Talk:André the Giant

This is a little too hagiographic to me, but I don't feel qualifed to be the one to try to clean it up. Any takers?

Rlquall 20:58, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I'm responsible for most of the current entry and i'm sorta curious on what parts would be overly worshipful.

Also, i'm sorta unsure about using "André" over "Andre". Sure, his real name was spelled "André" but I'm not sure if he was ever billed as "André the Giant" while wrestling in the US, Japan or Canada.

RobbieFal 22:37, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

He was supposedly 7 ft 4 in. tall, but if you look at the photos of him, he was more likely 6'11 or 7 ft tall. His weight was really over 500 lbs at one time though. Andre wore a size 22 US shoe.

Not wishing to start an "edit war", but Ah-nold would best be described as the future governor of "Khalifornia", not because that's in the future now, but because it certainly was when "Conan" was shot and released.

Rlquall 06:09, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There's a mugshot in the article, but no mention of the arrest. What exactly was André charged with?

Peter Isotalo 22:28, May 7, 2005 (UTC)

I No His Real Name Was "André" But He Always Wrestled As "Andre The Giant" Never As "André The Giant" - Well Professionally Anyway

I'm wondering how accurate the claim that the airlines had to 'reshuffle cargo and passengers' to accomodate his body-- he didn't weigh a thousand pounds; he weighed like 400. so this is what-- two, maybe three people? the paraphrased statement makes it sound like this was a huge issue, but it can't have been, even with a coffin.

OK I work as ground crew at an airport.... with his size he would have disrupted filling a pit ( cargo hold...) so he would certainly have disrupted the loading of any plane smaller than a 747... ie a 737 would have a lot of trouble shipping someone his size in a coffin...

Andre The Giant's Real Peak Height

In a post in celebheights.com, someone states that according to Andre's trainer, he was "legitamately measured at 7'1.5" Also, during his wrestling career, his weight ranged anywhere from 380 - 540 lbs

Dave Meltzer says 6'9 3/4 in his book Tributes II when André was 24 and I think it's highly unlikely that he would have grown another almost four inches after that. --Darren Jowalsen 20:39, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

He had giantism a disease where you can't stop growing so it's likely that he did grow four inches after that --Trick man01 10:01, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

My explanation quite soundly shows that he did in fact not grow any further.--Darren Jowalsen 01:02, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

The big problem with Andre's height is that the article claims he is only 6'10 - and so is Big John Studd!!! Did you ever see them in the ring together? Andre made Studd (and the 6'5 King Kong Bundy) look like midgets. Unless Studd and Bundy were sub 6 foot, Andre must be well above 7 feet. He grew well into his twenties too and went from a 390 lb wrestler early in his career to the 500+ pound giant he retired as. (Also Bundy billed himself at 450 - if he was only 50 lbs less than Andre, I'd again be surprised. Check out the tapes of Andre and Studd and then tell me Andre is only 6'10.

Chris Thomas Australia

Respected wrestling and mixed martial arts journalist and author Dave Meltzer wrote the following in his book Tributes:

But he was not 7'4", or even close to that height. At his tallest, he was probably around 6'10", maybe 6'11". Basketball players who met him generally estimated his height at around 6'9", although because he was proportioned completely differently that any 6'9" man around - with relatively short legs, a long torso and huge head - their estimates may have been deceptive. In 1976, When Andre had his famous boxer vs. wrestler match at Shea Stadium against Chuck Wepner on the undercard of the Muhammed Ali vs. Antonio Inoki fiasco, legitimate sportswriters who took notice of Andre for the first time estimated him at 6'9". However, later in his career, Andre posed in Numerous photographs with Shohei "Giant" Baba, and he appeared to be around an inch or two taller that the 6'8" Japanese giant. (p. 40)

In Tributes II, Meltzer wrote the following:

The 7-4 figure created when he first came to Montreal in late 1970, was probably because the most famous tall athlete in the world at the time, basket ball star …Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was 7-2, and promoters wanted to bill him as the tallest athlete in the world. The last time he was measured in France, at the age of 24, [1970], he was 6-9 3/4. (p. 68)

He also wrote:

His best drawing matches would be against men who were at least close to his size … perhaps his biggest opponent during the 1970s, Ernie Ladd, a 6-9 1/2, 320 pound former all-pro football lineman whom he drew many big gates against in the Battle of the Giants. Ironically, because Ladd had achieved so much fame in football before wrestling as his real height was known, promoters never tried to exaggerate his height as they would have normally been the case in those days. It was funny, because Andre at the time was billed as 7-5, yet the two were roughly the same height. (pp. 73-74)

So, he was about 6'10" in 1970, the same in 1976 and throughout the 70's and seems to be about 6'10" during the 1980s so the data is pretty consistent, Andre the Giant was 6 feet and 10 inches tall. Big John Studd was really about 6' 7" at that time and Andre's physique made him look bigger than he actually was in comparison to other wrestlers. --Darren Jowalsen 20:45, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

It should also be noted that Andre had lifts inside his boots to give him an extra inch or two. I'd imagine he was done growing by his mid twenties. He may've made it to a legitimate 6'10" (Another 1/4th of an inch is reasonable), but that's it.

The problem with Andre's height it that he never stopped growing, but operations decreased his height. It is not impossible for a man with Andre's condition to continue growing after his 24th birthday. I've read in magazines that at his peak he was mabbe 6,11, but in the latter part of his career when his body was breaking down, he went down to 6'9. Which seems reasonable. This is from Powerslam magazine,w hich always tries to get the legit height of a wrestler.

I also remember that Andre's back surgeries resulted in him losing several inches in height. I recently purchased one of the WrestleMania box sets and in comparison to Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant, Andre IS NOT 7'5" inches in height, as Gorilla Monsoon states during their match at WrestleMania III. Hogan is referred to at being 6'8" by Jesse Ventura in order to exaggerate Andre's size. If I'm not mistaken, Hogan's actual height is about 6'3" or 6'4" which would have put him 12-14 inches shorter than Andre and Andre simply wasn't that much taller. At the most, I'd put Andre about 6'10" during Wrestle Andre's actual height has always been a source of debate and I don't know all the circumstances surrounding the debate. I've read that the surgery shortened Andre's height to some degree. I suppose Andre's condition resulted in him losing bone density and actually shrinking somewhat, such as what happens to some suffering from Osteoperosis. But, that's just a guess on my part. I believe the surgery took place sometime I after WrestleMania and after he filmed The Princess Bride because during the fimling fight scene with Cary Elwes character, Andre's back was so bad he wasn't able to support Elwes' weight on his back and they had to use a stunt double, who was much smaller than Andre. Andre's weight is also somewhat debated. It did fluccuate greatly over the course of his career. During WrestleMania III, I would honestly say he was probably about 520 pounds, which is what he was billed at. During WrestleMania IV however, he was noticably much slimmer and more mobile in the ring when compared to the previous WrestleMania. He was still billed at weighing 520 pounds but I'd say he was somewhere closer to 450 pounds. Odin's Beard

He had his surgery before the WM3 match. If rumour is correct, he had 15 bottles of wine before the match and was seriously taped up for it as well.(Halbared 12:54, 30 March 2006 (UTC))

Hogan's real height (at least back in 1987) was 6'8". He was not just 6'3". That's absurd. DiBiase is 6'3" or 6'4", and Hogan was a bit taller than DiBiase. Andre towered over Hogan at WrestleMania III. Andre may have not been 7'4", but he certainly was over 6'10". People can also grow past the age of twenty-one, especially with gigantism. I've grown somewhat myself. I also seem to remember back at old WrestleMania fanfests that the WWE had life-size cutouts of Andre the Giant, which were used for kids to measure their height. The height of those cutouts was 7'4". Politician818 17:01, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

A promotional cut-out is very likely to be inflated to keep the aura, especially if it's for kids. The evidence stated before from Dave Meltzer shows that he was consistently around six foot and ten inches. Non-wrestling media reported him as such, and I think that is more reliable than the usually hyperbole laced wrestling press. Also, the height listed is from when he was 24, not 21. No strong evidence of further growth has been proven and people with gigantism to do not gain any height after puberty.--Darren Jowalsen 22:19, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Probably quite true aboot the cut-out. As for Hogan, he was not 6'8, You would have to increase the height for every other wrestler. DiBase is more like 6'1-6'2. Take a look at the Hogan discussion pages for a more accurate description of his height.(Halbared 11:39, 17 May 2006 (UTC))

Andre next to 7+ footer Wilt Chamberlain and 6 footer Arnold Schwarzeneggar.

http://img134.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc73&image=35402_andrewiltarnold4zr_measured.jpg

untouched version: http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/1474/andrewiltarnold4zr.jpg

Even with a huge wig on Wilt doesn't look like he can possibly have 3 inches on Andre. 6'9 3/4" was his measure height at death (according to autopsy reports) I have read, and no way was Andre the same size at death and 24, he visibly lost height in his later years. I think Meltzer was dead wrong on this one and alot of his information is rather questionable IMO. TheSentinel 18:00, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

You think he is dead wrong, yet you cite something from his newsletter as the cornerstone to your arguement... :P. Perhaps we should include a section about this issue, since it seems to be a big part of his mystique. Of course, we have to make sure that this is monitored that only citeable information is put in.--Darren Jowalsen 19:57, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

I actually think he is wrong in that 6'11.5" guesstimation when Wilt has on a huge wig which gives him some artificial height. I see the Tribute book was published in 2004, I find it likely he did not include this picture in his book because it didn't jive the case he was making, best to banish contradictory evidence and all. TheSentinel 20:40, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

The flip side would be that if he has mounds and mounds of evidence that supports the six ten theory, why should he discard all or it for one picture?--Darren Jowalsen 23:30, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

That looks like a pretty good case for making Andre closer to 7 feet. I would also say that I don't know how Melzter worked it out, but the line goes to the top of Wilt's head, not Andre's, and that Wilt is standing slightly in the foreground, both these things would give Wilt a lil extra height on Andre, making them in my mind, closer still. The film was in 1984, and Andre seems to be still leanish and standing quite straight.(Halbared 21:23, 20 July 2006 (UTC))

Conclusion on Andre's stature

So if he was 6'10" at age 24, he probably didn't grow anymore than this in terms of linear growth, because of Epiphyseal fusion. Add 2 inches of tall healed, size 22 boots, and 4 inches of puffy hair and you have yourself a ~7ft4 inch man. Andre probably averaged around 425-450 lbs throughout his career in the 80's and early 90's.

I believe that similar deceptive statures can be found with the wrestler, Paul Wight AKA Big Show. He's billed as 7'2, But his University listed him at 6'11. I say, that the 2 inch heals and inch of hair probably made him appear 7'2. Paul does weigh a legitimate weight of 493 lbs.

--63.224.226.148 03:34, 20 February 2006 (UTC) Andre the Giant and the not as famous Big Show, are both 6 ft 10 guys who, from a combination of ego and big healed boots, elevated themselves to the status of 7ft 4 giants.

Bare in mind, their grotesqely endowed proportions and hulking countenances made them appear all the more like a classic Medieval Ogre, or some sort of beastly giant from the Cornwalish balads of old Britain.

Evidently, in both cases, these men's collective bulk, truly gave them the impression of being ever more taller and "giant like" than say, your average NBA Center or Forward.

It wasn't ego that made them increase their height, but the wrestling business, everyone does it, from Kurt Angle to Big Show.

I have just looked at pic of Andre and Vince McMohan together and Andre looks like he's a foot taller than Vince or evan taller

Two things. The first is on Andre's A&E documentary, Tim White said that by the time he died, his waist swelled to 500 pounds and what in considerable pain.

Secondly, I heard a rumor that he used lifts in his boots to make him taller. Can anyone verify if this is true?
fishhead2100 April 28, 2006 3:08PM (UTC)

Obey

How comes there is no mention of the "obey" grafiti being mentioned here, since it was a picture of andre the giant? Jackpot Den 18:52, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

A Few Thoughts

Whoever said Andre towered over Big John Studd apparently never saw their Wrestlemania match. They were nearly the same height. As for Andre continuing to grow throughout his life, that's pure rubbish, as he obviously began losing height in his 30's.

The article talks about Andre being easy to work with and protective of his opponent in the ring. Why then do so many big wrestlers (such as Hogan on his DVD) talk about Andre beating them to within an inch of their life? Andre was not easy to work with at all in the match because he was always protective of his spot against big men until they earned his respect. (Take a look at how he treats Studd in the aforementioned Wrestlemania match sometime.)

Response

When a professional wrestler is in front of a camera regarding just about anything, particularly something to do with wrestling, they're in character most of the time. Hogan, for instance, is not going to say that Andre hit like a girl or something. Wrestlers have to keep up the illusion of it all. Andre was a very gentle person, by all accounts, and was truly worried about just using anything close to his full strength. Andre never lifted weights a day in his life, to my knowledge, yet he was one of the physically strongest men to ever step into a wrestling ring. So yeah, he tried to be as careful as he possibly could be, even though it hurt his ring work substantially at times. Most wrestlers are quite protective of their spots, it's certainly not unusual. Hulk Hogan, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, etc. are all notorious for protecting their spots to the point that it became a detrement for them to do so, but they had too much pull. It was sort of the same for Andre, which is partially why Andre held very few major titles in pro wrestling. Andre was extremely picky, more so than probably anyone, as to who he would job to, Hulk Hogan was one of the very few that wrestling fans would even accept or believe Andre would job to in the first place. The whole Hulk Hogan persona was something that seemed as if it belonged in a comic book during the 1950's and that's part of what made it so appealing. Hulk Hogan, during physical peak, was seen as a type of superhero really. Who, accept a "superhero", are fans going to believe can beat a "giant"?

Rebuttal

I'm sure Andre was a very gentle person in day to day life, but by all accounts he worked stiff in the ring. That is, he really gave some good beatings. Those are comments from wrestlers out of character.

The article also states that Andre's undefeated streak was a fictiond designed to sell Wrestlemania III. Not true. Certainly Andre was not undefeated by 1987, but the idea of him being undefeated came about as far back as the early 80's and is mentioned in the sports illustrated article (1981 I believe?) It was not something created soley for Wrestlemania III as the author assumes.

Article states how the Silverdome only holds 80,000... but in wrestling you can have more fans than a football game because of all the room on the field. You only need to set up a wrestling ring. Regardless, I agree there were not 93,000 there, and the Wrestlemania III article discusses this subject well.

Finally, the article suggests Andre's death was this inevitable thing because of his size. "Andre was always told by doctors that he was basically living on borrowed time after the age of 30." Apparantly drinking and smoking for twenty years like there was no tomorrow had nothing to do with it?

Samuel Beckett

I have removed this claim from the article:

When André was young, he could not fit on a normal school bus and had to be driven to school. As his parents were unable to afford a car of their own so his neighbor, Samuel Beckett, drove him every day.

I cannot find any evidence from this from Google, and in any case the idea of two celebrities meeting coincidentally before one was famous seems terribly fishy to me. If someone can substantiate this claim, please re-insert it. --Saforrest 03:24, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Rob Reiner tells this story in the commentary of The Princess Bride —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.210.59.21 (talk • contribs) .

I thought it was Cary Elwes, but yeah, it is definitely mentioned. I'll put it back in. -- TheMightyQuill 16:59, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

It was Cary Elwes, and I can substantiate this myself, now that I've seen the extra features on the Princess Bride DVD. --Saforrest 22:31, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Rebuttal to the A&E claims

The A&E biography claims that André was measured at the age of 22 by a doctor in Japan. André did not go to Japan until January 1970 at the age of 24. It also claims his smaller stature later in life was due to an operation in 1983 while Sportswriters had been saying his height was 6'10" 7 years before that. A&E biographies are good television but their wrestling shows tend to side with kayfabe and really aren't terribly accurate.--Darren Jowalsen 22:06, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Small edit

Removed reference to The Simpsons from Filmography. Being mentioned in passing on a TV show does not qualify as a film appearance.

Linking

I tried linking Andre's page to the World Class curse section of the World Class Championship Wrestling page. But it's not working. Does anyone know why? Yes I did try it numerous ways. fishhead2100 April 28, 2006 1:30AM (UTC)

Silverdome Capacity

on the page, there's a note that the stated crowd of 93,000+ can not be true because that exceeds the silverdome's listed capacity of 80,311. this is not necessarily true, the 80k figure is based on the stadium's permanent seating only, it does not reflect the additional seating added for events such as wrestling and concerts, which would indeed add a significan amount of seats. i'm not going to dispute that the actual crowd figure was likely NOT 93k as reported, but the reasoning used on this page are in error, and perhaps a simple note that the attendance figure is disputed(as appears on the wrestlemania 3 page proper) would be more appropriate? Pelzo 05:58, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

His height

Andre is not 6'10. Look at Hulk Hogan who's 6'5. Andre is taller than him which means he has to be at least 7'2 or 7'5. Saying he's 6'10 is like saying he's Kane's size which he's not.

He wasn't significantly taller than Ernie Ladd, whose 6'10" height is actually a proven fact. If you read the what I posted earlier about what sportswriters thought of Andre, you will see he was not 7'2 or even 7'. You cannot remove cited information with an unverified claim.--Darren Jowalsen 02:36, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

If Ernie Ladd was legit 6 ft 10 in (he is down as 6 ft 9 on this site) then Andre could possibly have been a legit 7 ft. 2 inches at that height isn't significant. Giant Haystacks was 6 ft 11 in, and there is a pic of Andre in his youth before his back operations being taller than Haystacks.(Halbared 08:14, 28 June 2006 (UTC))

Actually, Ernie Ladd was 6 ft 9 1/2 in, I was rounding up. I severely doubt that height on Haystacks Calhoun. Chuck Wepner said when he fought Andre at Shea Stadium, he thought Andre was about 6 ft 9 in and that was during the seventies, before this supposed "back surgery" that made him shrink. Meltzer shows that it is pretty consistent, he was 6 ft 10 in in '71 and in '90, there was shrinking. He was always 6 ft 10 in.--Darren Jowalsen 14:20, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Giant Haystacks, a famous British giant wrestler, not Calhoun. I doubt one is available, but I'd like to see a face to face shot of Big Cat and Andre. Andre did have one round of back Surgery in England in '86. I don't know if he had more.(Halbared 14:45, 28 June 2006 (UTC))

Whoops, my bad about the Giant Haystacks thing. I do have a photo of one their matches but it was taken during an Irish whip, so both men are bent forward. A face to face picture might be difficult to find for it's likely promoters probably didn't like magazines taking pictures like that because it may have shown that Andre was not as tall as he was billed. Looking at some of the photos of Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, it looks like Giant Haystacks is around 6' 8", but of course, I'm not the best at this and comparing with suspect wrestling heights is a bit of a problem.--Darren Jowalsen 03:24, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeh mabbe, diff to tell with Haystacks, and ppl of such extreme size. There is a good pic that I put on his talk page. I tried to find a pic of him when he was billed as The Loch Ness monster and took on Hogan in the mid 90's, but have not found one. It would be a good match because we know Hogan's legit height.(Halbared 10:11, 5 July 2006 (UTC))

Think about this, gigantism leads it's victim to being over 7 ft tall so why would Andre the Giant be only 6'10? Saying he's 6'10 is like saying he's as tall as Kane which he's not. Also, you're implying that the Great Khali is the tallest wrestler to ever grace a WWE ring whereas Andre has always been stated to be the tallest wrestler in the WWE and Khali has yet to be called so. He's 7'4-7'7, live with it.

Take a look at www.celebheights.com, they have some good conversations aboot the heights of wrestlers.(Halbared 10:11, 5 July 2006 (UTC))

I don't know where you are getting this information. Not every person with gigantism is over 7 feet tall. If you observe the matches with Hulk Hogan and Andre and then watch the Hogan vs. Paul Wight matches, you can clearly see the difference in height. Some might say this is from the back surgery but people do not lose six inches in back surgery. Given the information above from Dave Meltzer, you are suggesting that between 1970 and 1990, Andre grew and shrank 6 if not more inches? I find that highly unlikely. On the Great Khali, perhaps the WWE doesn't wish to harm the mystique of Andre? Plus, wrestling announcers are not exactly known for historical consistency.--Darren Jowalsen 04:46, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

I would think that they prolly do want to keep the 'mystique'. Giant Gonzales was simply hailed as being 8 ft tall (after his early introductions which put him at 'near' 8 ft). Which is the 6 inch addition that would keep him in line with Andre.(Halbared 10:11, 5 July 2006 (UTC))

I think that he's got to be somehwere from 6'11 to 7'1, after looking at him wrestle, he isn't anywhere near 7'4 or 7'6. Gonzales was 7'6 so he's the largest wrestler ever but Andre is at least 7 ft. Just to settle the argument, let's just change his height from ranging from 6'10 to 7'2. I mean, we'll never know for sure as we're not Andre himself or any of his doctors.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.69.137.20 (talk • contribs) 9-7-2006 06:28:25 (UTC)

Rotten.com doesn't mention anything about his height except for a drawing, which has him at 7'4" but also over 500 lbs. --RyanDaniel 09:30, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

He has to be exactly 7ft tall, look at him & Big John Studd, he's taller than him by an inch or two. --

I don't appreciate whoever edited my message so don't do it again.

Anyway, Andre is about 7'4, he was up against Khali in the newest WWE magazine with Batista on the cover & he had an inch on Khali.

Son of Kong 01:30 17 July 2006 (UTC)

The truth of these "height talks": I am 6'3". I have meet numerous wrestlers in my day, including many of the so-called "giants" of wrestling. Khali is above 7 feet, and El Gigante/Giant Gonzales was 7'6" legit. I met Andre during the early 80's when he had his big puffy hair, and I will say for a fact that he was not 7 feet, unless you included his hair puffiness. Hogan is 6'5" legit, not 6'8". Sid Vicious is 6'6", Kane is about 6'7" legit, Undertaker is about 6'8", Nash 6'9 1/2". Please remember that wrestler heights are often exaggerated. I saw Roddy Piper listed at 6'2" one time, and when I met him he was about 5'10". Hogan is nowhere close to 6'8", despite WWE claims. When he fought Brock Lesnar, they were the same height, and Lesnar is 6'5". The bottom line... Andre was about 6'10" at his tallest.

Daughter

One of you should make a page for Andre's daughter or at least give her name in his profile.

Wrestling Career

More of Andre's wrestling career needs to be added to his profile, it doesn't seem very informative for the most part on his career. I would like to know more about his career & I'm sure other people would like to as well so it'd really be nice if someone would add more about his wrestling career.