CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
Jorge "Giant" Gonzalez, a former member of the Argentina Olympic basketball team in the 1988 Olympics, who wrestled as a headliner for WCW and WWF from 1990-93, passed away today in a hospital in San Martin, Argentina.
Gonzalez was 44.
Gonzalez, who was a legitimate 7-6 1/2 and 405 pounds, was first drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, but was considered too slow to play in the NBA. Jim Herd and Jim Ross spearheaded the Turner organization to sign him to a wrestling contract, where he used the name El Gigante, with the idea of creating a next generation Andre the Giant, as Gonzalez was more than eight inches taller than Andre and a better athlete. But he never fully grasped wrestling and only lasted two years before his big-money contract wasn't renewed. He was a headliner most of his run.
WWF brought him in shortly after, billing him as "the eight foot Giant Gonzalez." He was given a similar push as Great Khali, first overpowering Undertaker before a blow-off match at WrestleMania. He put Undertaker over at house shows for the rest of the summer and was done with the company at that point.
He wrestled a few times after that outside North America. In recent years he had been wheelchair bound due to the effects of a long battle with diabetes.
Saw him wrestle The Undertaker live once. He was really really tall.
