Andre the Giant V Tito Santana & Jim Powers (WWF 1989)

[terminat1]

No, Vince, I seriously doubt Andre was ever 408-teamed.

[MrMolmem]

I remember reading somewhere that tito and andre where very good friends. So this match could be tito just doing his buddy a favor. Honestly watching this match. Why didn't powers and tito go on to a tag team. Both were coming off tag team runs. It looked like they had some decent chemistry here too.

[craigmacxrated]

How could facing Andre The Giant be a low point for anybody in their career? Tito and Jim Powers both should have been grateful for even being mentioned to go against Andre... Just sayin' ... Even if Andre was slowly fading out...

[bAzTNM]

Actually quite a good match. Horrendous elbowdrop though.

[scvbtr2]

Andre was way way past his prime durrinmg this time.

[DeepRedMasochist]

Where's the love for Powers? This was an insult to him too!

[smgaydon]

This match was an absolute embarrassment for Tito Santana. I mean this was a guy who made the Hall of Fame and was the first to defeat the Undertaker by pinfall. Andre the Giant was able to perform about two moves later in his career. This has to be the low point of a Hall of Fame career for Tito Santana.

[DanimalBr]

@smgaydon My guess is Santana filled in as a last minute sub for some other jobber who no showed the event or didn't go on for some reason.. This was 1989 and Santana was about to start his year long fued with Rick Martel after the Strike Force break up at Wrestlemania V, I can't imagine them planning to job him out in a handicap match against Andre like this.

[tony265982]

lmao........."Chico" Santana

[chessarama]

It's really sad that Santana became a jobber like this. He definitely had more wrestling ability than half the roster at this time.

[KittColby]

Okay, I know that Tito versus Andre would be a physical mismatch, but I still think it's disrespectful to put a star the caliber of Tito Santana in a handicap match like this. Find another opponent for Andre or make it a tag match.

[y2flu]

No offense to Jim Harris (Kamala), but Andre would have crumpled him up like a paper towel and wiped his giant rear end with his face.

[wibassplayer]

Andre should have killed Jim Powers.

[sweeneysister]

Clearly by this point (and say what you will) Santana was just happy to have the werk!

[GlorifiedTruth]

@benjmann2 - Well, Jake was awfully good. I don't mean to insult him. But at this time Tito was still at his peak of ability, and Jake was on the decline due to injuries & personal problems. All he did at this point was threaten people with the snake. I wasn't meaning to disrespect Jake but to stand up for Tito who didn't deserve this kind of insult.

[GlorifiedTruth]

I remember this match. It was a disgrace. They were building up to a Wrestlemania match between Andre and Jake the Snake. The irony is that Tito Santana alone was better than Jake... and they stuck him in a handicap match? What an insult.

[CQ1981331]

did vince just call andre an athlete?hahaha

[whythefamilyguy]

@CQ1981331 sad but true andre wasnt much of an athlete at all but you should have seen him when he was younger and could move

[that70smilkman]

what a unique match

[flatulatingmarmoset]

I remember this match. Look at poor Andre, he could hardly walk.

[StanKingston420]

Thanks for the memories Jim Powers.Now He's retired from the wrestling business.

[philberz]

Best elbow drop ever

[trunkmonke1980]

I kinda liked that two man sunset flip pinning attempt!!!

[SLIPNICKI]

JUST WATCHING JIM POWERS ALL SOUGHTS OF NASTY THOUGHTS CUM 2 MIND!

[bubbleman39]

andre got lucky with that hotdog fart pin!!

[jmacfadyen]

At this point in his career I cannot believe Andre "took" a sunset flip bump!

[jamilioestevez]

That was a hell of an elbow Andre laid down. Sad watching him like this

[123Sarrah]

tito,should have been the jobber,powers is a legend!

[Derby14]

I agree that Tito probably didn't need to be in this match but it wasn't that disrespectful IMO. Tito and Powers got in a fair amount of offense and it was a pretty long match by Superstars standards. Tito was a fine singles competitor but would never really be considered a challenge to Andre one-on-one.

[BIGDEESKI77]

I'm pretty sure Santana must have been a late sub. Also did Big John have any matches against Andre after he returned?

[thaiboxer75]

jim powers get alot of flack about being a jobber, but he did what was asked of him and he did it well. he was a decent worker and had a great look. He must of been doing something right, till this day he is still talked about. I enjoyed watching all three of these performers when I was a kid...

[radgainesmaster]

Wow..tito must have did something bad backstage,this was a punishment for sure...I agree with the hbk/hhh thing...that would be AWESOME!!! Andre could catch the superkick then flip him into hhh lol

I miss this time period of wrestling...it will never be this cool ever again :(

[QuentinDude]

man that is total disrespect for tito, teaming him with a jobber in a handicap match against Andre, who i have alot of respect for, but who really wasnt a great ring performer late in his career! Anyway, i always wondered what would of happened if big john studd had been able to last longer in WWF. He could of maybe had a good run in WWF

[ThunderRoadMike]

@QuentinDude What I seem to notice about this match is not entirely, but for the most part, it appears Andre lets Tito work him over here and there in the match, as a sign of respect and to try and save Tito's reputation some. But, anytime Powers starts to help Tito, Andre puts a stop to things. For example, after the 2 dropkicks, Andre is selling quite a bit for Tito by stumbling to the corner, but as soon as he sees Powers, he suddenly spins them around and puts them in the corner.

[peterathwal99]

i remember watching this

[MarvinYoureNaked]

I'd love to see Andre do this to Shawn & HHH

[terminat1]

Do you think Andre at this time was taller than former MLB pitcher Randy Johnson?

[Marvelfanforlife]

The Stallions were on and off again about this time the match took place (Feb 89) Powers was doing singles matches. He did more singles matches than tag matches at this point.

[Mp25DIII]

I read once where Andre took on Dick Murdoch, Blackjack Mulligan and Wahoo McDaniel in a hotel room and beat all their asses. Considering those 3 could probably clear any barroom in the country, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Andre could handle these two

[123wwe]

rick flair mentions a similar story to this in his autobiography ,

[brethart87]

@Mp25DIII Andre wasnt all that, he backed down from Bad News Allen in his prime and Kamala. Andre was a big bully straight up, b-i-g doent spell bad

[123wwe]

@brethart87 i know andre and badnews had heat bad news acknowledged he and andre cleared the air before andre died , what was the story on andre and kamala ? i heard some story about kamala being scared of andre and having a gun with him any time he knew andre was around not that i believe it but i would like to hear the real story

[Shagrat65]

@123wwe : In Kamala's shoot I think it was due to Andre not selling in a match. Kamala got back stage and had a gun on him. He told Andre that he shouldn't disrespect him like that but Andre mimicked him saying ' I is sorry boss, I won't do that again' or something similar and it pissed Kamala off. Also in the ring the Giant called him a son of a bitch and you get the impression Kamala loves his mother alot the way he speaks of her and that didn't help. Its a good shoot, He seems a nice guy

[whythefamilyguy]

@Shagrat65 thanks for filling me in .

[123wwe]

not the classic andre handicap match from a few years earlier, but considering the shape andre's back and knee's where in he did a good job , even took a few bumps , but then andre and tito as well were troopers

[ThunderRoadMike]

Either Jim Powers was doing some real good acting (which wouldn't surprise me since he was good at it), or else, it looked to me like he was starting to feel rather humiliated towards the end of this match.

[zackvanhalen]

Tito should have gotten more respect than this. He was one of the best and they treated him like a jobber. They made him job out to the barbarian at WM VI just months after this.

[TheSteffen1223]

a year after this. This was before wrestlemania V

[zackvanhalen]

@TheSteffen1223 Good call. I guess the John Studd/Jake Roberts promos should have clued me in. I can't believe I didn't catch that.

[ThunderRoadMike]

Weren't Santana & Powers still part of Strike Force & The Young Stallions, respectively, about the time this match took place? There was a Wrestlemania where Strike Force split apart and didn't seem long much after that the Young Stallions did so, too.

[Mp25DIII]

I'm a little surprised they put Tito in a match like this when he had a big WrestleMania match coming up. Maybe he was a late sub??

[MarvinYoureNaked]

@Mp25DIII probably pissed off vince or pat patterson to be involved in this

[FartScrap]

@zackvanhalen Wrestlemania 6 was over a year after this. This was prior to Wrestlemania 5, when Tito and Martel reformed Strike Force to take on Tully and Arn.

[zackvanhalen]

@FartScrap Yes, that's true. I forgot about the WM match between Jake and Andre the first time I saw it. I just looked at the year. But still, they used Tito poorly in my opinion.

[criceto]

He tryed to lost some weight but simply was aged too much. I remember this match.

[philldholes]

RIP Andre. He was really good. Both as a fan favorite and a rule bender he was just great as the Giant.