He only lived about half as long as a normal man, but the legacy he left behind is twice as staggering. Grab some popcorn... and a box of Kleenex: the tale of André the Giant is just as tragic as it is inspiring.
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00:00He only lived about half as long as a normal man, but the legacy he left behind is twice
00:05as staggering.
00:06Grab some popcorn and a box of Kleenex.
00:09The tale of André the Giant is just as tragic as it is inspiring.
00:13Born on May 19, 1946, in the small French village of Moliennes, André-René Roussimoff
00:19was always large for his age.
00:21At 12 years old, he was already six feet tall, and by the time he was 18, he was around the
00:26seven-foot mark.
00:27He looked like bananas, his fingers.
00:29Pretty big feet.
00:32He could have made a fortune stomping out fires.
00:35It was around then that he started training as a pro wrestler, and from 1966 to 1971,
00:40he wrestled across Europe under the ring name Giant Ferré.
00:43In 1971, André, now known as Monster Roussimoff, took his talents to Japan's International
00:49Wrestling Enterprises, or IWE.
00:51At that early point in his career, he was known for being quick for his size and excelled
00:56as a heel.
00:57It was also in Japan where André first learned he had acromegaly, though he would refuse
01:01treatment multiple times for his condition.
01:03André's work in Japan helped him gain the attention of North American promoters, and
01:07by the summer of 1971, he was working matches in Canada and for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling
01:12Association, or AWA.
01:14By 1973, he had again switched ring names to André the Giant and started making appearances
01:20for the WWE, then owned by Vince McMahon Sr. and known as the WWWF.
01:26The next decade or so of André's wrestling career in North America was spent across various
01:31territorial promotions as a special attraction.
01:33Sometimes, he was booked to help boost ticket sales at major events, or as a top Babyface's
01:38Surprise tag team partner.
01:40Other times, he was brought in as the biggest man in a territory's battle royal.
01:44So dominant was André in this match type that he was considered the king of the battle
01:48royal.
01:49Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. told CBS Sports in 2015,
01:54Every night, we'd set up two rings and we'd have a giant battle royal.
01:58He did fabulous business for us.
02:00I actually called Vince McMahon Sr. and I asked him,
02:03"'How much should I pay André?'
02:05Because we were doing such super business."
02:07André also did tours for New Japan Pro Wrestling, or NJPW, in the 70s and early 80s, whereas
02:13he was booked as a fan favorite in the territories.
02:16He was positioned as a monster heel in NJPW, since he made for a convincing bad guy.
02:21Sadly, this was when André began dealing with injuries, the most significant of them
02:26being a broken ankle in 1981, which he sustained after getting out of bed.
02:30Though he would achieve great things in the years to come, this particular injury had
02:34an effect on the rest of his career.
02:36Vince McMahon bought the company now known as WWE from his father in 1982, and while
02:41he had his sights on Hulk Hogan becoming the company's top star as part of the company's
02:45expansion, André the Giant was very much in his creative plans.
02:49No longer a special attraction in any given wrestling territory, the Frenchman was a key
02:53component of the then-WWF's roster, taking part in a long-running feud with Big John
02:59Studd that started in 1983, and included a body slam challenge at the first WrestleMania
03:04in 1985, which he won.
03:07At WrestleMania II in 1986, André reprised his role as the man to beat in Battle Royals,
03:12and beat them all he did.
03:14The eighth wonder of the world emerged victorious in a 20-man Battle Royal featuring a mix of
03:18WWF and NFL stars.
03:21The latter group most notably included touchdown-scoring, Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears defensive
03:25lineman William the Refrigerator Perry.
03:28It wasn't a world championship match, but it was a great showcase for André's size
03:32and strength.
03:33André underwent back surgery later that year as his body continued to break down, and in
03:37an effort to cover up the back brace he had to wear, he was given a new costume as Giant
03:41Machine, the latest member of a masked stable that included other disguised WWF superstars.
03:48Fans easily saw through the charade, and the gimmick was seen as a failure.
03:52As André the Giant's wrestling notoriety ramped up, so did the stories of his alcohol
03:57consumption.
03:58Though it's natural to expect someone as large as André to consume much more alcohol than
04:02an average-sized person, the wrestler took his drinking to, uh, pretty dangerous levels,
04:07even for a quote-unquote giant.
04:09Is it true that you, in one sitting, drank 117 beers?
04:14Yes.
04:15While on the surface, it seemed like he just enjoyed drinking for the fun of it, some think
04:19it was his way of coping with the intense pain he was suffering as a result of his in-ring
04:23injuries and acromegaly.
04:24Carey Elwes, André's friend and co-star in The Princess Bride, told Vanity Fair,
04:29"...André didn't drink for the sake of drinking.
04:32André was in a lot of pain.
04:33God bless him.
04:34He was due to have an operation right after the shoot, and his doctor didn't know what
04:38kind of pain medication to give him because of his size, so the only way that he could
04:42deal with the pain was to drink alcohol."
04:45The 1987 film The Princess Bride saw André the Giant play the now-iconic role of Fezzik,
04:50the giant from Greenland who accompanies Wesley and Inigo Montoya in their quest to rescue
04:55Buttercup from the dastardly Prince Humperdinck.
04:57I think the odds are slightly in your favor at hand-fighting.
05:00It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest.
05:04I don't even exercise.
05:06The film gave André a good deal of mainstream exposure outside of the wrestling scene while
05:10earning him the respect of his castmates for being a gentle giant on and off screen.
05:15In a Twitter post commemorating the 35th anniversary of The Princess Bride, Mandy Patinkin, who
05:20played Montoya, recalled one particular act of kindness from André toward their castmate
05:24Wallace Shawn when they were riding a propped forklift.
05:27The actor shared,
05:28"...Wally had a fear of heights, but we get on the thing and the forklift starts to go
05:32up and Wally starts to clearly have issues with being lifted off the ground and the height."
05:37And André just puts his arms around him like a baby, and he says to Wally,
05:41"...Don't worry, I'll take care of you.
05:43And I'll just never forget it."
05:45For his part, André saw his appearance in The Princess Bride as a huge achievement.
05:49Dory Funk Jr. told CBS Sports,
05:51"...He was proud of being a box office attraction in wrestling, but he was also very proud of
05:56his acting skills."
05:58When done right, a heel turn could do wonders for an erstwhile babyface's push, and that
06:03was the case with André the Giant in the lead-up to WrestleMania III in 1987.
06:07Jealous over Hulk Hogan receiving a much larger trophy for his third year as WWF champion
06:12than the one he got for being undefeated in the storyline, André teamed up with villainous
06:16manager Bobby Heenan.
06:18He demanded a title shot from Hogan, ripping off the Hulkster's crucifix from his neck
06:22to let everyone know he wasn't playing around.
06:25Hogan and André got to face off for the title at WrestleMania III in a match that has since
06:29become famous for Hogan body-slamming his 500-plus-pound opponent, supposedly making
06:34him the first man to do so.
06:36In the end, he won the match cleanly, and the fan reaction at the Pontiac Silverdome
06:40in Michigan underscored how satisfying it was to see Hogan triumph over one of WWF's
06:45top bad guys, if not the top bad guy.
06:48WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase told CBS Sports,
06:52"...André made Hulk Hogan, in my opinion.
06:55Here comes this guy that has everything going for him, you know, Hogan.
06:59His size, his whole deal, his look.
07:01But you know, somebody's gotta make him a star, and André the Giant more than anybody
07:06I think, is the guy who helped Hogan become a star.
07:09And I think Hogan would tell you that."
07:10"...I think that's probably a fair assumption."
07:12André the Giant held the WWF-slash-WWE championship only once in his illustrious career.
07:19While this would be the crowning moment in the career of almost any given wrestler, André's
07:23title reign was of the blink-and-you-miss-it variety, with dubious storyline circumstances
07:28leading to the victory.
07:29The championship victory took place during the February 5, 1988 edition of the main event,
07:35but it involved André pinning erstwhile champion Hulk Hogan despite the fact Hogan
07:39kicked out at the count of three.
07:41Turns out, there was some twin magic involved.
07:43While Dave Hebner was supposed to be the referee for the match, it was actually his twin brother,
07:48Earl, who was giving André the tainted win.
07:50He'd been paid off by the million-dollar man Ted DiBiase.
07:54And in an even more bizarre twist, André immediately presented the WWF championship
07:59belt to DiBiase, who was almost immediately stripped of the title by the company's president,
08:04Jack Tunney.
08:05With the WWF championship declared vacant, a tournament was held to determine the new
08:09champion at WrestleMania IV in March.
08:12Neither Hogan nor André advanced to the finals, as they fought to a double disqualification
08:16in the second round.
08:18André spent the next several months feuding with the tournament's winner, Macho Man Randy
08:22Savage, but all his attempts were futile, as their matches typically ended with one
08:26man — or both — getting disqualified.
08:29It may sound unusual to think of someone like André as the jobber to the stars.
08:32A wrestler with name value who's usually booked to lose to established talents to make
08:37them look strong, or to younger grapplers to help build their reputation.
08:41But that's how he spent most of 1989, as he regularly lost to wrestlers like Jake the
08:45Snake Roberts and Big John Studd.
08:48His rivalry with Roberts, which culminated with a loss at WrestleMania V, was notable
08:52because it was based on his fear of snakes — not exactly what you'd expect from a man
08:57of his stature.
08:58But hey, tough guys being afraid of snakes isn't just a movie trope, after all.
09:02Why'd it have to be snakes?"
09:04In August, André entered a feud with The Ultimate Warrior for the latter's Intercontinental
09:09Championship.
09:10Though most of their matches weren't televised, André was regularly squashed in about a minute
09:14or less.
09:15This helped cement Warrior's status as a future champion, but consequently made André look
09:20weak and past his prime.
09:22The fact he was a heel who would have been expected to benefit from the illegal shenanigans
09:25of his faction, the Heenan family, didn't help either.
09:28Thankfully for André, his push got a much-needed lease on life in the final months of 1989,
09:34as he moved to the tag team division and partnered with Heenan family stablemate Haku.
09:38Together, they formed the Colossal Connection, and on the December 13th Superstars of Wrestling,
09:44André and Haku won the WWF World Tag Team titles from Axe and Smash, aka Demolition.
09:50Although André was successful as one half of the Colossal Connection, his move to the
09:54tag team division was a necessity as he was finding it harder and harder to perform in
09:58the ring.
09:59As such, Haku did most of the in-ring work for the duo.
10:02That was also the case at WrestleMania VI on April 1st, 1990, where the Colossal Connection
10:08dropped the WWF World Tag Team Championships back to Demolition.
10:12Following the match, André attacked his manager, Bobby Heenan, setting a babyface turn into
10:17motion.
10:18Unfortunately, he wasn't able to capitalize on the momentum.
10:22Instead of resuming the feud on WWF television as a good guy, André was out of action for
10:26close to half a year, where he took part exclusively in tag team matches.
10:31At this point, he was hardly capable of performing in the ring, but he wasn't done with wrestling
10:35just yet, and the WWF had big plans for what should have been his return in early 1991.
10:42André's WWF return was advertised ahead of the 1991 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, where
10:47he was apparently in consideration to be booked as the winner of the show's titular main event
10:52But according to then-WWF backstage producer Bruce Pritchard, André's failing health caused
10:58him to be pulled from the Royal Rumble.
11:00Pritchard told Wrestling Inc. in 2018,
11:02"...it was health issues.
11:03It was the thought that we're not going to get André beyond this.
11:06We thought, maybe we do one where he wins it, but health issues just weren't going to
11:10allow him to be able to compete in it."
11:12Even bringing him out at number 30 wouldn't have been pretty.
11:16Save for a few un-televised matches in the spring of 1991, André was done as an active
11:20WWF competitor, though he did get a storyline where various heel managers tried to lure
11:25him back to the dark side, only for them to be rejected in embarrassing ways.
11:29Furthermore, his physical condition had deteriorated to the point that he needed crutches to get
11:33around.
11:34André's next stopovers were in Japan and Mexico, where he continued working in six-man
11:39tag team matches that were designed to limit the amount of time he spent in the ring.
11:43At that point, his physical decline was more apparent than ever.
11:46In fact, during his time in Mexico, it was evident he had put even more weight on his
11:51already massive frame.
11:53André wrestled his last match ever on December 4, 1992, in Tokyo, where he teamed up with
11:58Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura to win a six-man tag team match.
12:03Not long after flying back to the U.S., he spent some time with Tim White in January
12:071993.
12:08The veteran referee said that his friend seemed happy despite his poor physical condition.
12:13The end was like the way he lived it.
12:16He never ever complained."
12:18André then flew to France after receiving word that his father Boris was severely ill.
12:23He let his friends in the U.S. know that he would be staying home in France for his father's
12:26funeral, and later to celebrate his mother's birthday on January 24.
12:31Another longtime friend, Jackie Macaulay, said,
12:33"...I saw pictures of him at his mother's birthday party, and I was shocked.
12:37His skin was gray and powdery and his eyes were so deep."
12:41In the early hours of January 28, 1993, André died of heart failure in his Paris hotel room
12:47at the age of 46, shortly after he had spent most of the previous day catching up with
12:51childhood friends from his hometown in Moliennes.
12:54In 1993, André was rightfully enshrined into what is now the WWE Hall of Fame as its first
13:00ever inductee.