THE GIANT!

The Giant originally joined WCW in 1995, supposedly as the son of the late Andre the Giant (they are really of no relation)...entered WCW as a member of Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom, and feuded immediately with Hulk Hogan...the Giant tossed Hogan the white shirt he was wearing at 1995's Beach Blast pay-per-view...Hogan said the shirt was Andre's...had a long feud with Hogan, which continued off and on until Hogan went on hiatus from WCW...became known for dominating opponents with his dreaded chokeslam finisher, and was given a huge push by WCW... beat Ric Flair for the WCW title on WCW Monday Nitro in early 1996... upon Hogan's return and founding of the NWO, the Giant was billed as the man to lead WCW against the group...wrestled Hogan at the 1996 WCW Hog Wild pay-per-view, and lost the world title to Hogan after interference by the Outsiders...after the loss, Randy Savage claimed he "dropped the ball"...was rumored to be leaving WCW to sign with the WWF, which of course proved false... shockingly, the Giant turned against the Dungeon of Doom and joined the NWO on a summer Monday Nitro broadcast...never really explained why he joined, however, as he was interrupted by Hogan repeatedly while trying to give a speech at the end of the Nitro program... the portion of the speech he delivered said he was influenced by the money of Hogan, Ted DiBiase and the NWO...as an NWO member, the Giant was mostly relegated to the role of henchman, thug and occasional ring announcer...rarely wrestled, though he feuded with Lex Luger and faced him on several pay-per-view cards...was noted for chokeslamming Luger through a table on a live Nitro broadcast earlier in the year... claimed possession of the U.S. title after Ric Flair was attacked by the NWO...though the title was declared vacant by WCW, the Giant would not return the belt and claimed he was the rightful champion...won the 60-man elimination match at World War 3, simultaneously eliminating Luger and fellow NWO member, Kevin Nash...at Starrcade 1996, lost in his match against Luger...the announcers speculated that the loss was due to the lack of more NWO members at ringside to assist him... Hogan claimed he once again "dropped the ball," though Hogan himself lost his match that night against Roddy Piper...on the 12/30/96 Nitro, the Giant became the first member to turn against the NWO by failing to chokeslam Roddy Piper and attacking Hogan...was in turn attacked by nearly the entire NWO, and had his NWO t-shirt ripped off his back...failed to beat Hogan at the original NWO Souled Out after the NWO attacked him and spray painted him...began teaming with Lex Luger, and the two feuded with the Outsiders Hall and Nash...the Giant and Luger beat the Outsiders for the belts at Superbrawl VII, but the titles were returned after Eric Bischoff would not recognize the victory...after this incident the Giant remained one of the biggest enemies of the New World Order for the next full year...began a huge feud with Kevin Nash over who was the "true Giant" in WCW...was dropped on his head by Nash at the second Souled Out PPV (supposedly an intentional act by Nash), causing the ban of the jackknife in WCW...as the Giant/Nash feud escalated, internal strife began surfacing in the NWO, eventually causing Nash to split from the core group of the NWO as leader of an NWO faction called the "Wolfpac"...shockingly, the Giant once again joined the NWO on the 5/11/98 Nitro as a supporter of Nash's arch-ememy, Hollywood Hogan, and the reason for this was because of the Giant's bitter feelings for Nash...a true power-player in the sport of professional wrestling, the re-joining of the Giant into the NWO has given a major boost to the power of Hollywood Hogan's faction in the Nash/Hogan NWO split. Back To Raven's Page