This WWE Star Couldn't Stand Andre The Giant But He Was Better Off For It
If there were a wrestling equivalent to the idea of "never pull on Superman's cape," it would be to never get on the bad side of Andre The Giant. Despite being described as a gentle giant by many of his closest friends, both in and out of the wrestling business, with various stories of his generosity and his love of a good drink, Andre was known to be wildly temperamental depending on who spoke to him.
The big man didn't always get along with people, with the likes of Randy Savage making an enemy out of Andre for using too much baby oil, The Ultimate Warrior being knocked out in the ring for being too stiff, and stars like Bad News Brown and Big John Studd threatening to beat the life out of Andre for a variety of reasons. However, one man had a problem with Andre and ended up being better off because of it.
That man was none other than Kamala, who was inducted into the legacy wing of the WWE Hall of Fame in 2025 for his contributions to the wrestling business. "The Ugandan Giant" first crossed paths with Andre at the beginning of 1983 when the two men would begin working together in Mid-South Wrestling, with their first match being billed as something of a dream match, as it wasn't common for two men of such size to be facing each other. Their first match went as smoothly as could be, but their second match on January 24, 1983, didn't go according to plan. The finish of the match was communicated to the referee from the back, but something went wrong, and Kamala either forgot a spot or made a mistake mid-spot, leading Andre to call him a "dumb S.O.B.," a comment that Kamala wouldn't forget easily.
Kamala Had A Gun Ready
Despite admitting to putting a foot wrong during the match, Kamala wasn't happy with what Andre said to him and wanted to make sure that he didn't do anything like that again. During an appearance on the "Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling" podcast, Kamala revealed that he had brought a gun with him to Mid-South's next event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as he was going to confront Andre for his comments.
Kamala explained that he walked right up to Andre in the locker room, put his finger to his nose, and told him to never pull anything like that ever again, all while the gun was hidden in his pocket. Instead of retaliating, Andre put both of his hands up and apologized on the spot, calling Kamala "boss" as a sign of respec,t as that was the term Andre would call someone he would get along with, and the situation subsided instantly without Andre even seeing the gun that Kamala had on him. Over the next two years, both men would go on to not only work together in Mid-South but also WWE in 1984, with Kamala revealing that they never had another problem, became friends, and had a number of good matches against each other.
"The Ugandan Giant's" guts to stand up to Andre, knowing how strong he was, ended up benefiting Kamala in the long run. He revealed in a 2017 interview with "The Memorabilia Guy" that after the locker room incident, this time revealing that he did in fact flash his gun to Andre so he could see it, Andre would go out of his way to get Kamala booked on other shows around the country, with Andre himself being impressed with Kamala's bravery, leading to Kamala getting more opportunities than others who had a problem with Andre but would never call him out.