Pro Wrestlers  Who Were Able to Body Slam WWE Legend Andre the Giant

Today, let's take a look at all the pro wrestlers who were able to body slam the WWE legend, Andre the Giant.

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Strong Kobayashi

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The first known wrestler to have planted Andre on his back is Strong Kobayashi. Living up to his moniker, Kobayashi got into professional wrestling after being discovered at a bodybuilding event in 1966 when he was 25 and pursued a wrestling career for 25 years.

Paul Vachon

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A member of the famed Vachon wrestling dynasty, Paul "The Butcher" Vachon led a tremendous in-ring career in his own right. As a tag team specialist, Vachon's slam of Andre naturally occurred in a tag team setting of sorts. Vachon teamed with Larry "The Axe" Hennig to face the Giant on September 1, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois for an AWA event.

Harley Race

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Bobby "The Brain" Heenan once claimed (per the Post and Courier) that there were only two men Andre the Giant feared: Meng and Harley Race. Race is known for slamming Andre on at least two different occasions with the first occurring at an October 1978 house show in Greensboro, North Carolina for Race's NWA Championship. 

Hulk Hogan 

Hulk Hogan may be responsible for the "slam heard 'round the world," but it is perhaps not as well known that he is actually one of three men to have slammed the giant more than once. Hogan, of course, stands out as the biggest star to have slammed Andre, and has the WrestleMania III match with Andre to thank for that. 

Stan Hansen

Hansen wrestled for nearly 30 years following a college football career at West Texas State. Although he spent the majority of his career overseas, he did pick up the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on one occasion.

Wild Samoans

The first tag team to collectively slam the giant, The Wild Samoans fit the bill as worthy adversaries to Andre. With both wrestlers weighing upwards of 300 pounds, both Afa and Sika could bring the fight to Andre and together match him with their combined weight. 

Ken Patera and Bobby Duncam Sr.

The second pair of wrestlers to slam the Giant were Ken Patera and Bobby Duncam Sr. Patera, like many wrestlers recruited to the WWF in the late '70s, came from a weightlifting background. However, he got his start in the AWA, where he teamed with Duncam, who entered the business following a brief stint in the NFL.

Kamala

Unlike previous wrestlers to have slammed the giant before him, Kamala's slam did not occur in a match, but rather in a post-match angle where he and Jim Duggan interfered in a match involving Andre, Matt Borne, Tony Atlas and Ted DiBiase.

Tatsumi Fujinami and Antonio Inoki

Andre teamed with Rene Goulet and faced off against Inoki and Fujinami at least once with Andre spending the majority of the time in the ring during this run. The duo allegedly slammed Andre during this match.

El Canek

Perhaps the least known man in the United States to have slammed Andre, El Canek spent the majority of his career wrestling for the Universal Wrestling Association in Mexico. He held the promotion's world championship a whopping 15 times.

Riki Choshu

Choshu is known for one of the coolest-looking slams of Andre for which there is video evidence. Similar to Inoki, Choshu used a rush-based style to catch the giant off guard and slam him.

Otto Wanz

The second-to-last instance of Andre the Giant being slammed belongs to Austrian strongman Otto Wanz. Wanz booked Andre for a CWA event in Austria in 1986, and while most of the athleticism that made Andre special had left him by this point, the two delivered a highly physical, believable match in front of local promotions' fans.

Ultimate Warrior

The last known man to have body slammed Andre is notable for how much Andre apparently disliked him.  If Andre had a strong dislike for the Warrior, one wouldn't have been able to tell based on their match, as Andre, despite weighing more than 500 pounds to this point, enabled the Warrior to deliver arguably the most picture-perfect slam of all the slams.

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