King Kong Bundy

Christopher Alan Pallies (November 7, 1957 – March 4, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, stand-up comedian and actor better known by his wrestling gimmick and ring name, King Kong Bundy.

Under this gimmick, he portrayed a pugnacious, trash-talking villain character.

Christopher Alan Pallies was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, on November 7, 1957, to Donald Pallies, a railroad freight agent, and Margret (McCarthy) Pallies, a department store clerk.

He attended Washington Township High School in Sewell, New Jersey, graduating in 1973.

He had two sisters and three brothers.

While in high school, Pallies wrestled heavyweight on the wrestling team.

He won two regional titles.

His brother Jeff, also a member of the wrestling team, later wrestled for Glassboro State, now known as Rowan University.

He was a two-time Metro Conference champion.

Pallies was trained to wrestle by Larry Sharpe at the "Monster Factory" in Bellmawr, New Jersey.

He appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s and wrestled in the main event of WrestleMania 2 in 1986, facing Hulk Hogan in a steel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

He debuted on March 7, 1981, wrestling for the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name "Chris Canyon".

His first victory was against Strong Kobayashi in WWF on July 10, 1981.

In the early years of his career, he also used the name "Chris Cannon".

In 1982, Pallies relocated to Texas, where he joined the World Class Championship Wrestling.

He was developed by the Von Erich family as the babyface "Big Daddy Bundy" (after Shirley Crabtree's "Big Daddy" moniker), wearing blue jeans with a rope belt, but turned heel following a dispute with the Von Erich Family, and was recruited by "Playboy" Gary Hart and dramatically reintroduced as "King Kong Bundy", with the "Big Daddy" portion of his moniker replaced by the name of cinematic monster, King Kong, wearing the black singlet for the first time to signify his change.

He lost his hair during the feud, adding to his signature look.

Bundy was Fritz Von Erich's opponent for Fritz's 1982 retirement match at the Fritz Von Erich Retirement Show held at the Texas Stadium.

He also competed in various territories such as the American Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance.

He also had a tendency to demand a five-count (as opposed to the usual three count) for pinfalls whenever he dominated his opponent in a squash match, a gimmick he began while wrestling for Mid-South Wrestling.

During this time Bundy also wrestled in Memphis often teaming with Rick Rude and Jim Neidhart against opponents such as Jerry Lawler.

After making a few appearances on New Japan Pro-Wrestling/World Wrestling Federation joint shows in early 1985, Bundy officially debuted in the WWF on the March 16, 1985 airing of WWF Championship Wrestling, defeating Mario Mancini.

First managed by Jimmy Hart, he was immediately pushed with dominating victories over all of his opponents.

Bundy also reprised his gimmick of demanding a five-count from the referee while pinning an opponent, to show how badly he had beaten his hapless opponent.

He defeated S. D. Jones in what was announced as only nine seconds at the first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden (it was actually about 17 seconds).

In September 1985, Hart traded Bundy to manager Bobby Heenan in exchange for Adrian Adonis and The Missing Link.

After joining the Heenan Family, Bundy feuded extensively with André the Giant, a feud which started during an angle where Bundy interfered in one of André's matches and delivered several splashes, giving the Giant a broken sternum.

They feuded for several months, including a pair of tag team matches on Saturday Night's Main Event II and III in late 1985, where Bundy, and André's other nemesis, Big John Studd, first faced André and Tony Atlas and then André and WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan.

On September 23, 1985, Bundy faced André the Giant at Madison Square Garden in a match billed as "the Colossal Jostle".

André dominated the match, with the match ending after Big John Studd came from the locker rooms to Bundy's aid and attacked the Giant, causing a disqualification.

Bundy also began targeting Hogan and the WWF World Championship in late 1985.

At Saturday Night's Main Event V, Hogan was dominating challenger the Magnificent Muraco when Bundy (with Heenan in tow) ran to ambush Hogan.

With Muraco's help, Bundy repeatedly gave Hogan avalanches and big splashes, which caused Hogan to severely bruise his ribs.

Bundy demanded a match and claimed Hogan was afraid of him, setting up their feud.

Hogan demanded revenge and agreed to a steel cage match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship as the main event of WrestleMania 2 in the Los Angeles portion of the event, which Hogan won.

Later in 1986, Bundy reformed his tag-team partnership with Studd and began a feud with The Machines, Bill Eadie and Blackjack Mulligan wrestling under masks (as the Super Machine and Big Machine, respectively) and often joined by Andre the Giant (as the Giant Machine).

The storyline was that Bundy and Studd, along with Heenan, claimed that the Giant Machine was a masked Andre the Giant, and was competing under the mask and alias to circumvent an earlier suspension (due to no-showing for an event), but none of them ever proved that Andre and the Giant Machine were one and the same.

Eventually, Bundy and Studd began teaming up with Heenan in a series of six-man tag team matches against the Machines (usually, Big and Super; as Andre's health was starting to deteriorate at this time, the Giant Machine made occasional appearances, but more often than not, it was either Captain Lou Albano or a number of popular faces—often, Hogan, Roddy Piper and others—who teamed with the other Machines).

He also headlined the inaugural Survivor Series in 1987, as well as the first edition of Extreme Championship Wrestling's flagship event, November to Remember, in 1993.

This remained the shortest match in WrestleMania history until 2008 when Kane defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr.. in a legitimate eight seconds at WrestleMania XXIV.