Big John Studd

John William Minton (February 19, 1948 – March 20, 1995) was an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name, Big John Studd.

Studd is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation in the 1970s and 1980s.

He debuted in 1972 under the ring name "The Mighty Minton", wrestling on the Los Angeles NWA Hollywood Wrestling, where he formed a tag team with "Superstar" Billy Graham.

In mid-1972, Studd joined the World Wide Wrestling Federation under the ring name "Chuck O'Connor", facing wrestlers such as Chief Jay Strongbow and Gorilla Monsoon.

On September 12, 1972, Studd unsuccessfully challenged Pedro Morales for the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Later that month at Showdown at Shea, Studd lost to El Olympico by disqualification.

He left the WWWF in February 1973.

In 1974, Studd joined Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, where he wrestled as "Chuck O Connor".

From 1975 to 1976, Studd performed for the American Wrestling Association.

In 1976, Studd returned to the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he donned a mask and performed as "Executioner #2", teaming with Executioner #1 as The Executioners.

On May 11, 1976, The Executioners defeated Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship.

They held the championship until October 26, 1976, when they were stripped of the titles after a third Executioner (Nikolai Volkoff) interfered in a title defence.

Manager Captain Lou Albano protested by claiming it was an "optical illusion".

Studd left the WWWF once more in early 1977.

In 1978, Studd teamed up with Ken Patera to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles.

He returned in 1980 and left in 1981.

In early 1981, Studd gained several unsuccessful title shots at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by Dusty Rhodes at the time.

Studd jumped to the World Wrestling Federation in late 1982, and was paired with manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie.

Studd quickly became a monster heel, adopting a gimmick of bringing a stretcher to the ring and beating his opponents so badly they would be taken out on the stretcher.

While Studd became a top challenger for the WWF World Championship, held by Bob Backlund, it was his feud with 7'4" (224 cm), 520 lb André the Giant over who was professional wrestling's 'true giant' that earned him main event status. Studd and Blassie had issued a "Bodyslam Challenge," offering $10,000 (and later, $15,000) to any wrestler who could slam him before boasting that he (Studd) could not be slammed. After several wrestlers were unsuccessful in answering Studd's challenge, Andre accepted and was about to slam Studd before Blassie attacked Andre from behind (as Studd grabbed the ring ropes to prevent himself from being slammed). The Andre-Studd feud raged throughout 1983, and Andre got the upper hand and slammed Studd several times, once with enough force to collapse the entire ring. Several times, the two met inside a steel cage, where André not only slammed Studd, but used a sitdown splash from the top rope onto his chest to knock him out.

Despite this, Studd began declaring himself the "True Giant of Wrestling," all while continuing to insist he could not (and had never been) slammed.

By 1984, with his feud with Andre still raging, Studd was challenging then-new champion Hulk Hogan for the title; Hogan was also successful on several occasions in slamming Studd.

In late 1984, Studd was also paired with Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (Studd's best friend from the AWA), who helped take the André-Studd feud to new heights.

This happened during a televised tag team match on WWF Championship Wrestling featuring Studd and fellow Heenan Family member Ken Patera against André the Giant and S. D. Jones.

The match ended by disqualification after persistent rulebreaking by Studd and Patera, who attacked André afterwards and cut his hair with Vince McMahon and Bruno Sammartino claiming on commentary that they were robbing André of his dignity.

André set out for revenge and accepted Studd's challenge to a "$15,000 Bodyslam Challenge" match at the first WrestleMania, whereby if Andre failed to slam Studd before the time limit (or Studd managed to slam Andre), André would be forced to retire from wrestling.

André dominated their Wrestlemania match at Madison Square Garden and won by slamming Studd at 5:54.

After WrestleMania, Studd formed an alliance with fellow Heenan Family member, 468 lb King Kong Bundy.

The two attacked André at a WWF TV card in Toronto in the summer of 1985, injuring Andre's sternum.

The Studd-Bundy alliance and André continued to feud for the rest of that year and into 1986, with Andre often recruiting faces such as Hulk Hogan, Tony Atlas, Junkyard Dog, and Hillbilly Jim to team with him.

Studd participated in the well-publicized 20 man over-the-top battle royal that took place in the Chicago segment of WrestleMania 2 and featured in a memorable pre-match interview with "Mean" Gene Okerlund and then Atlanta Falcons player Bill Fralic, with Studd telling Fralic that he had no business in professional wrestling, and Fralic repeatedly calling Studd "Dudd".

The invitational battle royale also featured stars from the National Football league.

Although André the Giant was also in the match, Studd set his focus on eliminating Fralic and fellow football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who was fresh from a Super Bowl victory with the Chicago Bears earlier that year.

Studd successfully eliminated Perry during the match, only to have Perry eliminate Studd while the two were shaking hands.

André went on to win the battle royale.

Studd held a number of championships over his career, including the NWA American Heavyweight Championship, NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship, NWA Canadian heavyweight title and was the winner of the 1989 Royal Rumble.

He was posthumously inducted into the WCW Hall of Fame in 1995 and the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.

John William Minton was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Minton was born to Helen Hayden and joined the United States Army and served as a military police officer in Vietnam.

Studd was trained by Killer Kowalski.