Would Andre The Giant Have Been As Big Today?

[Shakin' Abe]

Andre traveled from territory to territory back in the day. He came in, squashed everyone, never asked for a title shot, pleased the fans and then left. He was the perfect side show to the circus. When he had the run with Hogan in the 80's, he was a shell of the man he was in the 70's but still a force to be delt with. Today's wrestling fans don't get the superman effect from the talent anymore. Big Show should NEVER lose to a clean pinfall but he does, and for me, it SUCKS! The same would happen to Andre today and he'd just be another big guy.

[Azane]

IWC
"Omg I can't believe they keep giving Andre main event matches, he's so slow and clumsy"
"What's the big deal?"
"Well of course Hogan could slam him, he jumped"

Like other people stated, he'd end up being compared to the Great Khali, which is a damn insult to the man, but I don't think he'd have the novelty today, especially as another poster again pointed out, he'd be overexposed like everyone else is in WWE today.

[Raiden46]

I'm glad somebody had the balls to make this post. Andre was considered one of the greatest of all time back in his day. Nowadays though, it seems to be more about who can do the more athletic, flashier, and technically sound moves in the ring. Khali gets booed mercilessly because he lacks all three of the aforementioned qualities. Andre had some technical skill, but he certain wasn't very athletic or flashy in the ring. I can't see how the character Andre the Giant would survive in the modern WWE.

As someone else pointed out, he was the first of many and paved the way for other big men in the industry. Kinda like Macho/Steamboat at WM3. Back then, it was considered the greatest match of all time because it didn't follow the usual script of the time and instead resorted to countless back and forth near falls. Nowadays, everyone does it nearly all the time and we take it for granted.

[Davi323]

Originally Posted by Raiden46

Andre had some technical skill, but he certain wasn't very athletic or flashy in the ring. I can't see how the character Andre the Giant would survive in the modern WWE.

It depends on which Andre the Giant you are talking about. If you are talking about the Andre the Giant that faced Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania III, that's pretty accurate. However, if you are talking about the Andre the Giant from the early-mid 70s, it's a completely different guy. That Andre the Giant had 60 minute time limit draws against Nick Bockwinkel. That guy wasn't a great technical wrestler, but he was worlds better than what we saw at the Silverdome. The 1970s Andre the Giant was a dominant force of nature. That Andre would dominate today's WWE just like he dominated everywhere else, at least for about 8-10 years before the acromegaly eroded his skills just as they did during his actual career. However, science has come a long way since Andre was born. The Big Show had the same condition, but it was able to be corrected. If Andre the Giant had access to the same medical techniques the Big Show had, and wouldn't have suffered the negative health affects that he did, Andre would have dominated for a lot longer. Some guys would be an attraction no matter when. Andre would have been one of those guys.

So, yes and no. It depends on which Andre we are talking about.

[Headman]

This is a tough one. On one hand Andre was so much more than just another big guy. He was one of the most charismatic superstars of all time. But it's very possible the way shows are booked now along with the way fans are that he wouldn't find the same level of success he did in the 70's and 80's. Back then it was hard to imagine anyone beating him, because in real life it's very unlikely that anyone could. Now days we see Cody Rhodes go hold for hold with the Big Show which obviously wouldn't happen in real life. And then there's the fact that fans now days would probably turn on him pretty fast as they do anyone who doesn't do a million moves per match or spout profanity in their promos. Still, I'd like to think he would fair better than the current crop of big men. Big Show is the closest thing we have to compare to Andre and in my opinion he's still not even close.

[theBec2101]

I think he would but not to the extent as he was back then. Back then you couldn’t see him every week on the internet or TV all the time. That’s what made him so prestige. You didn’t get to him like you would now. But would he of gotten over, of course, look at Big Show. I mean the match alone if those two would of want at it just my pure appearance would of been epic.

[BigRedPunk]

Honestly? No. In my opinion he would be seen the same way as The Great Khali and that is a slow, boring and unskilled wrestler. Although Andre was a little better than Khali only because you seen him do a simple scoop slam often where as apparently Khali doesn't know what a slam is and only does chops and rarely elbows in the corner. But back to the original question no I don't think he would have been even close to the popularity he had. Wrestling skills in general were a lot more simple everywhere back in Andre's time and thus the fans were more use to the slow simple style and thus more forgiving. The fans now a days have been spoiled by more actual wrestling skill and talent.

[xavyer]

This reminds me of a question i was asked a few days ago about Michael Jordan, a friend asked me if i think Jordan would be as big in today's era of the NBA, that is a question that doesn't exactly has a right answer,ok, like many people said, at his time he stand out because there wasn't many competition for him in the Giant category, in the 80's he had Big John Stud, and King Kong Bundy, that's when i started watching wrestling, and i remember those mathes, i don't know how great they were, but i enjoyed them a lot, i didn't had the oportunity to see his matches in the 70's, but some people are saying that they were great, and obviously he was in better shape than in the 80's so i think that his matches had to be really good, and if he was alive today, in my opinion, i think he probably could, because like many of you said, it was a different era, that's the era he adapted to, i think if he could have adapted to this era, he might be that good, but like a i sad, that's one of those things that doesn't have a definite answer.......

[Headman]

A lot of people here seem to be basing their opinion based on the mid 1980's Andre as opposed to the Andre of the 1970's. Andre was far more skilled in the ring than Khali before his back and knees went down the crapper. With that said it would still be hard to imagine him being the phenom that he was, but I still think he would be extremely over.

[Honkey_Kong]

They had a problem booking Andre back in the day. Vince McMahon saw him get stale real quick. I mean who's going to pay to see Andre squash everyone every week? So Vince actually would loan him out to other promotions figuring by the time Andre got old in one promotion, they could just move him to the next and keep him fresh with the audience. The really can't do that today, except maybe in loaning him to New Japan or AAA. For the most part they'd over expose him in stupid angles just like they do everybody else in the WWE.