The Machines.

[y2josh]

Lately, I have been obesessing over The Machines. Giant, Big, Super, Hulk...etc. Athough, to be honest, I've never seen one match of theirs. The look is awesome to me, as is the storyline. Can anyone older than I am who has seen their work, or anyone who's seen their matches, comment? Did Eadie and Andre have good chemistry as a tag team? How about Eadie and Mulligan? Did they have a tandem finisher? I'm eager to learn as much as possible.

[Grumpyoldman]

After feuding intensely with André the Giant for more than a year, Bobby Heenan's Heenan Family challenged André and a partner of his choice to face King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd in a tag team match on April 26, 1986. When André did not show and was replaced by Ted Arcidi, Bobby Heenan launched a campaign to get him suspended from the WWF. After deliberating on the matter, WWF President Jack Tunney was forced to suspend him for missing the tag team match and subsequent matches against the Heenan Family. (This was part of a wrestling storyline, as André was touring Japan at the time, and was beginning to battle health problems.)

Less than two months after the suspension was announced, vignettes appeared on WWF Television hailing the debut of a masked tag team from the Orient, known as ”The Machines”: Giant Machine and Super Machine. The team announced that they were coming to America soon with their manager Lou Albano, and that their only mission was to prove that they were the number one tag team in the world. Super Machine was portrayed by Bill Eadie; his ring name was a play on his previous gimmick, “Masked Superstar”. Though it was clear that Giant Machine was none other than André the Giant, commentators implied that it may be Giant Baba and not André under the mask.

In the following weeks Bobby Heenan made repeated claims that Giant Machine was André the Giant attempting to circumvent his suspension. To illustrate the obviousness of the ruse, Heenan went so far as to introduce his ”New team from Korea” on an episode of Jesse Ventura’s ”Body Shop”; the team was merely King Kong Bundy and Big John Studd wearing paper bags over their heads. Heenan's claims led to Jack Tunney decreeing that if the Giant Machine was revealed to be André, André's suspension would become permanent.

On August 5 (shown August 23), The Machines made their WWF debut with Super Machine wrestling in a singles match while Albano and Giant Machine were at ringside. Later that night, Bobby Heenan sneaked around at ringside taking pictures of the Giant Machine to try to prove his true identity. One week later, Albano introduced a third Machine to the WWF: Big Machine, who was played by Blackjack Mulligan. André had been suffering from (legitimate) severe back injuries, and the introduction of the Big Machine character was meant to reduce André's wrestling role. "The Machines" angle was designed to put him in a lighter tag-team role. Due to the severity of the back injury, Mulligan was brought in to reduce André's wrestling role even further, thereby keeping the popular superstar on TV.

Big Machine and Super Machine would wrestle the majority of the matches against Bobby Heenan's cronies, occasionally with Lou Albano joining them to face Bundy, Studd and Heenan in six man tag-team action. Soon, other masked wrestlers (whose identities were generally obvious) would appear and temporarily team with The Machines. On September 10 Big and Super Machine were joined by Animal Machine to defeat King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd and Bobby Heenan. On September 16 the Machines were joined by Hulk Machine as the trio defeated the Heenan Family. The Hulk Machine would return on September 22 and help the Machines win in the main event at the Madison Square Garden. A few weeks later the Machines received help from the kilt-wearing Piper Machine. On a house show in St. Paul, Minnesota the Machines even got the help of Crusher Machine, pinning John Studd to gain the victory for his team. On October 28 the Machines wrestled their last match under that gimmick, a loss to Bundy and Studd. This also marked the last appearance as a manager in the WWF for Lou Albano.

After the Machines last match was shown on November 23, the angle was ended and André was announced as being reinstated on November 29. In the following weeks the mystery of why André the Giant was reinstated built up until it was revealed that Bobby Heenan had arranged for the suspension to end so he could turn on Hulk Hogan in the buildup to WrestleMania III. After the angle ended Super Machine was repackaged as Ax, one half of Demolition while Big Machine worked for the WWF as Blackjack Mulligan in late 1986 and the first half of 1987 before leaving the promotion.
Credit- wikipedia


I only remember them wrestling on TV 2 or 3 times. I honestly can't remember if Mulligan & Eadie had any chemistry. And I only saw & heard of the "guest machines" in wrestling magazines then.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help.

[y2josh]

My first exposure to The Machines was with the Hogan ticket mail away. Since then, I've been mighty intrigued. I'm currently buffering The Machines w/ Piper Machine on youtube, but since I have a bad internet connection, it'll take an hour plus. I have been looking thru my large box of 80s wrestling mags and finding some articles on The Machines. I'd love to have the Machines poster listed in the 86/87 WWF catalog

[Marzec]

I remember watching the Machines but the only things that really stick in my memory are Bobby Heenan trying to prove that it was Andre, and the humerous appearances of the "guest" Machines. Animal Machine was the best. There were a bunch of thier matches on Classics On Demand last month.

[y2josh]

George Steele did a Machines appearance?! That's amazing!!

[Marzec]

Yes. Steele, Piper, and Hogan are the only ones that I remember. It was pretty exciting at the time. This was during the rise of Hulkamania so when the Hulk-Machine came out everyone went nuts.

[y2josh]

I wish I had a 48 hour pass to walk into the WWE video vault and burn whatever I wanted on DVD.

[Deleted]

ah the Machines.....great times for tag wrestling and to be a wrestling fan.

[carly1988]

Im gonna ask a stupid question, who was Crusher Machine? Was is literally The Crusher of AWA fame as i never remembered seeing him in the WWF but of course, I didnt watch much WWF back then

[Grumpyoldman]

Jun 30, 2010 11:02:49 GMT -5 @carly1988 said:

Im gonna ask a stupid question, who was Crusher Machine? Was is literally The Crusher of AWA fame as i never remembered seeing him in the WWF but of course, I didnt watch much WWF back then

Yes, it was The Crusher. I guess the WWF wanted to have some fun with him & give the Minnesota fans something to remember. It would like being in North Carolina & having a "Flair Machine".

I totally remember Bobby Heenan cracking me up. Monsoon asked Heenan, "Do you know what keeps these Machines running?" Heenan replie, "No, and I don't want to know where their batteries go, either!"

[y2josh]

God Bless "The Brain". In all actuality, he is probably the #1 factor why this gimmick worked.

[apollocreed]

Thinking I remember JYD as Dog Machine as well, but I might be mistaken. I remember seeing Hulk Machine in a 6 man on Maple Leaf Wrestling when I was a kid too

[Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai]

Jun 29, 2010 20:43:23 GMT -5 Grumpyoldman said:

On October 28 the Machines wrestled their last match under that gimmick, a loss to Bundy and Studd. This also marked the last appearance as a manager in the WWF for Lou Albano.

I was at this TV taping when I was 9 years old. One of the greatest memories of my childhood.

Not only was it Lou Albano's last match of his mid-80s run, and the last match of the Machines gimmick, but it was also:

-- The debut of the Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk)
-- Rowdy Roddy Piper interviewing Hulk Hogan on Piper's Pit
-- Non-TV main event of Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff (man, what an awesome feud in 1986)

And of course, the infamous Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat match where Savage crushed Ricky's throat with the ring bell.

Ive been to tons of live matches over the years, but I've never seen fans freak out like they did when they thought Savage was trying to maim Steamboat. The heat was nuclear.

As for the Machines, I loved that gimmick too... looking back (and knowing in retrospect who they were), Eadie and Mulligan wrestled pretty much the same under the masks as they did with their other gimmicks. That was why the Machines were so fun... everyone knew they were probably plain-old country boy rasslers under the masks, but they denied it flatly. Even though the only Japanese word they ever said was "Ichiban."

Wonder how much these go for on eBay:

[Marzec]

I want that shirt!!!!!

[Emerald Enthusiast]

I remember Mean Gene introducing Giant Machine as being from the Japanese island of "Fu Yu Tu". ;D ;D ;D

[Grumpyoldman]

Jul 1, 2010 5:03:50 GMT -5 Emerald Enthusiast said:

I remember Mean Gene introducing Giant Machine as being from the Japanese island of "Fu Yu Tu". ;D ;D ;D

Holy crap! I haven't thought about that in years! Thanks for the memory tweak!

[Deleted]

Jul 1, 2010 5:03:50 GMT -5 Emerald Enthusiast said:

I remember Mean Gene introducing Giant Machine as being from the Japanese island of "Fu Yu Tu". ;D ;D ;D

LOL!!!!!!

[Emerald Enthusiast]

Jul 1, 2010 14:56:04 GMT -5 Grumpyoldman said:

Jul 1, 2010 5:03:50 GMT -5 Emerald Enthusiast said:

I remember Mean Gene introducing Giant Machine as being from the Japanese island of "Fu Yu Tu". ;D ;D ;D

Holy crap! I haven't thought about that in years! Thanks for the memory tweak!

If I'm not mistaken, that was the same segment where Giant Machine acted like he didn't understand the word "weasel" and asked Gene to translate it for him. ;D

[Emerald Enthusiast]

Jul 4, 2010 6:06:58 GMT -5 JokerFC said:

Jul 1, 2010 5:03:50 GMT -5 Emerald Enthusiast said:

I remember Mean Gene introducing Giant Machine as being from the Japanese island of "Fu Yu Tu". ;D ;D ;D

LOL!!!!!!

That gimmick was full of hilarity. A couple of weeks later, Heenan appeared on the Flower Shop and demanded that Albano bring out Giant Machine to prove he was Andre.

Albano and Big Machine appeared. Heenan huddled with Adonis (and I think Muraco was also there), wondering if they had been mistaken. With the heels back turned, Big Machine left and Giant Machine appeared in his place. The heels were shocked. They debated what to do, when Big Machine took Andre's place again. This went on for awhile with the heels growing more and more confused and furious.

Great stuff!