In a new Uncrowned series, combat sports television commentator, historian, officials trainer and regulator Sean Wheelock takes an in-depth and analytical look at infamous matches from MMA, boxing, pro wrestling, bare-knuckle and the long and confused history of mixed-match fighting to determine whether controversial bouts were Shoots (legitimate competition) or Works (predetermined results).

Who: Andre the Giant (pro-wrestling star) vs. Chuck Wepner (heavyweight boxing contender)

When: June 25, 1976

Where: Shea Stadium, Flushing Meadows, New York

THE SETUP

Andre the Giant vs. Chuck Wepner was the co-headliner of a WWWF pro-wrestling card dubbed the “Showdown at Shea,” promoted by Vince McMahon Sr. — father of the now-former WWE chairman. The event was held at the then-home of the New York Mets, Shea Stadium, in conjunction with the infamous Muhammad Ali-vs.-Antonio Inoki bout, which was taking place the same day at the Budokan in Tokyo. The two wrestler-vs.-boxer matches were marketed under the banner “War of the Worlds,” and shown live on closed circuit television across the U.S. and internationally, including in Canada and the UK.

Immediately after “Showdown at Shea” concluded, the in-stadium New York crowd of almost 33,000 was able to watch Ali vs. Inoki live on a three-sided video screen, placed on the baseball infield. Josh Gross’ outstanding 2016 book, "Ali vs. Inoki: The Forgotten Fight That Inspired Mixed Martial Arts and Launched Sports Entertainment," now stands as the definitive word on the subject; Gross leaves absolutely no doubt that Ali vs. Inoki was a shoot.

Yet five full decades later, Andre vs. Wepner still has an air of unsolved mystery about it.

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The waters are made murky by numerous major media outlets of the era that treated the mixed-match fighting spectacle as a completely legitimate sporting event, Wepner’s multiple conflicting statements on the bout, plus the fact that Andre never broke kayfabe. Ever. And then there is the surviving video, which can be charitably described as low-resolution, making the differentiation between real and imagined that much more difficult.

At the time of the match, Andre the Giant was firmly entrenched as one of the genuine superstars of pro wrestling. He had just turned 30, and was without question one of McMahon Sr.’s biggest draws in the WWWF, as well as the numerous promotions — foreign and domestic — where Andre went out on loan. Billed as “The Eighth Wonder of the World,” and in advertising material for the Wepner match as 7-foot-5, 463 pounds, Andre was clearly the A-side on the Shea Stadium card.

The B-side was then left to Chuck Wepner, known as both the “The Bayonne Brawler” and perhaps more appropriately, “The Bayonne Bleeder.” His 15th-round TKO loss to then-world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali one year earlier is widely acknowledged as Sylvester Stallone’s primary inspiration for “Rocky.” By the time he entered the ring vs. Andre, Wepner was 37 years old and in the closing stages of his boxing career. But he was still a formidable heavyweight at 6-foot-5, 232 pounds, with 33 pro wins — including a second-round knockout of Tommy Sheehan the month prior. While never a full-blown star in boxing, Wepner had fought — and lost to — some legitimate greats; Ali of course, as well as George Foreman and Sonny Liston.

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The rules for the match were fairly straight forward: Andre could execute anything in his pro-wrestling arsenal, but would have to release Wepner and any hold applied whenever the boxer touched the ring ropes. Wepner would wear boxing gloves and would throw punches as his only strikes, and indeed his only offense.

The bout was scheduled for 10 three-minute rounds, with referee John Stanley, and judges Al Lee and Harry Lewis all keeping scorecards. The possible outcomes were pinfall, submission, knockout, TKO, decision, draw, count-out or disqualification.

THE FIGHT

Completely bare-fisted, and in his standard pro-wrestling attire, Andre immediately moves forward in a poor man’s Archie Moore cross-armed striking guard, while keeping his chest square to the target. Wepner, dressed like he would for any pro boxing bout, quickly goes to work with his left jab from the outside, in his orthodox (right-handed) stance. After the first clinch — a bear-hug by Andre — Wepner falls back into the ropes, and then grabs the top rope with his left glove. Per the rule set, referee John Stanley calls for the break. This will become the recurring theme of the match.

Next up, an Andre side-headlock. Wepner into the ropes. And the break. Then another Andre bear-hug. Wepner into the ropes. And the break — this time met by a chorus of boos from the Shea Stadium crowd.

As the first round progresses, Wepner establishes his jab from range, and at times makes Andre look really slow and somewhat uncoordinated. Absent is the big-man grace Andre exhibited so freely in this era during his pro-wrestling matches. There are some very slick and subtle feints by Wepner with his left, for which Andre has no answer. In center ring, with space between them, Wepner’s boxing looks sharp, and repeated jabs to the body and the head land. Wepner, though, throws limited right hands to the body, and fails to throw a single right to Andre’s head during the entire round. The pro-wrestler’s offense in Round 1 comes in the form of closing the distance, then clinching or locking up — always immediately countered by Wepner moving to the ring ropes to force the break.

In the final minute of the round, Andre comes inside looking to hit a single-leg takedown. Wepner quickly clinches, hooking his right arm tightly over Andre’s head in a very savvy boxing move. Andre then releases Wepner’s left leg, as his opponent falls into the ropes for yet another break.

In the round’s closing seconds, Andre again moves forward, this time snatching an arm-in front facelock. Wepner attempts to defend by throwing his free right hand to Andre’s body. Eventually, Wepner walks himself backward and puts his right hip against the middle ring-rope. This forces — yes, you guessed it — a break, which comes just before the bell to end the round.

Between Rounds 1 and 2, Vince McMahon Jr., who is doing play-by-play commentary with an almost inaudible Antonio “Argentina” Rocca as his color commentator, gives a live read stating “The champion of the ‘War of the Worlds’ will be awarded a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle,” as a SS-250 is shown parked on the Shea Stadium infield dirt. I remain unclear if McMahon meant the winner of Andre vs. Wepner and Ali vs. Inoki would both be given the Harley, or if perhaps some victorious wrestler — maybe Bruno Sammartino, who later that evening defeated Stan Hansen in the main event of the “Showdown at Shea” card — might claim the prize. I also remain unclear if anyone at Harley-Davidson or the WWWF ever considered how Andre would be able to fit onto that motorcycle.

In a moment of lax officiating by referee Stanley, Andre is allowed to start Round 2 dead center of the ring, rather than in his corner. Wepner visibly protests to no avail, immediately angles to his left, and misses with a jab to the body. Soon after, Andre comes inside, and Wepner moves back against the ring ropes for the break. Rinse and repeat.

After the separation, Andre walks forward with his cross-armed defense and is caught high on the chest by a clean Wepner left jab. Andre then changes levels and grabs a high-crotch single. Rather than looking for the takedown, Andre seems intent on dumping Wepner over the top rope. The boxer regains his balance and footing, and begins landing big right hands directly to the back of Andre’s head. Andre counters with an overhand right to the back of Wepner’s neck, which draws a hard warning from Stanley. Taking advantage of the reset, Wepner then moves forward and lands a right hook to the unprepared Andre’s body, causing the wrestler to immediately tie-up his opponent. Wepner responds by — wait for it — moving back into the ring ropes for still another break. 

After another jab and move, clinch, and break from the ropes sequence, Wepner throws a hard jab to the body, steps back and then lands a left hook flush to Andre’s head. Andre immediately applies another arm-in front facelock, and then connects with a clean knee to Wepner’s stomach, causing McMahon Jr. on play-by-play to blurt out, “Oh no!”

Referee Stanley confusingly deems the knee an illegal blow, and separates the fighters. On the restart, Andre moves forward and gets double underhooks, which he then uses to hit a fairly well-executed lateral drop and lands in side control. The position is also one from which Andre can get a match-ending three-count, but Wepner negates the pin by draping his right leg over the bottom rope.

Upon being stood up by Stanley, Wepner starts shouting at fellow WWWF star Gorilla Monsoon, who is ringside wearing sunglasses for the nighttime event and working as Andre’s chief second. Andre moves in to take advantage of the seemingly distracted Wepner, who quickly hooks the top rope with his right arm and clinches the wrestler’s head with his left arm. Seconds after the break is ordered, the bell sounds to end Round 2.

During the one-minute rest period, McMahon Jr. does a live read for JVC, as a still photo of the (then-state of the art) Model 3050 combination TV/radio is shown. It appears to be only slightly smaller than the Harley, and perhaps weighs a bit more.

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Wepner comes out for Round 3 with an increased urgency and goes to work with his left jab. Andre closes distance, and Wepner maneuvers himself back into the ropes. But before Stanley can order the break, Andre pulls Wepner center ring with a fully-locked bear-hug. Wepner’s defense quickly turns to offense, as he starts throwing jackhammer right hands to the side and back of Andre’s head. The onslaught causes Andre to duck, release and attempt a head-butt from an almost-Thai plum. Wepner immediately moves backward out of range, but Andre follows and again gets inside. From there, the wrestler grabs Wepner’s head, drops levels and moves behind his opponent. Andre then lifts Wepner’s full body straight up off the canvas from a belly-to-back position for an attempted, but ultimately unsuccessful atomic drop. Wepner lands firmly on both feet, but then turns directly into a straight-on head-butt from Andre.

Seeing his opponent fall back into the ropes upon impact, Andre quickly moves in and scoops Wepner up with his right hand into a body-slam position. Moving first toward the ring ropes, Andre then changes course and positions the now-aerial and immobile Wepner horizontally in his arms as he walks toward the center. Andre changes direction again, moves back toward the edge of the ring — and throws Wepner over the ropes. On the way out, Wepner overhooks the top rope with his right hand, and gets his right leg caught between the middle and top rope. This causes the boxer to fall first onto the ring apron, before finally tumbling onto the Shea Stadium infield.

Rather than give Wepner 20 seconds to get back into the ring — as was then and still is the rule for professional boxing when a fighter falls out of the squared circle — referee John Lewis starts the standard pro-wrestling 10-count. A melee ensues around Wepner, which includes Gorilla Monsoon and Wepner’s manager Al Braverman in the quickly-formed group. Both Wepner and Braverman later claimed Monsoon put his foot on Wepner’s chest, in an effort to keep the boxer from getting up off the ground.

While Wepner is still down, the bell rings, which gives Andre the victory at 1:17 of Round 3 via count-out.

THE CASE FOR A SHOOT

Throughout the bout, Wepner cleanly throws and lands his left jab. Rather than pulling his punches, Wepner consistently turns them over. He feints, sticks and moves; at times almost toying with Andre in the center of the ring. In Round 2, Wepner lands big right hands to the back of Andre’s head when the wrestler is looking for a takedown. The right-handed blows to the side and back of his opponent’s head are even more ferocious when Andre grabs a bear hug in Round 3. In this sequence, Andre ducks and eventually releases the hold in an effort to get away from Wepner’s punches. Then there is the shovel left hook to Andre’s face landed by Wepner in the second round, which lands flush.

For his part, Andre connects on an overhand right to the back of the neck and a knee to the body of Wepner in Round 2. Andre applies a heavy arm-in front facelock in both the first and second round, and hits a lateral drop from double underhooks in Round 2. And in the closing sequence of the bout, Andre throws Wepner messily over the top rope, which causes the boxer to become tangled on the way down.

The flow of the entire match largely revolves around Wepner grabbing or falling into the ropes to force the break when Andre moves inside. This makes for clunky, stop-start pacing which belies proper orchestration and cooperation between the two men.

And not that this means anything really, but the mainstream media of the time definitely seemed to think the bout was on the level. The New York Times ran both a preview and a review of the mixed-match fight, with the day-after recap story containing the headline, “Wepner Throttled by Andre.”

The New York Daily News quoted both men in its next-day story on the match, with Wepner saying, “I figured I'd work on his stomach. He hit me [with] an illegal shot. I could’ve beat him,” and Andre countering, “I could’ve knocked him out in the first round, but he kept holding on the ropes.”

Five years after the bout, in a profile on Andre for Sports Illustrated, Terry Todd wrote:

“In the third round … Wepner really clocked the Giant as they broke from the ropes. Whereupon Andre, in a more than usually fell swoop, angrily snatched his smaller opponent into the air and pitched him forthwith over the topmost rope, ending the bout.”

In 1986, HBO included Andre vs. Wepner in its special “Son of the Not So Great Moments in Sports,” in which host Tim McCarver stated, “Without his normal script, Andre the Giant just went after Wepner. Seriously. Serious mistake for Wepner.” And Wepner’s manager Al Braverman said in the program, “Chuck hits this guy a terrific jab — a jolt — right on the schnoz. Full face. I see the Giant, he just went ‘Huh!’ — and I seen Chuck’s face change a little bit. This was something wrong.”

For those who cling to the belief that Andre vs. Wepner was a legitimate fight, the brawl which took place in the closing seconds and immediately after the bell sounded — and which moved from the Shea Stadium infield into the ring — is almost always cited. There are definitely a few random punches, as well as a lot of pushing and shoving in the mass of bodies that includes Gorilla Monsoon, Braverman and Wepner’s entire camp — as well as Andre and Wepner themselves. The wrestler and boxer go after each other post-fight, and Wepner absolutely nails Andre on his left shoulder with a windmill overhand right when both men are back in the ring following the count-out.

This all has the look and feel of a completely unscripted and chaotic occurrence, with tempers flaring across the board.

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THE CASE FOR A WORK

Let’s start with the third man in the ring for Andre vs. Wepner. At the time of the mixed-match fight, John Stanley was a regular WWWF referee. Surely Wepner’s corner would have vehemently protested this assignment to the New York State Athletic Commission, if the bout was legit.

And for all of his clean jabs from the outside, and hard right hands while being held by Andre, Wepner doesn’t throw a single right hand to his opponent’s head from range. Not one. While Wepner wasn’t seen as one of his era’s big-punching heavyweights, he'd still recorded knockouts in all six of his most recent in-ring wins as he entered the bout. Over the course of the match’s seven minutes and 17 seconds, Wepner lands exactly one hook to Andre’s head from range, and it’s with his lead left hand. Wepner throws only his right to Andre’s head after being clinched or otherwise tied-up. His straight right, right cross, right hook and right uppercut are all entirely absent.

Absent for Andre is much of an offense in the entire bout. Andre botches the atomic drop on Wepner in the second round, and he stomps the mat with his right foot as he lands the overhand right to the back of Wepner’s neck in Round 2, creating an all-too-familiar sound to pro-wrestling fans.

While Andre does execute a lateral drop in that round, it’s obvious he doesn’t put his full body weight on Wepner, while seeking the pin from side control.

During the third round, in a move highly recognizable to all Andre fans, the wrestler clearly head-butts his own hand, rather than Wepner’s skull. When Andre lifts Wepner into his arms in the closing stages of the fight, he elects to toss his opponent over the ropes, rather than hit a body slam — a trademark Andre move.

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In Round 2, after Andre’s pin is negated by Wepner’s foot on the ropes, the boxer stands up, turns his back on Andre, and starts arguing with Monsoon, who is ringside. At the time of this bout, Wepner had been a professional boxer for 12 years. It’s simply not conceivable that in a legitimate fight, Wepner would focus his full attention away from his opponent while a round was in progress, and be so easily distracted. The thought of Wepner turning his back on Muhammad Ali during their world title bout to yell at Angelo Dundee or Bundini Brown is laughable.

And then there are the words of the later-in-life Wepner, which are diametrically opposed to what he said at the time of the mixed-match fight. In 2017, Wepner stated in an interview with entertainment writer David Onda, “We met at a hotel and we practiced some of the moves, because it is, you know, show business. I talked them into letting him just throw me out of the ring, and then I don't make it back in. And that's what he did."

And Wepner told Josh Gross in an interview for his 2016 book on Ali vs. Inoki, “Of course it was show business, so nobody was going to get seriously hurt.”

Wepner also described to Gross the post-fight fracas, which offers further evidence to the choreographed nature of the bout, and the entirely unchoreographed nature of what followed immediately after Wepner was counted out: “It got very heated. Some of the wrestlers were jumping into the ring. Gorilla Monsoon was throwing around guys like rag dolls. We were in there to put on a show and give them a good time. A real fight over this? It was crazy.”

THE VERDICT

This match is, without question, a work. It just has a lot of probably unplanned strong-style moments — unplanned because of the utter lack of Wepner’s pro-wrestling training and experience. Andre was notorious for getting rough when opponents worked stiff, and meaning to or not, Wepner worked stiff throughout this bout. The boxer didn’t know how to pull his punches, his sense of pacing was horrendous, and he lacked a clear understanding of how to sell anything that came his way from Andre.

The most potent strike landed by Andre in the entire match — the knee to the body in Round 2 — occurred directly after Wepner landed his best punch of the fight: a left hook to Andre’s face. The knee by Andre looked real, because it almost certainly was, and came as a receipt — an immediate payback to Wepner for his previous hard punch.

The ending is completely botched, because Wepner didn’t know how to take a bump out of the ring, and panicked at the last second by flailing with his legs and grabbing the top rope with his right glove.

In all likelihood, Wepner’s corner legitimately became enraged when Monsoon touched their fighter, and the melee that followed was almost certainly a shoot. But this could have immediately evolved into a worked shoot by Monsoon and his WWWF compatriots, as they reflexively sensed a prime opportunity to further enhance the moment.

While neither as famous nor infamous as its counterpart, Ali vs. Inoki, Andre vs. Wepner rightfully deserves to hold a very high place in the history of mixed-match fighting. Although it lacked flow, and any sense of real drama until the very end, the bout was still a great deal of fun. And it had an ending that was awkward and chaotic enough to cast further doubt as to what exactly was going on that night in New York. That Andre the Giant’s victory over Chuck Wepner absolutely fooled a huge number of people — mainstream media members included — makes me like it that much more.