The Oldest Giants Take on Miracle Violence Connection

Andre the Giant/Giant Baba vs. Steve Williams/Terry Gordy AJPW 11/21/90 - GREAT

ER: I loved this, a great Broken Old Giants performance, a manic Dr. Death performance as the smallest man in the match, and a great disrespectful young punk MVC performance. I love the Andre/Baba team: two kindred old broken giants, the only sympathetic team of giants I recall seeing. Every stage of old Andre has different distinctions and different joys. Here he was still "limber" enough to enter and exit the ring over the top rope. I've said before that Andre, even at his most broken, understood how to use his current physical condition to tell small stories in a match. Baba was still limber enough to throw a fast side Russian legsweep and get dropped on his shoulders by a crazy Gordy brainbuster, and seeing the novel ways that Baba and Andre use their declining physicality is always impressive to me. Opposite them was Dr. Death, opening the match getting his leg worked over by Baba (you try not smiling when you see Baba throwing leg kicks while Doc hops around selling them), and I appreciated the combination of overly reverential selling and asshole behavior we got from MVC. 

Doc and Gordy develop a pretty great strategy midway through and kind of trick Andre into expending a lot of extra energy, making him get into and out of the ring to save Baba and dragging Baba to the floor for a beating far across the side of the ring Andre was stationed. It's great psychology to work around the Giants' physical limitations, and it only played into the sympathy when they wisely realized how long an Andre rescue would take. Williams was really fun against Andre, squirting past him like a man escaping The Mummy and getting knocked around when he gets snared. Andre threw hard chops, a ton of headbutts, and those cool short right hands that look like getting hit in the head with a telephone. 

There's an incredible moment where Williams escapes Andre's corner onslaught and gets a slick go behind, and we get to actually think that we are about witness the craziest German suplex possible. Andre is holding onto the top rope for dear life while Doc is pulling and pulling with all his might, arms locked around Andre's waist in a deep squat, butt nearly touching the mat. Later Doc snags Baba in a bearhug, and it's one of the most bizarre pro wrestling visuals I've seen. Dr. Death was just holding Baba in a bearhug without Baba's boots touching the mat. The coolest, weirdest shaped man in pro wrestling was being held like a long fragile baby, size 19 boots just dangling over Dr. Death's' legs like a comically large ventriloquist dummy's. The moment goes from surreal to Great Pro Wrestling as Baba starts pulling at Williams' hair and throwing hard overhand Baba chops to break the hold. The hold does start to break, and we realize that if the hold breaks then Baba still goes crashing to the mat. And he does, and Williams falls into his guard. 

As gracious as Williams and Gordy were on selling, there was still a lot of doubt about who was winning this match. It's possible to show ass for a couple old guys while still being a threat to those old guys. Andre and Baba went on to win every match of the Real World Tag League, which rules, but man Baba took a brainbuster so who knows how these old Giants might get wrecked. I thought the end was coming when Andre got tangled in the ropes, and I don't know if we have tape of anybody knocking Andre into the ropes harder than Doc and Gordy did here. The MVC hit Andre with a tandem shoulderblock that would have sent Andre to his sure death if the ropes couldn't be trusted. It's kind of amazing that I can't recall Andre ever breaking a ring rope, because this man has as much unceasing trust in ropes as Big Boss Man. Even during the era where he was having difficulties moving in the ring, he always maintained control over his movement. 

When Doc and Gordy slam into him it looks like Andre gets knocked so hard that the ropes actually save him. It's a great "Andre in the ropes", capped off with the always great moment where he powers to his feet. When I wrote earlier about Andre being so great at using his current physical condition and working it into his matches, I loved how Andre sold the wear and tear after being caught in the ropes, exiting the ring through the middle ropes instead of over the top. It was the only time in the entire match that he didn't go over the top rope when tagging in or out, and I like that he went back to the apron he looked like a defeated giant. The Giants pull out a really fun finish, with Doc taking a big bump to the floor after getting decked by Andre, and Gordy running face first into Baba's big boot in the corner before getting hooked by Baba's flying clothesline, Andre kicking Dr. Death in the ribs as Death is scrambling over the bottom rope for the save. Nothing compares to the specific joys the Andre/Baba team bring me. Each match I watch always just makes me want to watch another. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE ANDRE THE GIANT