Big John Studd as he would eventually be known, was born on February 19th, 1948, in Butler, Pennsylvania. He started training to be a professional wrestler under Walter Killer Kowalski at the age of 18. He first worked for the WWF (then the WWWF) under the name Chuck OConnor, then as one of the Masked Executioners in 1976, leading to a Tag Team Title reign. He later went to Texas and became the masked Captain America, feuding with Fritz Von Erich, Stan Hansen, and Andre the Giant. It was in Texas that he picked up the Big John Studd moniker. Later, he moved to Jim Crocketts Mid Atlantic territory where he feuded with Greg Valentine and fellow giant Blackjack Mulligan (Bob Windham). He retired from wrestling in the late 70s, but was talked into coming back as Ron Reis tag team partner in The Giants tag team. He went to the AWA but was generally unhappy there. In the mid 80s the WWF, under Vince McMahon Jr. took off, and Studd was along for the ride. He was always near the top of the card, feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan and teaming with Ken Patera to cut off Andres hair. In his most famous match, he took on Andre in a 15,000 dollar bodyslam challenge at the first _Wrestlemania (1985)_. He retired again from pro wrestling, and got himself some acting gigs, including Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991). Falling off a motorcycle while filming this movie and frequent steroid use probably both accelerated his Hodgkins Disease. Studd learned he had the disease in 1993 right after collapsing after his last match, against the Honky Tonk Man (Wayne Farris). He spent 20 weeks in the hospital in 1994 (during which time he admitted under oath that he used steriods in the 80s during the WWFs steroid trial), and died from liver cancer on March 20th, 1995. He was 47 years old and left behind a wife and three children, John Jr., Janelle and Sean. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous Spouse (1) Donna Conklin (1978 - 20 March 1995) (his death) (3 children) Trade Mark (4) Trademark move: Backbreaker Trademark move: Butterfly Suplex Trademark move: Heart Punch Trademark move: Reverse Bearhug Trivia (17) Wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation. He was one of the wrestlers featured in the cartoon series Hulk Hogans Rock N Wrestling (1985-198?), though he did not provide his own voice. Inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame on May 21st, 1995.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 12:57:41 +0000
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