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1-9 of 9
- John Minton, or Big John Studd as he would eventually be known, was born on February 19th, 1948, in Butler, Pennsylvania. He started training to be a professional wrestler under 'Walter 'Killer' Kowalski' at the age of 18. He first worked for the WWF (then the WWWF) under the name Chuck O'Connor, then as one of the Masked Executioners in 1976, leading to a Tag Team Title reign. He later went to Texas and became the masked Captain America, feuding with Fritz Von Erich, Stan Hansen, and 'Andre the Giant'. It was in Texas that he picked up the Big John Studd moniker.
Later, he moved to Jim Crockett's Mid Atlantic territory where he feuded with Greg Valentine and fellow giant Blackjack Mulligan (Bob Windham). He retired from wrestling in the late 70s, but was talked into coming back as Ron Reis' tag team partner in The Giants tag team. He went to the AWA but was generally unhappy there. In the mid 80s the WWF, under 'Vince McMahon Jr.' took off, and Studd was along for the ride. He was always near the top of the card, feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan and teaming with Ken Patera to cut off Andre's hair. In his most famous match, he took on Andre in a 15,000 dollar bodyslam challenge at the first _Wrestlemania (1985)_. He retired again from pro wrestling, and got himself some acting gigs, including Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991). Falling off a motorcycle while filming this movie and frequent steroid use probably both accelerated his Hodgkins Disease. Studd learned he had the disease in 1993 right after collapsing after his last match, against the Honky Tonk Man (Wayne Farris). He spent 20 weeks in the hospital in 1994 (during which time he admitted under oath that he used steriods in the 80s during the WWF's steroid trial), and died from liver cancer on March 20th, 1995. He was 47 years old and left behind a wife and three children, John Jr., Janelle and Sean. - Rene Hawkins was born on 28 March 1944 in Manila, Philippines. He was an actor, known for Zuma (1985), Sandakot na bala (1988) and Pagbabalik ng lawin (1975). He died on 10 May 2014 in Burke, Virginia, USA.
- Brilane Bowman was born on 5 July 1963 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. She was an actress, known for Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), A Dirty Shame (2004) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). She died on 9 December 2020 in Burke, Virginia, USA.
- Ngoc Loan Nguyen was born on 10 December 1931 in Hue, French Indochina. He was married to Chinh Mai. He died on 14 July 1998 in Burke, Virginia, USA.
- Robert Farquhar was born on 12 September 1932 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He died on 18 October 2015 in Burke, Virginia, USA.
- Roland Mesnier was born on 8 July 1944 in Bonnay, Doubs, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France. He was married to Martha . He died on 26 August 2022 in Burke, Virginia, USA.
- Michael Bam Jones was an actor, known for Confederate Zombie. He died on 25 September 2015 in Burke County, Georgia, USA.
- Additional Crew
Stanley V. Wielga Jr. was born on 19 September 1928 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA. Stanley V. is known for West Point (1956). Stanley V. died on 15 November 2014 in Burke, Virginia, USA.- Allan Hobson was born on 3 June 1933 in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He was married to Joan Harlowe and Rosalia Silvestri. He died on 7 July 2021 in East Burke, Vermont, USA.