He is the tallest man in World Wrestling Federation history............ I mean look at the size of those hands........they're gigantic -Gorilla Monsoon
What's up, freak..huh, what's your name, big man? What's your problem, buddy? -Teenage Kid talking to him on TV's Baywatch
Hey guys I don't want any trouble........get off my back. his response as he falls into the ocean: Video Footage
Giant Jorge Gonzales, he had a unique wrestling career to say the least. He could be part of the Atlanta Hawks alumni right now because the man was drafted 54th overall in the 1988 NBA draft.
Before this, he competed in the Olympics...in wrestling, right?...no, but as a center on Argentina's national basketball team.
Despite being over 7 feet, 6 inches Gonzales, was unable to start up a career in the NBA as he barely spent any time playing with the team. This didn't mean, though, that the colossal creature hadn't been noticed.
In 1989, Ted Turner, the owner of both the Atlanta Hawks and World Championship Wrestling, arranged for Gonzales to join up with the wrestling organization.
Gonzales trained a bit building up some skill and then entered World Championship Wrestling.
As El Gigante, Gonzales debuted in May 1990 at WCW's Capital Combat when he ran down with Sting to help take out the Four Horsemen during a Lex Luger vs Ric Flair World Title Cage Match.
El Gigante quickly became a major force in WCW, going against the Four Horsemen at every opportunity.
At the 1990 Great American Bash, El Gigante debuted in his first match by teaming with Paul Orndorff and the Junkyard Dog against the Four Horsemen.
Gigante spent most of his time not in the ring but on the outside although he got involved in the ending brawl between the six men.
The match ended when Vicious lost control, throwing Junkyard Dog over the top rope to cause the disqualification. Later on that night, Gigante played a major part in Sting's victory by helping him win the title from Ric Flair.
His El Gigante characther feuded with Ric Flair an before he left WCW after competing in an extreme Stretcher match. He had some okay moments and matches in WCW, he really didn't have a gimmick, and wasn't that good of a wrestler there...at all.
Gonzales is widely regarded at yesterday's Great Khali because he has a similar amount of wrestling skill and they both use the same moves (the claw, and chokeslam).
Back to the article. As Gonzales debuted in the WWF he came after the Undertaker ferociously by attacking him at the Royal Rumble, making the Deadman lose his shot at a main event slot at Wrestlemania.
When he entered the ring, let me tell you, it was a little bit unusual and silly as he came out with a with a body suit on that made us think (Can we really take this guy seriously?).
His gimmick only became worse as the overgrown Tarzan replica had crops of hair all over his body to have his ring gear only become more ridiculous.
At this time he was managed by Harvey Wippleman, an extremely short smart ass who would act as the interpreter for the Giant.
Taker and Gonzales then feuded going into Wrestlemania. Wippleman and Gonzales had many interviews in where they insulted the Deadman, as Wippleman would say "We are going to send him straight down to hell, when he meets the Giant Gonzales in the ring at Wrestlemania IX."
Gonzales had one of the strangest gimmicks at the time as the crowd just thought he was unusual, giving him no connection with the WWF's fans.
As I mentioned before he really didn't have skill so all the announcers really couldn't talk about anything when he was in a match or brawling except for how massive he was.
Wrestlemania IX's match was a predictably lackluster match that ended incredibly badly as the Giant was disqualified. The Undertaker normally can have a decent match with just about anybody, even guys like Vladimir Kozlov, but this match was only decent with Gonzales mainly dominating.
His horrible gimmick was shown here as he looked and acted ridiculously silly and cocky. The match ended through disqualification when the Giant used some sort of powder to spray in the Undertaker's eyes.
Hey, Taker tried his best to make this match look good but hitting someone with over 10 clotheslines in a row to make them fall over just dosn't do it for me. Here's the match's Video Footage, and I think you'll agree with me.
After watching this match I looked at a couple of comments at the bottom of the page and one really amused me enough into writing about him for this Creature vs Creature debate.
Here it is "Wow, Giant Gonzales that's a stinker, the man really looked like the Tazmanian Devil with his hairy body suit he had to wear, poor wrestling skills really didn't make him a success but his poor gimmick also played a large part too".
Now, after losing a King Of the Ring qualifying match to Tatanka, he fought less and less and only had one more rivalry, as he fought the Undertaker once again and lost.
After the match he betrayed his manager Harvey Wippleman, and stayed solo for the rest of his career.
He fought in a few more matches in both the WWF and Japan but had to hang up the boots because of poor health.
I feel Gonzales had an unsuccessful career and legacy, but only because of his poor gimmick, and lack of wrestling skill.
I feel if he had been trained longer, and had been given a better gimmick he could have been a decent competitor in both the WWF, and WCW.
Gonzales will always be remembered as a towering force with a bad career but I will always remember him as a decent wrestler with wrestling's worst gimmick.
Famous Interview Featuring Him: The Giant Gonzales and Harvey Wippleman are interviewed by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan
Thanks for reading and comment at the bottom, props to JLB for creating this Creature vs Creature! -Hitman
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