever Wrestlemania! Enjoy!

Sting Vs Ric Flair in TNA?

A lot of people are hinting on the Internet that Flair will end up having a feud with Sting in TNA next year. As far as real information goes, Sting has a verbal agreement with TNA and nobody knows if he had signed a contract or if he will. Sting will surely not go to the WWE and this is safe enough for TNA management. Now Ric Flair does have a no compete contract with the WWE. This means he will not be able to compete until August 2009. Now you do realize that the chances of Ric Flair going to TNA are small, right? First off, we are talking about a WWE Hall of Famer. If he would compete in TNA it would be a major blow against WWE and this is well known. That would be exactly why they would try to bring in the wrestler with the biggest offer they could probably afford. Now I do not know if Flair has any interest in wrestling again. There is a big chance that he will not want this to happen. On the other hand we all remember the big matches against Sting and few people know that this one of the last matches in WCW was Flair vs Sting, a huge way to finish it all. We would all love to see such a feud in TNA but it will probably never happen and we need to be aware of this!

Ric Flair to write a second Autobiography?

Now this piece of news does sound pretty strange for me. It seems that The Nature Boy Ric Flair wants to write a second autobiography. An inside source said that Mark Madden will work on the project and it does seem like all is true. Why would a wrestler write a second autobiography? Shouldn't an autobiography be just one? I am sorry but this is how I see it. I just think it is one way for a legend wrestler to gain more money. I might be mistaken but hey, I am entitled to my own opinion.

Ric Flair versus Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 24

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Ric Flair had to end his career in style and this is what happened at Wrestlemania 24. He was inducted in the Hall of Fame of the WWE and got to wrestle against Shawn Michaels, the man that was chosen to end Ric Flair's career. There was no doubt about the fact that he was going to lose but what everyone wondered was how it was going to happen. We got to see a much better match than most people expected. Ric Flair delivered some interesting wrestling moves including a flying crossbody. The figure 4 leg lock did come into play of course, a lot of WOOOOOO chops, 2 moonsaults outside the ring by Michaels, a nice low blow by Ric Flair, Sweet Chin Music and a whole lot more. The end of the match was the one that was truly touching as Shawn Michaels delivered a second Sweet Chin Music to a stunned Flair. Prior to the finisher we could lip read Michaels saying "I'm sorry, I love you!" and then the move, the pin and Shawn near the body of Ric Flair looking destroyed of having ended Ric Flair's career. Then Ric Flair got up, looking at the crowd, everybody was applauding and he was almost crying. He probably did actually cry and you can only imagine what he felt since wrestling was his life and still is. His family was also ring side, one of his sons was crying. Ric Flair's career is truly huge and the ending was also huge, as it should have been. Congratulations Ric Flair and may your son be at least as successful as you were in the world of professional wrestling.