Thanks to Vince McMahon and the WWE, the word superstar gets thrown around with ease, but there have been few true superstars in professional wrestling. For me, a true superstar is someone that defines a generation, someone that everyone has heard of whether they follow wrestling or not. Today, we’re remembering Andre the Giant on the twenty-sixth anniversary of his death.
A story for all sizes
Born with acromegaly, a disorder that causes bones to grow at an accelerated rate, Andre started out as “Jean Ferre” a lumberjack. A Chicago promoter, Bob Luce, thought the name sounded too much like “Giant Fairy” and convinced Andre to change his name to Andre the Giant and the rest became history.
Everyone Andre ever met has a story about him until he took on mythic proportions. Some of the best ones are about his flatulence, how much he ate, and how much he drank. Thanks to awrestlinghistorian for sharing the following excerpt.
“One thing that always amazed me was how much food Andre could put away. He had been born in France so his favorite food was French food, and his favorite restaurant was a place in Beverly Hills where he knew the owners. I hated French food, but I would sit there with Andre. And he wouldn’t eat just one or two dinners. He would eat every goddamn thing on the menu. Everything. I’m talking about every dish they served. So instead of eating for an hour like most people, we would sit in that restaurant eight or ten hours. That’s how long he would take to finish his meal. And that brother could drink.” – Hollywood Hulk Hogan book.
The Boss
In many ways, Andre understood the professional wrestling business better than many already in the business. Hillbilly Jim said in an interview that Andre called for him to body slam him in a match, but Jim faked a back injury when he tried to lift him. It was a moment that earned him Andre’s respect for doing the right thing in telling their story in the ring.
There are plenty of stories where his opponents were worried what he’d do if he didn’t want to lose. One of those was Hulk Hogan in WrestleMania 3. Hogan admitted neither Vince McMahon nor Andre would tell him if Andre was going along with the way the match was supposed to go. Hogan said he had to pull over several time to be sick while heading to the arena due to being so scared. Andre was too big and too strong to lose if he didn’t want to, and that led to a great many additional stories.
The fact is, Andre’s size was nothing compared to the size of his heart, as he was considered generous and caring by those he liked:
and terrifying by those he didn’t:
When his time to leave us came, he left his entire estate to his daughter, despite rarely seeing her.
For the rest of us, remembering Andre the Giant means we have memories we’ll never forget no matter how many “giants” professional wrestling throws at us. There will only ever be one true giant.
