Big John Studd

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Big John Studd
Studd, c. 1982
Birth nameJohn William Minton[1]
Born(1948-02-19)February 19, 1948[2]
Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 20, 1995(1995-03-20) (aged 47)
Burke, Virginia, U.S.
Spouse(s)
Donna Conklin
​
(m. 1978)​
Children3
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Big John Studd[2][3]
Captain USA[2][3]
Chuck O'Connor[1]
Executioner #2[2][3]
The Mighty Minton
Billed height6 ft 10[4] in[5][3][6]
Billed weight365 lb (166 kg)[5]
Billed fromLos Angeles, California[7][6]
Trained byKiller Kowalski[2][3]
Debut1972[5]
Retired1993

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.[1][2][3]

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
.

Early life

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.[8]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1972-1973)

Studd was trained by Killer Kowalski. 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.[6][5]

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1972–1973)

In mid-1972, Studd joined the

Showdown at Shea
, Studd lost to El Olympico by disqualification. He left the WWWF in February 1973.

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling (1974–1983)

In 1974, Studd joined

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
, where he wrestled as "Chuck O Connor".

In 1978, Studd teamed up with Ken Patera to win the Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles.[6]

In early 1981, Studd gained several unsuccessful title shots at the

NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which was held by Dusty Rhodes
at the time.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1976–1977)

In 1976, Studd returned to the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he donned a

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.

American Wrestling Association (1975–1976, 1980–1981)

From 1975 to 1976, Studd performed for the American Wrestling Association. He returned in 1980 and left in 1981.

World Wrestling Federation (1982–1986, 1988–1989)

Feud with André the Giant (1982–1986)

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

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.[9] 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.[9]

In late 1984, Studd was also paired with

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.[7][9]

After WrestleMania, Studd formed an alliance with fellow Heenan Family member, 468 lb (212 kg) King Kong Bundy. The two attacked André at a WWF TV card in Toronto in the summer of 1985, injuring Andre's sternum.

Andre the Giant and Hillbilly Jim versus King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd in an October 21, 1985 tag team match at Madison Square Garden
.

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,

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.

The Andre-Studd feud took on a new dimension in 1986, when, in the wake of Andre's increasing health problems related to

Bill Eadie (as "Super Machine"), with Studd and Bundy saying in interviews that they knew who The Machines were and that they had never heard of Japanese wrestlers with a South-Texas accent (Mulligan/Big Machine) or a South-Florida
accent (Eadie/Super Machine), while Bobby Heenan repeatedly claimed that no Japanese wrestler or person was 7'4" and over 500 lbs and spoke with a French accent. However, neither Studd, nor Bundy or Heenan, were able to unmask The Machines, and their true identities remained a secret.

Studd, who long had a reputation of not selling pain to wrestlers with little or no in-ring skills, wrestled a notable match with the "World's Strongest Man" Ted Arcidi at the Boston Garden in mid-1986. During the match, Studd was noticeably wrestling stiff and showing contempt for someone he saw as nothing more than a muscled up weightlifter with no wrestling skills who had no business being in a professional wrestling ring.

The Bundy-Studd team also feuded with other established WWF tag teams in 1986, including

WWF Tag Team Championship held by The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid). During a televised match in late 1986, Studd and Bundy began arguing after they lost a match to the Bulldogs, and although that seemed to foreshadow a feud between the two, nothing ever came of it. Studd's last match during his original 1980s WWF run came on the November 15, 1986, episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where he teamed with Bundy to defeat The Machines (a match that did not involve the Giant Machine). Despite leaving the WWF, Studd's presence was still made known in a WWF Magazine article published shortly before WrestleMania III
, where he supported André in his upcoming match against Hogan (contending that Hogan's friendship with André was a ruse, to duck him as a potential challenger to the title). Studd retired.

Feud with The Heenan Family (1988–1989)

After retiring for two years, Studd announced his return to the WWF on the

Brother Love Show
in December 1988. An elated Bobby Heenan appeared on the set to welcome Studd back to the Heenan family. However, with Heenan now also managing his old adversary André the Giant, Studd rejected the offer and ran Heenan off the Brother Love set, thus turning face.

Studd went on to feud with several members of the Heenan family, including André who had turned heel during Studd's absence and

Atlantic City. Studd and André had several words with each other both before and during the match and eventually disqualified his nemesis after the giant attacked him from behind.[6] Studd's last match with the WWF was June 4, 1989, with Hillbilly Jim wrestling in Studd's place later that month. Studd quit the WWF over what he felt were poor payoffs.[10]

Independent circuit and retirement (1989–1993)

Studd wrestled sporadically on the independent circuit until 1993; his last match was against The Honky Tonk Man after which Studd collapsed.[11] He came out with his own line of workout and vitamin supplements and trained Ron Reis, who would make his WCW debut as Big Ron Studd. Minton also promoted boxing in the northeast.

Personal life

Minton and his wife Donna had three children, Robert, Jannelle and Sean, who is also a wrestler going by the ring name Big Sean Studd.[8][12]

Death

In the fall of 1993, Minton noticed a lump in his armpit, and a doctor found a large tumor in his chest. It remitted after chemotherapy, and he was told he might wrestle again in six months, but it returned in 1994. When no suitable bone marrow donor was found, and he was given around a month to live, Minton underwent an autotransplantation procedure with a 7% success rate. Again, the tumor remitted and he went home. Around September 1994, Minton's lungs collapsed and he went back to the hospital.[13] In February 1995, Minton returned for another round of chemotherapy, and it was found that the tumor had spread widely. He died from lymphoma on March 20, 1995.[14] He was buried at Saxonburg Memorial Church Cemetery in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1984 Micki & Maude Himself
1985 The Protector Huge Hood
1987 Double Agent Igor
1989 Hyper Space Psycho
1990 Caged in Paradiso Big Man
1991 Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man Jack Daniels
1991 The Marrying Man Dante

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1985 The A-Team Himself Episode: "Body Slam"
1987 Hunter Randy Episode: "Bad Company" or "Bad Companions"
1988 Beauty and the Beast Erlick Episode: "To Reign in Hell"

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8108-7926-3
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Big John Studd profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved March 24, 2011.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4165-4112-7
    .
  4. ^ "John Minton - Biography". IMDb.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  6. ^ a b c d e "Big John Studd Hall of Fame profile". WWE. Retrieved January 1, 2012.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4391-8813-2
    .
  8. ^ a b Brennan, Patricia (June 12, 1988). "Big John Studd". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4928-2597-5
    .
  10. ^ The Wrestling Observer June 19, 1989
  11. ^ "Big John Studd". IMDb. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  12. ^ Baltimore, PressBox Online (November 9, 2016). "Sean Studd Following In His Father's Huge Footsteps". PressBox Online Baltimore. Archived from the original on July 19, 2019. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  13. ^ "Big John Studd’s Battle Over", by Mike Mooneyham
  14. ^ "Sports; Furthermore; Obituary: John Minton". The Washington Post. March 23, 1995.
  15. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  16. ^ "NWA United States Heavyweight Title (1967–1968/05) – American Heavyweight Title (1968/05–1986/02)". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  17. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  18. ^ "NWA Texas Tag Team Title [E. Texas]". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  19. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
    .
  20. ^ "Texas Brass Knucks Title [East Texas]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  21. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 Wrestlers of the PWI Years". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  22. ^ "W.W.A. World Tag Team Title (Indianapolis)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.

External links

Preceded by Royal Rumble winner
1989 		Succeeded by
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