Wrestling Legend - Andre the Giant
Wrestling fans know without any doubt Big Show is the largest athlete of the world as he weighs around 500 pounds and is more than 7 feet tall. But there was another wrestler who was even larger than the Big Show, the wrestler who became the attraction of wrestling throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.
The world knows this wrestler as Andre the Giant and giant he was as it seemed impossible for many wrestlers to move him as he stood firm in the wrestling ring. The reason for the hugeness for Andre the Giant was that he suffered from a disorder called acromegaly. In this disorder the bones grow much faster than the normal rate and continue to grow even after the average maturity age.
Andre the Giant was determined to use his abnormal size to his advantage and decided to enter in the wrestling business. He spent years training in Canada and Japan as an amateur wrestler before entering WWF in 1973 which was the premier professional wrestling body of that time and it didn’t take long for Andre the Giant to establish his name. By 1974 he became the top most wrestling dog. The greatness of Andre the Giant was established by the fact that he remained unbeaten for nearly 15 years in wrestling. No other wrestler has ever achieved such a remarkable accomplishment.
Andre became so popular even outside the wrestling ring that he played roles in different movies and appeared as a guest on various premier TV shows like “The Tonight Show”. Andre fought many epic battles with big names in the wrestling world like Ernie Ladd, Blackjack Mulligan, and the legendary Hulk Hogan but the power of the giant proved to be too much for even these wrestlers. Big fighters outside the world of free style wrestling tried to stand against Andre the Giant. One famous match was with the boxer, Chuck Wepner. The clash between the two fighters ended when Andre the Giant defeated the boxer after beating the h**l out of him. Other fighters also went through the same fate as no one could stand against the dominating personality of Andre the Giant.
An interesting aspect of Andre’s career was that it was virtually impossible to defeat him in the Royal Rumble wrestling match. Royal Rumble is a match where 30 wrestlers compete with each other to throw other wrestlers from over the top rope of the ring. It was difficult to move Andre the Giant in the ring and throwing him over the top rope seemed to be an illogical idea. Wrestling fans still remember the matches when all other wrestlers used to gang up and would try to lift him with all their power.
Andre the Giant’s fifteen year streak finally came to an end when Hulk Hogan managed to defeat him. It was Wrestle Mania III when 93,173 fans saw an epic clash between the immortal Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. It was one of the biggest matches of the wrestling industry as the crowd cheered Andre the Giant when he entered the ring to clash with his old friend and manager Hulk Hogan. Pundits still remember that era and regard it as the golden period for the wrestling world when Andre attracted fans with his charisma. It was 1987 when the life long illness of Andre the Giant started to put more pressure on him and gradually he distanced himself from full time wrestling. Though he made many star appearances in the ring but it was never like before when Andre bulldozed his way through the ring and dominated every wrestler on the roster.
In recognition of his services to the wrestling world, Andre the Giant became the first inductee in the WWE Hall of Fame. There will be many large athletes who will make a name for themselves in the wrestling world but there might be no one like the huge Andre the Giant.
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