Andre The Giant-the myth-the man

Andre the Giant is a legend in WWE history and imagery. He was tall, popular and there are no terrible stories about him.

Andre Roussimoff was born in France in 1946. At a young age, he grew tall very fast due to a medical condition called Acromegaly. He turned this to his advantage athletically and became a professional wrestler. This was a time when they didn’t record these matches for the future, but there are pictures. Andre was thin with movie star good looks. He traveled through several promotions so he kept this air of mystery and fame. He never stuck around long enough to a promotions champion.

In the late 1980s, WWF wrestling recorded matches for video sales and future records. By that time, Andre was older and the movie star looks faded. He got bulky but not muscular. The matches were usually tag team where his partner did most of the work.

I looked for videos to see what made Andre famous. There were pictures and articles. The matches were more difficult to find. I did find some 1970s matches. Wrestling was very different back then. They tried to be more grounded in reality. A suplex was a major move. They did these nerve holds and playing to the crowd. For the time, Andre took bumps, he threw Baron Von Rascke across the ring. He chased Bobby Heenan around the ring. He got body slammed.

Perhaps the bigger legacy and reason he is remembered is because there are more stories now for as big as he was, he never hurt anyone in the ring. He knew how to land. He knew how to body slam someone without hurting them. He knew how to play to a crowd and make a small move seem devastating.

Outside the ring, he drank and lived life. He always looked happy even when he was in pain. A guy that big had a hard time in cars. His fingers were too big to use phones or type. You’d never know it. He cracked jokes all the time.

There are pictures and stories and songs about Andre. Songwriters who never saw those matches in Andre’s prime write songs about him.

Back in Providence Rhode Island in 1990, a skateboarder made a sticker in his free time. It had a picture of Andre with the phrase, “Andre has a posse” At the time, “posse” was slang for a group of friends. The phrase was silly. The stickers were all over Providence. Someone put them on street lights and electric posts. I had a sticker. Even people that didn’t follow wrestling, had stickers.

People loved the guy.

That’s a legacy.