Andre the Giant

by Michael Krugman

  TIM WHITE: “We were on the road in Regina, Canada, staying at a hotel that’s connected to a mall, and in the mall is a cinema. The Princess Bride is playing. He goes, ‘Boss, find out what time the last one is on.’ It was showing at like ten thirty or something. André put his match on before the intermission so we could beat the fans out of the building.

  “I went to the theater manager and said, ‘As soon as the lights dim down, could we go in the back and just sit down?’ So we went in and were sitting in the back, just to the side of the projector, ’cause his head would’ve blocked it. No one knows André’s in the theater. He’s finally getting to watch the movie and enjoy it just for himself.

  “So the lights come up at the end, and people turn around and there he is. They all just started clapping. They couldn’t believe it. Can you imagine going to a theater in Regina, Canada, to see a movie and then when the lights come up you turn around and André is sitting right there? He got the biggest kick out of that!”

  STEPHANIE McMAHON: “To me, the character André played in The Princess Bride is very much who he was. That’s how I knew him, as this sweet, loveable, kick-

  Stephanie and her Giant.

  your-ass giant. A big teddy bear. I doubt any of the boys would say this, but I think that André was vulnerable. We all are to some degree. I think that vulnerability is what came across in The Princess Bride.”

  André’s world was an aggressively macho existence, with booze and cards and wrestling being the bond that fixed his friendships. But the real-life Giant also had a fairy-tale camaraderie with the World Wrestling Federation’s own princess, Vince McMahon’s daughter Stephanie. Though the Giant was also close with McMahon’s son, Shane, his relationship with Stephanie was something special. In many ways, the McMahons provided André with a surrogate family, with Shane and Stephanie filling in for the nieces and nephews he saw so rarely. His relationship with Vince, however, was somewhat more complicated.

  TIM WHITE: “André was never locked down to anybody. However, his heart and soul was with the McMahon family. André loved Vince Sr. like he was his dad. When Vince Sr. passed away, André cried, he was so upset. So upset. They never had a contract. Imagine that. Just a handshake. Vince Sr. and André.

  “He loved Vince because he saw him grow up, he saw what a maniac he was and said, ‘Yeah, he’s a good kid.’ But sometimes he questioned, How far is he pushing, what’s he doing?

  “I think he was a little bit concerned what WWE was doing, things like ‘Rock ’n’ Wrestling.’ But he went along with it, like, ‘I’m trusting you because I’ve seen what you’ve done, I’ve seen 93,000 people in the Silverdome.’ But he wasn’t one hundred percent in on it. That’s going to happen with an older guy that’s come through the business working a certain way and then sees it turning. He had questions in his mind, but he still respected and liked Vince a lot.”

  With Vince McMahon.

  VINCE McMAHON: “André really loved my dad, and the feeling was mutual. He liked me, but he didn’t love me. To a certain extent, he resented the fact that I broke up all the little territories. André enjoyed going to the various wrestling territories because he was treated like a king. But when he was just part of World Wrestling Federation, I think he didn’t feel as appreciated. He was, but now one person controlled the business. We never talked about it, but I don’t think he liked that.

  “But my God, he loved my daughter, Stephanie. We were living on Cape Cod for a while, and we had a trampoline. Steph was bouncing on the trampoline and André comes up to the house. Very unusual, but he was in town and we invited him over for dinner. I think it was the first time that they had met. André just got out of his car, goes to her trampoline, and holds out his hand. Steph just stepped into his hand and gave him a kiss. It was just tremendous.”

  SHANE McMAHON: “André was always so nice to me. My dad told me it’s because he was shocked that I wasn’t scared of him. Usually everyone was very afraid, just based on the sheer size of the man—he was very intimidating. But kids have no fear. So I got to know André, he was my buddy. I’d sit in the locker room when he was playing cards, things like that. I always told my dad that I was going to grow up and be André the Giant’s tag team partner. I was going to grow up and be big like André, not small, like my dad.”

  STEPHANIE McMAHON: “He was my friend. André understood me, and I understood André. I think a lot of people had a hard time understanding him, he had that very deep, booming voice with his accent, but I never had trouble understanding him at all. We kind of had a bond without words.

  “André treated me like an adult. I’m not saying he treated me like one of the boys by any stretch of the imagination, but he didn’t talk to me like a child. We had very adult conversations, about life and people.

  “When I was about fourteen, André took me out to dinner at his favorite French restaurant. So we walk into the restaurant, and all of a sudden André starts laughing this deep, booming laugh. I said, ‘André, what’s so funny?’

  “‘Ho, ho, ho, ho. All these people, they think I’m a dirty old man.’

  “I was a little shocked. I said, ‘No, they don’t.’

  “‘Oh, yes, they do. Ho, ho, ho, ho.’

  “We talked about all different kinds of things. He ordered just about everything on the menu—I was so full by the time I left there. We really had a nice time.

  “At the Garden, I would always sit by where the wrestlers came out. André would always grab my hand as he walked by, either on his way out or on his way back. He wouldn’t look at me, because he was working, but he’d give my hand a little squeeze as he walked by. Always. It was just between he and I. Nobody else saw it. He was my friend. That’s the only way I know how to explain it.”

  WrestleMania IV.

  11

  The Princess Bride made André the Giant a household name, introducing him to new fans that were perhaps unfamiliar with his work in the ring. He returned to wrestling “with a little bit of swagger,” according to Tim White. “He was super proud of it,” White says. “Wrestling he almost took for granted, whereas this was new.”

  TERRY FUNK: “He was so proud of The Princess Bride. We were in Japan together, and every day I’d get on the bus and he’d say, ‘You wanna watch movie?’

  “‘Okay, Andre, I’ll watch the movie with you.’”

  “Next day, ‘You wanna watch Princess Bride again?’

  “‘You bet.’ I didn’t want to make him mad at me, that’s for damn sure, so we watched The Princess Bride for the whole tour there.”

  Between the colossal success of WrestleMania III and the massive star power being generated by its main event protagonists, the André/Hogan rivalry was guaranteed to continue. A new Pay-Per-View event would be held in November. At Survivor Series teams of five would battle it out in elimination matches. The Thanksgiving Day event—held November 26, 1987, at Ohio’s Richfield Coliseum—marked the first official in-ring meeting between André and Hogan since WrestleMania III.

  Survivor Series saw André leading a heel squad that included the Heenan Family’s Rick Rude and King Kong Bundy, along with Butch Reed (with his manager, Slick) and the One Man Gang. In the opposite corner, Hogan captained the team of Bam Bam Bigelow (with Sir Oliver Humperdink), Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff, Ken Patera, and Don Muraco (replacing Superstar Billy Graham, who reinjured his hip in an earlier match with Reed).

  Due to his increasingly debilitated physical condition, André was forced to spend most of the match on the apron, leading his team with sheer presence. He and Hogan had a brief mid-match confrontation, resulting in the Hulkster’s elimination by countout. The teams fought until the only remaining wrestlers were Bam Bam Bigelow and André, who nailed an underhook suplex for the pinfall and the title of Sole Survivor.

  ONE MAN GANG: “All the guys, we tried to pull in there. He just came in a couple of times. But he was the cornerstone of the team, he was André the Giant. We all tried to go out there and rea
lly help the match and keep him in the limelight, but not keep him in the ring so much.”

  Squeezing Bam Bam Bigelow, Survivor Series.

  After the bell was rung, Hogan returned to the ring and nailed the Giant with his championship belt. The shot sent André down to the canvas and out to the floor. As “Real American” boomed though the arena, Hogan taunted the angry André with the title. The Giant had to be held back by Bobby Heenan, who fulfilled his managerial duties by challenging the cocky champion: “You want him? You’ll have to sign a contract!”

  Survivor Series was immediately followed by a memorable installment of Saturday Night’s Main Event. The NBC broadcast was headlined by Hulk Hogan defending his title against King Kong Bundy, with André serving as cornerman for his fellow Heenan Family behemoth. André’s interference ultimately caused the match to degenerate to the point where he was expelled from ringside. Though it was Hogan and Bundy doing the work in the ring, the Giant would always be the true star of the show.

  March 1988

  Reported USA Today, “Wrestling fans helped NBC’s latest Main Event special (November 28, 1987) ... tie its highest overnight rating.”

  Two nights earlier, a Pay-Per-View standard was achieved by the historic Survivor Series. An explosive lineup to 490,000 households. Considering that many watched the Thanksgiving spectacular in large groups, it is estimated that between 2 and 3 million saw teams headed by . . . André the Giant gain victories.”

  As 1987 drew to its close, André’s letter-perfect heel turn earned him one of wrestling’s highest accolades: Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s “Most Hated Wrestler” award. The year culminated with a major turn of events in the André vs. Hogan program, one that would have far-reaching ramifications for the entire World Wrestling Federation. Having failed to convince Hulk Hogan to sell his World Heavyweight Championship, Ted DiBiase—the Million Dollar Man–used his infinite resources to purchase André’s contract from Bobby Heenan.

  The son of wrestler Helen Hild and the stepson of wrestler “Iron” Mike DiBiase, Ted DiBiase was destined for a career in the ring. He attended West Texas State University, alma mater of a veritable who’s who of wrestling

  Choking out Hogan.

  greats, including Dusty Rhodes, Stan Hansen, Tully Blanchard, and Tito Santana. It was there that he had his very first encounter with André the Giant.

  TED DIBIASE: “I actually met André in Amarillo while I was still in college playing football at West Texas State. Here I am, a college kid, and being raised in the business, I would go to matches every Thursday night. That’s where I really started to appreciate the business. I was fifteen when my dad died—I admired the business, but I didn’t have the eye or the intellect at the time to appreciate it for what it really was.

  “André would come to town, and I’d take him out, to the bars and back to his hotel, things like that. I said, ‘André, where do you want to go?’ He says, ‘Where does everybody go?’ ‘Okay, I’ll take you to one of the college bars.’

  “So we go to this bar and the barmaid walks up and says, ‘What are you having?’ André says, ‘You have trash can?’ She looked at him kinda funny and says, ‘Yeah, we got lots of them.’ André says, ‘Empty trashcan, clean it out, fill it with beer and ice, bring it to the table.’

  “She looked at him, then she looked at me—she knew me, because I’m a regular coming in there—and I nodded and said, ‘He’s serious.’ So, sure enough, they brought over two or three cases of beer, iced down in a great big tall trash can, just for André. It was pretty funny.”

  DiBiase trained in Amarillo with fellow West Texas State alumni Terry and Dory Funk Jr. before embarking on his wrestling career. He made his bones in “Cowboy” Bill Watts’s Mid-South Wrestling—“a long, tough territory,” according to DiBiase—and in 1979 was brought to New York to work for World Wide Wrestling Federation. Among his tag partners during that brief run was André, whom he teamed with in a series of Six Man Tag matches against the Valiant Brothers. DiBiase also was the first-ever holder of the North American Championship, a title he lost to Pat Patterson, who then unified it with the South American Championship to create the World Wrestling Federation’s Intercontinental Championship.

  After leaving the company, DiBiase mastered his craft working in Mid-South, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1987, just as he was on the verge of signing an NWA contract, DiBiase was invited to join the now-booming World Wrestling Federation. He was promised a major push, with a gimmick so good that if Vince McMahon himself were to become a wrestler, this would be the character he would play.

  DiBiase accepted the offer and became one of wrestling’s all-time great heels—the Million Dollar Man, a filthy rich, morally bankrupt villain who would prove his motto, “Everybody has a price,” by inviting fans to perform degrading acts for a handful of cash. He was accompanied by his “bodyguard,” Virgil—Mike Jones—who provided extra muscle and outside interference when necessary.

  The Million Dollar Man was a main event player from the start, offering to purchase Hulk Hogan’s World Heavyweight Championship immediately upon his arrival in World Wrestling Federation. Needless to say, the champ declined DiBiase’s offer, thus forcing the Million Dollar Man to devise a new plan for possessing the title without ever having to actually wrestle for it.

  March 1988

  “HIS BUCKS BUY ANDRÉ:

  DIBIASE SAYS HE’LL OWN HULK’S TITLE”

  Ted has purchased the contract of André the Giant from the master manipulator of managers, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

  “If I have André,” says DiBiase, “I have the title.”

  DiBiase’s pronouncement came late in December, when the sale of the Giant’s contract was announced. . . . DiBiase obviously knew he was not just buying the greatest contender for the title, but a scheme ...that would practically place the championship in André’s—and DiBiase’s—hands.

  Heenan would be infinitely wealthy and see his greatest dream come true—the defeat and humiliation of Hulk Hogan. DiBiase could prove once and for all that his philosophy of life was supreme— money can buy anything. And, for André, there was the chance to attain the goal that has so festered in his soul it has turned the gentle Giant into a monster of mayhem—he would be recognized as the supreme force in international athletics, the World Wrestling Federation Champion.

  Heenan had been outraged when DiBiase had attempted to buy the title from Hogan. “Unfair,” shouted Heenan. “André should have the chance to take the title in the ring.”

  The Million Dollar Man promised resources that would give André a massive advantage, such as a private world-class gym staffed by the best professional trainers, in which André could become more of a Giant than before. . . . One way or another, the purchase of André’s contract by DiBiase has added an astounding new dimension to the earth-shaking feud between Hogan and André.

  December 8, 1987: SunDome, Tampa, FL

  CRAIG DEGEORGE INTERVIEWS TED DIBIASE (W/VIRGIL)

  “I frankly thought we had put to rest this issue of buying the heavyweight championship,” says interviewer Craig DeGeorge, “but I assume by your presence here that, well, we haven’t.”

  “Well, well, well,” DiBiase crows, hands on his shiny purple lapels. “I told you people some time ago that Hulk Hogan was a fool, that he would live to regret not accepting the most generous offer of the Million Dollar Man. And I also told you people that I was a man not accustomed to not getting what I want. Well, I’ll tell you right now, I get what I want. I buy what I want! And I want the World Wrestling Federation heavyweight title. And I told you people that I would buy it! And coming down the aisle right now, accompanied by his manager Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, is the man that will deliver it to me, the World Wrestling Federation heavyweight title, the Eighth Wonder of the World, André the Giant.”

  André and Heenan, resplendent in bright red satin jacket and black neck brace, come to the stage. André’s hand
is on the Brain’s shoulder as the two men shake hands with Virgil and the Million Dollar Man.

  “What is the meaning of this?” sputters DeGeorge.

  “Mr. DiBiase,” Heenan says, “thank you. Thank you. Never in my life did I ever think I would have the wealth and be able to buy the things I can, and the way I can live now, financially for the rest of my life. You see, Hogan, you are a fool! I’m not a fool. I don’t let opportunity pass me by. Mr. DiBiase, thank you again. Because all you’re buying is what we planned to do anyway, guaranteed the World Heavyweight Championship, because we’re gonna beat Hogan like we’ve done before. Thank you.”

  “André, will you deliver to me, the Million Dollar Man, the World Wrestling Federation heavyweight title?”

  “Mr. DiBiase,” rumbles the Giant, a malevolent grin spread wide across his face, “I will tell you one thing. I will deliver that belt, the World World Wrestling Federation [sic], and I will enjoy it, Hogan! Ha, ha, ha! Oh yeah!”

  “We’ve got it, Virgil!” DiBiase says assuredly. “It’s ours!”

  Though his back operation relieved some of his pain, André was still quite limited as far as his physical range. Pairing him with DiBiase kept the Giant—the promotion’s top heel by far—in the center of the storyline. At the same time, it allowed him to play a less active role in the ring, with the talented DiBiase handling the majority of the actual wrestling.

  TED DIBIASE: “It was a way for André to stay in the main events while protecting his injured back. Most people really didn’t know how much he wrestled in pain. There were times when we walked to the ring together and he would have his hand on my shoulder to keep him balanced. In the ring, I basically did all the work.”

  December 11, 1987: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston, TX