AJ FRANCIS: I really think we might need
to enlist Mark's help in our--
Well, definitely--
AJ FRANCIS: --our journey.
You've definitely got to enlist Mark's help because Mark
has a way of speaking passionately
that want to encourage people to do the right thing.
And it doesn't hurt to have a guy that can
fold frying pans in his hand.
Yeah.
ANNOUNCER: Oh my god.
He just bent the pan.
ANNOUNCER: He's rolling it like a newspaper.
[music playing]
MARK HENRY: Man, you talk about a long-ass drive.
PAUL WIGHT: In a snowstorm.
And you got the window down.
Yeah, dude.
I'm part Neanderthal, bro.
ANNOUNCER: Mark Henry, the world's strongest man.
With the world's strongest slam to Kali.
ANNOUNCER: Whoa, no.
ANNOUNCER: Mark Henry bent.
MARK HENRY: My first experience with Andre the Giant,
Beaumont Civic Center.
Andre had a match, and I'm reaching to try to touch him,
and the kids behind me push me.
I land on the ground.
Andre grabs me, and kind of like a baby,
puts this 200-pound kid back on the other side
of the barricade.
Lightning could have struck me and I wouldn't have felt it.
It made me pour everything that I had
into wrestling at that point.
ANNOUNCER: The world's strongest man,
Mark Henry, what a tremendous physical specimen he is.
I've watched, pssh, probably 100 hours of Andre videos
in my wrestling career, trying to figure
out who I wanted to be.
Like, I know him.
I mean, deep.
[sigh]
AJ FRANCIS: Have you guys seen this Giant Machine mask
in person?
- No, I haven't. - No.
PAUL WIGHT: I mean, I've seen it on TV,
I've seen it in magazines, so I'm actually
excited about seeing it myself.
So before the Giant Machine gimmick actually
came to the WWE, Andre the Giant had been
suspended from the company.
But in reality, Andre was taking time away
from WWE to go on tour in Japan and to film
"The Princess Bride."
BEN BROWN: While on this Japanese tour,
Andre was offered the chance to be in a tag team.
ANNOUNCER: [speaking japanese]
Vince McMahon loved the idea and brought
the Machines over to the WWE.
ANNOUNCER: I don't think any tag team has
been talked about more in recent weeks than the Machines
from Japan.
TRIPLE H: You're trying to wear a mask and tell people,
I'm not Andre the Giant, but I'm the Giant Machine.
But you're 7' 4", 500 pounds.
There's not another human being on the planet
that looks like you, but I'm not Andre the Giant.
Say, you know something?
I get the distinct impression that I've
met you someplace before.
SUPER MACHINE: Perhaps-- perhaps you are mistaken.
There's something comical about that and yet endearing,
and that's the tongue-in-cheek nature of our business,
I think, that in some way while some people outside
of the business take things so seriously,
stuff like that is the epitome of sort
of kind of the pro wrestling of you can do anything.
PAUL WIGHT: If we get an opportunity to hold it,
don't cry.
MARK HENRY: Oh, shh, come on.
PAUL WIGHT: Don't start tearing up. (SOBBING) Andre.
Andre.
That's a part of me.
It's OK.
It's nothing to be--
AJ FRANCIS: Know your feelings.
--laughed at or joked about.
My strength feeds off my emotions.
Smokey.
I just want to touch all the stuff that he touched, see
through his eyes for a minute.
I'm here for the fans, and I want us to win.
Yeah.
Yeah!
[laughter]
I'm originally from Japan, so I speak Japanese.
On the hunt?
Well, come on in, guys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We don't let all the cold air--
SONNY ONOO: Oh, that's OK.
I became the conduit between New Japan and WCW.
Well, I'm going to take you downstairs.
- Yeah. - All right.
You lead the way.
Hey, is that Ultimo Dragon's mask?
Yes, it's an Ultimo Dragon mask.
Two of them.
PAUL WIGHT: Looks like lizard skin.
SONNY ONOO: I got to manage all the greats from Japan.
Guys like Ultimo Dragon, you know,
Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Kanemoto, but none of them
spoke English.
So I was the mouthpiece.
[speaking japanese]
What did he just say?
That's how I got in the business.
MARK HENRY: Oh my god.
SONNY ONOO: Yeah.
I mean, that's a rare mask.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Look at that.
Is it possible for me to actually touch the mask?
How much you have?
All right, all right, you're Mark Henry.
I'll let you--
I start reaching now.
SONNY ONOO: No, I know.
There you go.
I'm trying my best.
ANNOUNCER: Headbutt [inaudible].
SONNY ONOO: The Giant Machine, it's the only time
Andre used a mask.
That's why the mask is kind of iconic
in the pro-wrestling world.
You know you want to touch it.
Why you reaching?
I'm not finished.
[laughs]
I just got it.
All right, all right.
Damn.
Yeah, that's crazy.
Andre's face was in here, man.
Yeah.
SONNY ONOO: You guys want to take a shot at that thing?
PAUL WIGHT: Take a shot at it? What do you mean?
SONNY ONOO: Well, the reason I'm saying that is I have a bunch
of people who wants to buy it.
And I promised them that I'll give everybody a shot.
So you're talking about doing some kind of an auction?
SONNY ONOO: Yeah. We do some kind of auction.
[bleep]
AJ FRANCIS: So-- so--
so just so I'm on the same page, we came all the way
out to Mason City, Iowa--
Yes.
AJ FRANCIS: --just to be told that you came up with a--
You have to do like this when you talk like that.
--a little side hustle situation where you--
PAUL WIGHT: Let me introduce you to my friend Sonny Onoo.
Clearly you didn't see me at my character on television.
Yeah.
AJ FRANCIS: Sonny Onoo has nothing to do
with the Giant Machine mask.
That is Andre's legacy.
His motivation is pure greed.
And to use someone else's legacy to try
to make a couple extra bucks, yeah,
that kind of pissed me off.
We buy WCW, then maybe we buy Iowa.
W-- w-- w-- wait a minute.
WCW is not for sale.
This is America, everything's for sale.
[laughs]
Personally, what I think we should do,
I think you should get a picture of it.
Let's send it to Ben Brown.
Let's get it authenticated.
Let me find out what kind of budget we got to work with.
SONNY ONOO: You want to take a picture
of that label in the back.
Yeah, for sure.
Hold this for me, somebody.
Yeah.
Let's go-- let's go-- let's go talk.
Let's go talk.
Wait till you see the steam come off of me.
You better see some steam coming off me.
We came all the way out here.
Yeah.
[laughs]
PAUL WIGHT: Sonny was always a hustler.
He was always finding a way to make
sure that he got deals done and he got his beak wet too.
So it's always best to keep your eyes on the ball,
you know what I mean?
AJ FRANCIS: Hey, Ben.
What's up, man?
AJ FRANCIS: I am in the middle of a snowstorm
in Mason City, Iowa.
And we got here just to be told that we got
to get this Giant Machine mask on an online auction
that he's going to set up while we're here.
PAUL WIGHT: Yeah.
So what are you thinking, Ben, for the number, man?
And I would say 5 grand's the highest.
Because other than that, anything above 5 grand--
Can we-- can we just sit here in the car?
Because I don't want to go in there and be in an auction
and get played.
Well, you're not going to get played.
I'll take care of it.
Just sit with me.
Hell, I learned from Vinny Mac myself.
I ain't afraid to walk away from nothing.
I'm not going to get played.
There are other masks out there that we can hunt down.
All right, Ben.
Cool.
Thank you, Ben.
PAUL WIGHT: Guys ready?
Happy faces, big smiles.
All right.
We're going to go and have some fun.
Yeah. All right.
[inaudible]
PAUL WIGHT: Yeah, yeah.
I was a little bit pissed, to be honest with you,
that we got ambushed with an auction.
Smiles.
Smile.
There you go, smile.
After you.
And I just thought that move was unprofessional.
It's like, oh, you're going to try to work me?
OK.
You can't work a worker, brother.
SONNY ONOO: Can you guys all hear us?
I got you.
ROB: Can you hear us?
What's your name?
Ted Hirsch.
My name is Rob.
I'm nervous.
All right, we'll throw out an opening bid of $500.
I'll do $1,100.
1,500.
1,600.
Uh, I can do 1,750.
ROB: 3,000.
PAUL WIGHT: 3,000.
Wow, you're jumping up there, Rob.
We ain't here to play games, Show.
We ain't here to play.
That's cool.
All right.
You know, I mean, I'll go 4 grand.
I'll go to 4 grand.
I think I'm out at that point.
4,750.
4,750?
Yeah.
PAUL WIGHT: 4,800.
5.
5 grand?
I think, for that kind of money, I think we should pursue
other opportunities, you know.
Just good-- good sense right now, I don't think we should--
I can't jump that high, you know, so.
Rob, looks like you got yourself a mask, man.
MARK HENRY: I had to leave.
PAUL WIGHT: I know you did.
MARK HENRY: 'Cause I wanted to choke the [bleep] out of him.
[laughter]
PAUL WIGHT: Yeah.
But to come up here and get played out, like, sorry, dude.
Wrong dude.
MARK HENRY: Not about that life.
This is all part of the quest to find these items
and get these items.
So, you know, it's not going to be easy.
Well, I get to hang out with you all, so.
But if he changes his mind, I ain't coming back out here,
though.
Andre the Giant is professional wrestling.
Without Andre the Giant, I'm not sitting before you today.
So I feel like it's on my shoulders
to retrieve these artifacts because Andre is not here to be
able to come do it with me.
And now we're kind of at a loss.