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View Full Version : Some anecdotes of André Roussimoff (before his health declined, pre 1981)


Wolfgang Hasenmaier
05-09-2009, 01:31 PM
Want to share some tall tales with my iron brethren

André the Giant

"André the Giant was very strong," William Goldman once recalled. "I was talking to an actor who was shooting a movie in Mexico. What you had to know about Andre was that if he asked you to dinner, he paid, but when you asked him, he also paid. This actor, after several free meals, invited Andre to dinner and, late in the meal, snuck into the kitchen to give his credit card to the maitre d'. As he was about to do this, he felt himself being lifted up in the air..."
"When he had me up in the air," the actor recalled, "he turned me so I was facing him, and he said, 'I pay.' Then he carried me back to my table where he set me down in my chair like a little boy. Oh yes, Andre was very strong."
The actor? Arnold Schwarzenegger.

André the Giant: Provocation

André the Giant was incredibly strong, and equally gentle unless provoked. On one occasion, he was approached in a bar by four drunk men intent on proving their manliness. When André declined an invitation to fight, they continued to taunt him. eventually, having lost his temper, André chased his tormentors onto the street.
When they reached their car (parked in front of the bar), they jumped in and promptly locked the doors. Rather than break a window or door, André reached down, gripped the vehicle beneath the door, flipped it over on the sidewalk (onto its roof), and left its occupants to explain to skeptical police that an angry "giant" had come along and overturned their car!


André the Joker

"André the Giant once invited Arnold Schwarzenegger to a wrestling arena in Mexico where he was performing in front of 25,000 screaming fans, and, after he'd pinned his opponent, he gestured for Schwarzenegger to come into the ring. So through the noise, Schwarzenegger climbs up. Andre says, 'Take off your shirt, they are all crazy for you to take off your shirt. I speak Spanish.' So Schwarzenegger, embarrassed, does what Andre tells him. Off comes his jacket, his shirt, his undershirt, and he begins striking poses. And then Andre goes to the locker room while Schwarzenegger goes back to his friends. And it had all been a practical joke. God knows what the crowd was screammg, but it wasn't for Schwarzenegger to strip and pose. 'Nobody gave a s#%t if I took my shirt off or not, but I fell for it. Andre could do that to you.'"

Wolfgang Hasenmaier
05-09-2009, 01:32 PM
Andre(already very ill) and Arnie 1984

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1321/806074491_b7a703dfd4.jpg?v=0

Andre with Muhammed Ali mid 1970s

http://www.fighttimes.com/magazine/images/Image/200811/andre-the-giant-ali.jpg

dcarroll
05-09-2009, 01:54 PM
Wolfgang, thanks for sharing those stories and pictures. back in the the 70s when I thought I wanted to get into boxing, I had a trunk load of old Ring Magazines, anyway one of the coolest pictures was of Andre headbutting Chuck Wepner, This was the time when they were hyping the Boxer vs Wrestler stuff. In real life Wepner was a genuine tough guy that would fight anyone to make a buck. If I remember the story right, Andre was going through the motions when Wepner smacked him a good one. At that point Andre grabbed Wepner and gave him a for real headbutt, the next picture showed Wepner on the floor outside the ring ,looking like he had no clue where he was or what just happened.

Alex Klotz
05-09-2009, 01:57 PM
So the guys wanted to prove their manliness by inviting Andre to fight, but ran into their car as soon as he acquiesced?

Wolfgang Hasenmaier
05-09-2009, 02:09 PM
Doug,

thank you for the interesting feedback.

I at age 16 saw André in 1978 and he impressed me -in terms of raw genetics- far more than Vasilij Alexejev in 1976. He never touched a weight, but cosumed a lot of alcohol. A ton of wasted potential. After 1981 it`s just sad to watch his steep physical decline in videos. 1974-1981 were his best years.

You are definitely right on Wepner.

Paul F.X. Armstrong
05-09-2009, 03:20 PM
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/edb/reader.html?magID=SI&issueDate=19811221&mode=reader_vault
Hit thumbnails,scroll over to page 78 and page 79.
Andre with a 12 oz beer in his hand



Article by Terry Todd on Andre
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125102/1/index.htm

--Saw him 'wrestle' Big John Stud live down at the Anaheim Convention center-it got real bloody---was ring side--weighed about 315lbs. myself and even knowing it was part of the gig the fight/the blood actually made me nervous:o

dcarroll
05-09-2009, 04:46 PM
Paul thanks for posting those links, Pg 90 has the picture I mentioned of Chuck Wepner.