Kendo Nagasaki has made the bold claim that he was the first person to ever beat Andre The Giant.
The legendary British wrestler was not actually Japanese, but was car salesman Peter Thornley from Crewe who transformed into Kendo Nagasaki each night in the ring.
Nagaski wrestled for four decades in the UK, becoming one of the country’s biggest ever stars throughout his incredible career.
Famed for his mysterious and often supernatural character, he amazed fans as a spiritual wrestling master, and was billed from Japan.
However, his most miraculous move was beating the unbeatable Andre the Giant in the Frenchman’s first ever defeat.
Kendo Nagasaki spoke with The Sun Sport in an exclusive interview, where he talked about wrestling Andre The Giant.
He claimed to be the first man to beat the legendary Frenchman, during a 1969 bout in Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent.
Back then, Andre was going by the name “Jean Ferre“, a play on the French fairytale Geant Frerre (The Iron Giant).
“You’ve all heard of André the Giant, right? Well, I was the first wrestler to ever beat André the Giant.” Kendo Nagasaki claimed. “I beat him three times—once at Hanley, then at Liverpool Stadium, and finally at Belle Vue—before any American wrestler ever beat him.”
“All of them, like Hogan, came after I beat him. When André first came over [to Great Britain], he was a bit green. He came here to learn the business.”
“He was a genuine 6’11″—we measured him in the dressing room. But he was still inexperienced. Before our match, he said to me, ‘Please, if I do something you don’t like, don’t hurt me.’ And he asked, ‘What am I going to do?’ So I told him, ‘Get me in a bear hug, and I’ll make you look good.’
“We got through the match with him holding me in a bear hug because he was such a big lad.” Kendo Nagasaki said.
“Eventually, I got out of it, body-slammed him, and pinned him. That was the end of it. We only went two and a half rounds, and that was the first time he was beaten.”
It make sense that he would have the giant’s number. Kendo Nagasaki has beaten stars like Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy in his day, and added Andre The Giant to his list early on in the Frenchman’s career.
However, Kendo did regret beat Andre. He was undefeated at the time, and did what he had to do to protect his gimmick.
This did mean that Andre suffered though. He wasn’t booked as prominently in subsequent UK tours, and spent less time in the UK than he would have liked.
Kendo Nagasaki unmasked after a match against Big Daddy in 1977, which almost killed the gimmick and ruined his wrestling career.