Professional Wrestling Career
Ozawa's Mongolian giant character was created by Karl Gotch. He traveled to America in 1979 to wrestle. The following year, in 1980, Khan first wrestled Andre the Giant in tag team match for Georgia Championship Wrestling. Later that same year, he was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In the WWF, Khan originally feuded with WWF Champion Bob Backlund, as well as the WWF Intercontinental Champion Pedro Morales.
Khan was then placed in feud with Andre the Giant. During one match in May 1981, Khan botched a kneedrop off of the top turnbuckle that resulted in Andre the Giant breaking his ankle, as Khan accidentally landed on it. The truth was that Andre actually broke his ankle getting out of bed. The incident has been reported as real and as a storyline to help put Khan over. When Andre returned from his injury, he and Khan feuded into the next year. In November 1981 in Philadelphia Andre defeated Khan in a "Mongolian Stretcher match." The feud was named Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Feud of the Year.
In 1984 in Canada's Stampede Wrestling, he had a series of matches with Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie. On January 20, 1984, he won the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship from Gouldie in a street fight. In March, he lost the title to Dynamite Kid.
Khan made a brief return to the WWF in 1987, managed by Mr. Fuji, where he feuded with Outback Jack. In addition, he wrestled against WWF Champion Hulk Hogan in a match at the Boston Garden where Hogan retained his title.
Read more about this topic: Killer Khan
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