This Day In Wrestling History

These Day 66 years ago, one of the biggest, strongest, and toughest wrestlers was born. He was born in Grenoble, France on May 19, 1944 and his name is Andre Rene Roussimoff (a.k.a Andre The Giant) When Andre was a child he displayed symptoms of gigantism. Andre was 6'3" and weight 240 pounds by the age of twelve. Andre dropped out of school in 8th grade because he did not think it was necessary to get a high school education to be a farm laborer. He then worked on a farm, completed an apprenticeship in woodworking, and next worked in a factory that manufactured engines for hay balers. None of these brought him any satisfaction. When Andre was 18 he moved to Paris and was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter who thought there would be money in Andre's future. Soon, a Canadian promoter and wrestler named, Frank Valois met Andre in 1966, becoming his business manager and adviser. Andre began making a name for himself in Africa, New Zealand, England, and Germany. Andre's next move was to Montreal, Canada where he immediately succeeded, selling out the Montreal Forum regularly. Promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled. Andre wrestled for Verne Gagne's AWA for some time. Until Valois started talking with Vince McMahon Sr owner of the WWWF for some advice. Vince thought Andre should be portrayed as a immovable monster.

On March 26, 1973 Andre debuted in the WWWF as a baby face. In 1980, Andre feuded with Hulk Hogan wrestling him at Shea Stadium's Showdown at Shea, this feud continued into Japan in 1982 and 1983.

One of Andre's feuds had him against "the Mongolian Giant" Killer Khan. According to the storyline, Khan had snapped André's ankle during a match on May 2, 1981, in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop. In reality, Andre had broken his ankle getting out of bed the morning before the match. The injury and subsequent rehabilitation was worked into the existing Andre/Khan storyline. After a stay at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, André returned with one thing on his mind, payback. The two battled on July 20, 1981 at Madison Square Garden in a match that resulted in a double disqualification. Their feud continued through the summer and fall as fans filled arenas up and down the east coast to witness their matches. On November 14, 1981 at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the feud culminated when André decisively defeated Khan in what was billed as a "Mongolian Stretcher Match", in which the loser must be taken to the dressing room on a stretcher.

Another one of Andre's rivalries had him against someone that thought he was the giant of the WWF, and that was Big John Studd. Throughout the early to mid-1980s, Andre and Studd fought all over the world, battling to try to determine who the real giant of wrestling was. In December 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level, when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out André during a televised tag team match and proceeded to cut off Andre's hair. After gaining revenge on Patera, Andre met Studd in a "Body Slam Challenge" at the WrestleMania 1, held March 31, 1985 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Andre slammed Studd to win the match and collect the $15,000 prize, then started to throw cash to the fans before having the bag stolen from him by, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Studd’s manager.

 André continued his feud with Studd, but now King Kong Bundy was a part of it to. At this time, Andre requested time off to tend to his health effects from his acromegaly were beginning to take their toll as well as tour Japan; he had also gotten a part in the film The Princess Bride. To explain Andre's absence, a storyline was developed to have Heenan suggesting that Andre was secretly afraid of Studd and Bundy, whom Heenan bragged were unbeatable. Heenan challenged Andre and a partner of his choosing to wrestle Studd and Bundy in a televised tag-team match. When Andre failed to show, WWF President Jack Tunney indefinitely suspended Andre. Later in the summer of 1986, upon Andre's return to the United States, he began wearing a mask and competing as the "Giant Machine" in a stable known as The Machines. (Big Machine and Super Machine were the other members.) The gimmick was copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling character "Super Strong Machine", played by Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata. It was obvious to the WWF fans and the television audience that it was Andre competing as the Giant Machine. Heenan, Studd and Bundy complained to Tunney, who eventually told Heenan that if it could be proven that Andre and the Giant Machine was the same person, Andre would be fired. Andre thwarted Heenan, Studd and Bundy at every turn. Then, in the fall of 1986, the Giant Machine vanished," and André was reinstated. Foreshadowing Andre's heel turn, Heenan expressed his approval of the reinstatement but did not explain why.

André agreed to turn heel in early 1987 to be the rival to the biggest baby face in professional wrestling at that time, Hulk Hogan. On an edition of Piper's Pit in January 1987, Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three years; Andre came out to congratulate him. On the following week's Piper's Pit, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being the only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history. Hogan came out to congratulate Andre and ended up being the focal point of the interview. A visibly annoyed Andre walked out in the middle of Hogan's speech. A discussion between Andre and Hogan was scheduled, and on a Piper's Pit that aired February 7, 1987, the two met. Andre was led by longtime rival Bobby Heenan. Speaking on behalf of his new client, Heenan accused Hogan of using Andre. Hogan tried to reason with Andre but his pleas were ignored as he challenged Hogan to a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania III before ripping Hogan's t-shirt off. At WrestleMania III, Andre was 520 pounds which caused him constant pain. Hulk beat Andre by body slamming him.

Soon after, Ted Dibease tried to persuade Hogan to sell him the belt. After, Dibease failed to beat Hulk in a series of matches, Ted turned to Andre to win it for him. Andre won the WWF title on Febuary 5, 1988 against Hogan. It was later revealed that appointed referee Dave Hebner was detained backstage and instead his evil twin brother Earl Hebner took his spot. Earl counted to three when it was obvious that Hogan's shoulder was up. After winning, Andre sold the title to DiBiase; the transaction was declared invalid by then WWF President Jack Tunney and the title was vacated. At WrestleMania IV, André and Hulk Hogan fought to a double disqualification in a WWF title tournament match. The idea in the storyline saying that Andre was working on DiBiase's behalf in giving DiBiase a easier path in the tournament. Afterward, Andre and Hogan's feud died down after a steel cage match held at WrestleFest on July 31, 1988 in Milwaukee. Andre and DiBiase also wrestled Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage in the main event of SummerSlam; the DiBiase and Andre lost, despite apparently having referee Jesse "the Body" Ventura on their side.

Andre's next major feud was against Jake "The Snake" Roberts. In this storyline, it was said Andre was deathly afraid of snakes, something Roberts exposed on Saturday Night's Main Event when he threw his snake, Damien, on the frightened Andre; as a result, Andre suffered a fake mild heart attack and vowed revenge. During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside during Andre's matches, causing him to run from the ring in fright, since he knew what was inside the bag. Throughout their feud, which culminated at WrestleMania V, Roberts constantly used Damien to gain a psychological edge over the much larger and stronger Andre.

In the Fall of 1989 Andre started to team with Haku a member of the Heenan Family, Haku and Andre were called The Colossal Connection. They were created to fill the void of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson who were the team of the Heenan Family. At a television taping on December 13, 1989, the Colossal Connection defeated Demolition to win the titles. Andre and Haku successfully defended their titles, mostly against Demolition, until WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990, when Demolition took advantage of a mistimed move by the champions to regain the belts. After the match, a furious Heenan blamed André for the title loss and after shouting at him slapped him in the face; an angry André responded with a slap of his own that sent Heenan staggering from the ring. André also caught Haku's kick attempt, sending him reeling from the ring as well, prompting loud cheers for André for the first time in three years. André went into the match as a heel, but left as a face.

Jimmy Hart appeared live on WWF Superstars to announce that he successfully signed André to tag-team with Earthquake. However, when asked to confirm by Gene Okerlund, André denied the claims. This led to Earthquake attacking André from behind (injuring his knee). Jimmy Hart would later get revenge for the humiliation by secretly signing Tugboat and forming The Natural Disasters. This led to André's final major WWF appearance at SummerSlam '91, where he seconded The Bushwhackers in their match against the Disasters.

After WrestleMania VI, André spent the rest of his in-ring career in AJPW. He toured with AJPW three times per year, from September 1990 to 1992, usually teaming with Giant Baba in tag team matches. Andre's last match was on December 4th 1992, Andre, Giant Baba, and Rusher Kimura Defeated Haruka Eigen, Masa Fuchi, and Motoshi Okuma.

 Andre the Giant died in Paris, on January 27th, 1993 while attending his father’s funeral. Andre died in his bed from heart failure.