In an industry where everything was
portrayed as larger than life, Andre Rousimoff was the real
deal. The close
to seven foot tall four hundred plus pound wrestler dwarfed
his opponents in the ring and made an unforgettable impression
in the world of professional wrestling during his 28 year
career. During
the 1970’s, Andre was the highest paid wrestler in the
business and he made a fortune for promoters as he toured
territory after territory. Fans clamored to see
the real-life giant who could use power moves and high-flying
moves equally well.
As Andre’s legend grew, he eventually become known as
“the Eighth Wonder of the
World”.
However, Andre’s
tremendous size was both his blessing and his curse. Although Andre’s
unusual growth has been attributed to acromegaly (a medical
condition in which the body overproduces growth hormone), his
actual medical condition was childhood pituitary gigantism
(Simply put, both conditions are similar but acromegaly occurs
during adult age whereas childhood pituitary obviously begins
sometime during childhood). Semantics aside, the
end result was that Andre’s body was the proverbial ticking
time bomb. When
his body stopped growing in height, it continued to grow
internally, wreaking havoc on his internal organs. While the matter is
now treatable with surgery and drug therapy (as Paul “Big
Show” Wight can attest), Andre did not have that option and he
lived his life to the fullest, knowing that his time was
limited.
The stories of Andre’s eating and drinking exploits are
legendary with one tale mentioning that he once dined at a
restaurant and ordered every item on the menu. Another story has
Andre drinking over one hundred beers in one sitting before
passing out.
While these stories may be tall tales (no pun
intended), they reflect Andre’s lust for life. In the end, Andre the
Giant’s approach to life was exemplified by Irish playwright
George Bernard Shaw who
wrote: Life is no brief candle to
me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got a hold of
for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as
possible before handing it onto future
generations.
In the ring, Andre was a true
spectacle.
Promoters typically put him in handicap matches or
battle royals where he astounded fans with his unbelievable
size and even more incredible agility (dropkicks and aerial
moves were not uncommon during Andre’s early years as a
wrestler).
However Andre also engaged in memorable one on one
battles with other big men of the sport such as Hulk Hogan,
Bruiser Brody, Blackjack Mulligan, and Ernie Ladd.
Andre was a guaranteed draw but
promoters did not want the Giant’s novelty to wear off on
fans. As a result, promoters limited his appearances. This was no
problem for Andre.
He could appear once or twice in one territory and rest
assured that dozens of promoters were waiting to book him in
their region.
This continued for many years until Vince McMahon’s
national expansion during the 1980’s when he cut all
cooperation with promoters and restricted Andre’s appearances
to the World Wrestling Federation and an occasional appearance
in Japan.
During the early 1980’s Andre feuded
with Big John Studd in a series of memorable matches built up
by a great angle in which Andre had his hair cut by John Studd, Ken
Patera, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. The feud peaked at
Wrestlemania I where Studd put up $15,000.00 vs. Andre’s
career in a Body Slam
Challenge.
The feud with Studd continued as Studd
formed a tag team with King Kong
Bundy and began feuding with Andre and whichever partner
Andre could find.
Andre challenged Studd and Bundy to a match on WWF
Superstars but no-showed it for unknown reasons. As a result WWF
President Jack Tunney suspended Andre the
Giant.
During his suspension,
Andre appeared in the film The Princess
Bride. Throughout his
career, Andre had appeared in film and television due to his
incredible size and charisma. He had notable roles in The
Six Million Dollar Man, Conan the Destroyer,
Micki and Maude, and The Fall Guy to name a
few.
While Andre was suspended, a masked wrestler
named the Giant Machine began appearing in Japan, leading Bobby Heenan (the man who had
petitioned for Andre's suspension) to grow suspicious.
The Giant Machine teamed with another masked wrestler named
the Super Machine and faced off against members of the Bobby
Heenan Family. Suddently, machines seemed to pop out of
the woodwork such as the Animal Machine, the Rowdy Machine,
and the Hulk Machine. Heenan was furious, claiming that
Andre was really the Giant Machine in
disguise.
After a while Jack Tunney reinstated
Andre the Giant and fans welcomed their hero home. However fans noticed
that Andre was different. Gone was the gentle
giant and Andre seemed fixated on Hulk
Hogan’s WWF Title.
Then in a shocking turn of events, Andre the Giant
teamed up with longtime nemesis Bobby Heenan and challenged
Hulk Hogan to a match at Wrestlemania III.
By the 1980’s, Andre’s body was
feeling the effects of his glandular disease. He had trouble
navigating the ring and unknown to the fans, often relied on a
wheelchair backstage.
However this didn’t stop Andre from participating in
some of the most memorable matches of the 1980’s including his
Wrestlemania III match with Hulk Hogan where he helped set a
live attendance and pay-per-view record.
Wrestlemania
III would go on to set an outdoor attendance record and become
the most succesful wrestling event of its time, largely due to
the hype surrounding the Hogan/Andre match. Hogan
struggled against Andre during the match. Hulk started
off strong and attempted to bodyslam Andre only to hurt his
back instead. Andre capitalized on Hogan's mistake and
began working over his back. Andre punished the Hulkster
for much of the match until he gave the Hulkster an opening
that Hogan capitalized on. Hogan rallied back and in an
incredible feat of strength, Hogan bodyslammed Andre and
delivered his legdrop finisher for the pinfall
victory.
Andre did
not let his defeat to Hogan slow him down. Instead he
focused on the goal of defeating Hogan and enlisted the aid of
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. Andre met Hogan on
national television and pinned the Hulkster for the WWF
Heavyweight Championship. The title win was suspicious
as it appeared that Andre had only pinned Hogan for a two
count. It also appeared that the referee for the match
was an imposter hired by DiBiase to make sure Andre won the
title. Nevertheless, Andre was now WWF Champion.
He then gave the title to DiBiase. Unfortunately for
DiBiase, WWF President Jack Tunney stated that the title could
not be given away and that Andre had forfeit the title.
As a result, a championship tournament was held at
Wrestlemania IV. Hogan and Andre battled to a double
count-out during one of the tournament
matche.
Despite his
growing physical problems, Andre continued to wrestle and
feuded with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan as well as Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Andre
also won additional championship gold when he teamed with Haku
to win the WWF Tag Team Championship as one half of the
Colossal Connection.
Near the end of his
career, Andre wrestled in constant pain. Doctors were amazed
that Andre was still alive as most people with his condition
were lucky to make it to age forty. Andre defied the odds
before passing away at the age of 46.
