How "BIG" a Star was Andre the Giant?

[L@RISANO]

Growing up during the Attitude era, and being hooked to stars such as the Undertaker, Stone Cold, the Rock, Triple H,etc.... it was natural that eventually I would look to find out about past Superstars in the WWE and the general history itself.

Since the Internet phenomenon wasn't huge at that time, my main source of information regarding the past stars was to ask people I knew, especially the older guys.

The first name on everybody's lips was Andre the Giant. Even before I knew about Hogan, Flair,Piper and others...I heard about the phenomenon called Andre the Giant. This was from people who weren't even pure wrestling fans in any way.

Of course, one reason for that was due to Andre coming to Barbados sometime for a live show as the wrestling companies used to send people from time to time in the past(not anymore). But Andre was by far, the "Biggest" star to come in every sense at a time when Pro-Wrestling was a huge spectacle.


How do you guys view Andre the Giant and how big of a star was he overall??
From observation, it seems that when he was living, he seemed to transcend the Wrestling world and was known widely by many outside of it, arguably even more than Hogan was perhaps, in a worldwide view...

 

[Bythedockofthebay]

OVERALL? He was the biggest star of his era. Comparing that era to any other era is difficult though. Vince himself said Andre was too big for the title belt. It was something special to see Andre back then. It isn't like it is now. You might get to see Andre once or twice if you were lucky, and people loved him. He hardly ever lost, and lost so infrequently that WWE book him as being undefeated up until his match with Hogan at WM III.

How I view Andre has changed a bit. Andre was great, and one of the best big men of all time. It's hard to compare him to anyone. That said I believe Taker is the greatest big man of all time now (although I change my mind on that all the time because it's hard to compare the time frames. I think Andre is one of the biggest stars in wrestling history, and that can never be taken from him.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

Prior to the "Wrestlemania Era", Andre was in a class of in his own that he could dictate where he went, how long he would stay, and what he would be doing. The promoters were just happy to have him for any period they could because he was such a draw. Wherever he went, he packed the arena.

He wasn't as much of a "wrestler" as he was a "spectacle".

 

[TheOneAndOnlyGOAT]

Andre The Giant was arguably the biggest star and draw of his time.

Everybody knew who Andre was, probably even more than Hogan.

People used to consider Andre a living god in Japan and used to get paid five figures payoffs for a single night's work.

It's a shame he died so early.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

Prior to the "Wrestlemania Era", Andre was in a class of in his own that he could dictate where he went, how long he would stay, and what he would be doing. The promoters were just happy to have him for any period they could because he was such a draw. Wherever he went, he packed the arena.

He wasn't as much of a "wrestler" as he was a "spectacle".

This. Andre put asses in seats. Plus at one time he was a pretty good worker for his size. Wherever Andre went people followed.

 

[closet_fan]

Andre was the first "GLOBAL" entertainer in regards to wrestling. EVERYONE knew who he was and would literally pay out the ass just to see him. Whether he wrestled one guy, or 4 at a time, Andre would put butts in the seats even if he was the only guy on the card.

Not to mention he was another of the first wrestlers to break into mainstream movies with his role in The Princess Bride, which is a shame because they just had their reunion.

Did he have the same disease as Big Show? If so, it's a shame he couldn't get the same surgery to stop his growth. I doubt it was even available.

 

[tak161]

Yeah, Andre was the biggest star of his time, and helped put WWE on the map. This is why WWE honors him as one of their greatest, and the first member of their Hall of Fame. He was bigger than Hogan in a lot of ways at the time. I believe for awhile, Andre brought the people to the arenas, and Hogan made them stick around.

As for how Andre should be viewed today, well he still stands out as one of the biggest to ever step in the ring, literally. Just going by his WWE time, you can't really get a grasp on how good he was in the ring due to health issues. He's in the same sentence as Hogan and Austin as far as how important he was to his era.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The best way to equate it is the Posse/Obey stuff... how many wrestlers have street art movements based on them?

Prior to that he was the legit "giant" of the ring, there was no one near his size, agility or manner enough to be called a Giant... once he came along, they started trying to (and generally did) find them, but none had the same package and name recognition. The nearest is Big Show who has built his own career but even his earliest days were a "homage" to Andre, down to the leotard.

Today tall/giantish guys KNOW they can be wrestlers and make money, it's how Khali, Show, Kurgann etc made their livings...back then there was Andre and he was unique and as such the biggest man and name in wrestling because he was a legit phenom. I would kill to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan from that crowd, Hendrix at Woodstock, The Who at Leeds and Andre wrestle at MSG in the 70's... the awe people must have felt would have been on similar levels.

 

[jones.ben1977]

Andre was to the 70's what Hogan was to the 80's. The only difference is in the 70's the WWE hadn't expanded on that international level that we know today. We knew about Andre here in Australia because he would tour here and wrestle our local guys.

 

[Pedigree1]

How big was Andre you ask? As big as Hogan was IMO. If andre was in your town,you went to see him no question about it. Its too bad he never got that much deserved title run,his prime was in the 70's and WWE or WWF wasn't on the global scale back then.

For his size,Andre had moves. He was big,entertaining,and awe inspiring. You never seen anything like him or since. Andre had a certain charisma about him,it really made you go into a trance just to have the privilege to see him perform. I remember fondly,as a child seeing him perform and i was just in love with wrestling ever since then.

No one back then,had his size or just sheer force. Andre paved the way for people like the Big Show,Khali,hell IMO even the undertaker. Giants of the ring,who could make a living wrestling. Andre could sell out an entire arena if he was the only one on the card thats how good andre was

 

[asiatic7]

I always looked at Andre as an attraction. My biggest memories of him was his victory at WM2 in the battle royal, his match with Big John Studd, the body slam challenge (I think it was like a 15k wager) when Andre started throwing money to the crowd, WM3 and his match with Killer Khan. The Killer Khan match was on a VHS Coliseum Home Video release owned by my Godfather that I would watch every time I came over. He wasn't always on TV in the 80's when I watched it, but when he was it was special.

I think the Undertaker is to these young kids what Andre was to me when I was 5 years old. You don't see them as much as other wrestlers, but when they perform, you get the sense that your watching an old vet who's definitely paid some dues.

 

[jones.ben1977]

I really enjoyed Andre's heel run because of his size he genuinely instilled fear in young fans and with his strong French accent he was quite scary!

 

[RicSpade]

I think depending on what you knew about Andre people may go "oh I heard he was the eighth wonder of the world whats so special about that" new generation...But what people didn't understand is there wasn't anyone as big as Andre size wise at the time,and when he first started wrestling as an odditie if you will because of him wrestling 2-3 guys at a time and it was a huge attraction because people would go "oh Andre can't beat those guys" or "Oh Andre is going to tear these 3 guys apart" and it was huge. Fast forward to AWA and WWF time and he was still huge, even when he gave up his I believe 15 year undefeated streak of never being pinned (someone will argue with me he lost to Jerry Lawler, but he was never pinned it was a countout or something stupid) to Hogan it was still huge to the business just because people wondered what Andre could or would do next, and when Hogan did defeat the Giant, it made people wonder could this guy beat the giant or that guy or hell when the Colossal Connection won the tag titles people wondered if Andre would be pinned or if it would be Haku.

Andre was versatile as a marketing strategy in the 70'-80's Andres name could surpass Hogans only because he was already an international superstar even if he didn't wrestle as Andre he was still a big star. He appeared in the princess bride which to this day is still a big movie.

In terms of star power Andre was a huge draw of his era, in terms of popularity its sort of the long term heel effect. Andre was Face for so long it was hard to hate him as a heel if it wasn't for Bobby Heenan I think Andre would've been cheered to beat Hulk Hogan at WM3.

 

[SmattyG]

I'm 43 years old and have been watching wrestling since I was 5.

The reason? Andre The Giant. Here in Australia we got Ox Baker, Bulldog Brower and our own local stars, but it wasn't until Andre came that it really got me hooked.

They had a battle royal here in Oz, and the last two guys were Andre and a local guy Kenny Medlin. Kenny was a jobber to even the local guys. He was Curt Hawkins level. Anyway, the prize from memory was $5000 and Andre agreed to split it with our Kenny. Instant Face reaction forever more. As a teenager I even cheered for him over Andre at WM3.

For us old timers, Andre is a big part of the reason why wrestling is in our blood. To us he is as big as Hulk, SCSA, Rock or anyone else you can name.

 

[SmattyG]

Just as an extra thought - back in 2007 one of my young work colleagues was blocked in by a small car. I joked we need Big Show to move it out. She looked at me with glazed eyes. What about Andre then? She instantly knew who I meant. Born in 1987 and she knew Andre. Timeless. And believe me she was no wrestling fan. Couldn't spot The Rock in a line up.

 

[The Boss]

How big was Andre you ask? As big as Hogan was IMO. If andre was in your town,you went to see him no question about it. Its too bad he never got that much deserved title run,his prime was in the 70's and WWE or WWF wasn't on the global scale back then.

During Andre's prime the sport was still primarily territorial based. Andre's famous often repeated quote, "Years ago I had to make a decision. I could stay in one territory and concentrate on winning a championship, or I could travel the World. To stay in one place would be selfish don't you think?" Andre was the biggest attraction in his day.by traveling the world he gained fame and money far beyond what he would have gotten as a championship. When Gorilla Monsoon said at WrestleMania III that Andre never wanted a title shot, this is what he was referring to.

Andre would get his token World title victory appropriately in from of the largest TV audience ever and by defeating the man who surpassed him as the greatest star ever. He didn't need a reign. The win was enough.

 

[WWFan79]

Downplaying Andre's influence and global reach is like downplaying George Washington and the early Presidents as they were the President of only a few States.

By default, later Presidents or Wrestlers benefit from the foundation laid before them.

 

[8thwotwATG]

There isn't a great deal that I can add that hasn't already been said, but I will state that Andre is probably the main reason I got hooked on wrestling as a youngster. Being an old timer myself, I can recall watching All Star wrestling from the then named WWWF and staying glued to the set every Saturday afternoon in the hopes that I would get the chance to see...yep, Andre the Giant. It was probably around 1975-1976 or so that I bugged the crap out of my dad to take me to a house show to see the big guys do their thing live. Finally, I got the surprise of my life when my dad turned up with two tickets to the original Boston Garden to see a live show. Talk about a thrill; it was magnified about a hundred thousand times when I was informed that one of the featured bouts was Andre the Giant vs Ernie "The Big Cat" Ladd.
A couple of things stick in my memory from that card. Number one, this must have cost my Dad a few bucks even back then, because not only was Andre on the card, but if I remember correctly, Bruno Sammartino defended his title that night too(I don't remember against who, it was nearly 40 years ago, and I was obsessed with the Andre match). The second thing that comes to mind was, as a 10 year old boy, even sitting in the upper balcony at the old Garden in one of their obstructed view seats(anyone who has ever been in the old Boston Garden knows exactly what I'm talking about), I was absolutely overwhelmed by the size of Andre'. It's no exaggeration for me to say that I was blown away by the visual of Garden security and Boston policemen coming up to about Andre's shoulder as they escorted him to the ring. The last thing that I can remember is the pop Andre' got when he walked the midway to the ring. I'd be lying if I told you that I remember all the details of the match itself, but I think that Ernie ended up getting disqualified , or counted out.
Again, it's important to note that in 1976, this was before wrestling was national, before there was an internet to disseminate information, and before kayfabe was broken in the wrestling business. I was blissfully unaware that Andre and Ernie had probably been performing the same match all over the northeast 6 nights a week for the past month and a half. Suffice it to say that after this experience, I was forever hooked on the wacky, surreal world of professional wrestling. Andre the Giant was a big part of it for me, maybe the biggest part. In the 1970's, in the northeast, there were two mammoth drawing cards, Bruno Sammartino, and Andre' the Giant. Andre' may well have been the most succsessfull draw in the entire business up until the arrival of Hulkamania in the mid 80's. I would continue to mark out for the big guy well into my late teens, and he's the reason I drove my shitbox chevy vega to the Providence Civic center in 1985 to watch wrestlemania 1, just so I could see him beat up John Studd.
Andre was definitely one of the first professional wrestlers to cross over into mainstream media, having appeared on the hugely popular "Six Million Dollar Man" television show as Bigfoot, appearances on late night talk shows and other venues. There's no doubt that his natural charisma and ebullience won over millions of fans as a face when he worked in North America, but he was able to portray disdain and menace when he worked in Japan as a heel.
In closing, Andre' was one of the most famous wrestling attractions in the history of the business.

 

[MMC]

Undertaker is a special attraction at Wrestlemania for the past few years. Andre was a special attraction through out his career