The Lone Drinker
05-11-2005, 12:54 AM
I am not trying to be disrespectful to the memory of the late, great Andre The Giant and I have no doubt Andre would fuck me up in a fist fight, but then again, I am not a trained wrestler and again, I am not trying to diss on the man, I just want to make the point known that the myth of Andre being a Billy bad-ass is bullshit, and the whole purpose of this thread is just to discuss if this man was really as tough as people made him out to be and to talk about other strange things that he did in his life.
Now I realize not everything you read on the Internet is true and that I really shouldn't take it all too seriously but how can a whole bunch of people be wrong? With that being said, I was checking out a very cool and popular site that lists real life fights between wrestlers and almost all the ones about Andre involve him being owned.
Now after doing some research, I made a little list of some very interesting things that are note worthy that happened in Andre's life. Rather they are true or not, I do not know but I don't see why someone would make the following up:
1. He openly masturbated in every hotel room he ever stayed in.
2. He urinated on the carpet and furniture of every hotel room he ever stayed in.
3. Because he was so big, he could not ever use regular toilets to go to the bathroom. This really annoyed him, so one time.....he took a shit on the floor of a hotel room he was staying in and used the curtains to wipe his ass.
4. At a Japanese hotel, he took a whole bunch of Japanese newspapers, put them on his bed, and used the bed as a toilet.
5. He had a very bad odor problem causing people he wrestled against to pass out during their matches.
6. When Andre had to wrestle wrestlers he did not like, he would throw them into the corner, sit on them and fart on their head.
7. At a time, he did not like Hulk Hogan at all and thought that Hogan was just a young, stuck up, blonde, cocky, primma-donna, snobby, suck-up, punk kid from Hollywood that was going to try and steal Andre's spot as the official giant of professional wrestling.
And the Hulkster going around telling people in the locker room that Andre was his hero and that he wanted to surpass him didn't really get him into good graces with The Giant either.
Andre heard about what Hogan would say about him to the boys in the back and Andre took it as a direct threat.
So whenever they had to wrestle each other, Andre would work very stiff with Hogan and try to end his career but make it look like an accident.
Hulk refused to snitch on Andre however and complain to the head office.
Hulk Hogan would tried to talk to Andre but Andre refused to even speak with him.
Whenever Hulk had to wrestle Andre, Hulk was so scared of him that whenever he would be driving to the building, he would pull his car over and puke because he was so nervous and terrified.
Andre gained respect for Hogan however because no matter how many times Andre would whip Hogan's ass, Hogan never quit and he would never bitch about it to the front office.
And Hogan became Andre's personal bitch for a while. He'd sit there and bring Andre's food to him, tell the bus driver when to stop whenever Andre had to piss, and he'd even scrub his back for him when they were at hotel's because Andre was too big to use the shower.
And when the WWF went to Japan and Hogan had to wrestle a Japanese wrestler named Tatsumi "Dragon" Fujinami who was a legit tough guy and the match could have turned into shoot match.
Hogan was the world champion at the time and Vince McMahon told Hogan, " Hulk, be sure to take care of business tonight because we're not coming back to Japan anytime soon."
If Fujinami wanted to, he could have broken Hogan's arms and legs and pinned him for the belt right in the middle of the ring but none of it happened but Hogan was still very worried and scared.
When it was over, Andre came up to Hogan and said, "Hey Boss, why didn't you tell me? I would have taken care of him for you."
Hogan replied with "No Andre. It was my battle."
Hogan knew things were going to be cool with him and Andre from then on because Andre only called people he liked "Boss".
After that, things did indeed change between Andre and Hogan and they patched things up and became very good friends.
But Hogan still recalls there being some VERY uncomfortable and awkward times in the locker room and on bus trips with Andre.
8. Andre called people he liked, "Boss".
9. Hulk Hogan has reported that Andre drank a case of tall boys each day on the tour bus.
At the end of each can Andre would belch very loudly, crush the can in his dinner-platter-sized paw and bounce the empty can off the back of Hogan’s head.
[It paid to be on Andre’s good side and this was when Andre did not like Hogan.]
While touring Japan [where Andre was a mega-celebrity and a household name] one of his Japanese sponsors rewarded the Giant with a case of expensive plum wine.
Andre took his usual seat at the back of the bus, where seats had been removed to accommodate his bulk, and started in on the wine with his usual gusto for things fermented.
Four hours later Andre had polished off the last bottle in the case. Sixteen bottles of wine in four hours. That feat alone earns him a place on Bacchus's right shoulder, but it gets even better.
Still reeling from the effects of fermented plums, Andre proceeded straight to the ring where he wrestled three matches [including a battle royal] and no one had the slightest clue that they were in the presence of a walking wine vat.
10. On the day of Wrestlemania 3, he drank 13 bottles of champaign. Because Andre was very large man, he could drink a lot more than a normal man could. In fact he could drink a six-pac of beer and not be affected by it at all. Andre also had his own winery in France for the later part of his life. He also would drank two cases of beer every day for a period of his life. And he once drank 117 bottles of beer in one sitting.
11. He was drafted into the French army but was rejected because they did not have footwear in his size.
12. He had 50% more teeth than most people.
13. The Washington Redskins tried to recruit him.
14. He was a "gentle giant" and his feelings were easily hurt.
15. He left home at fourteen to be a furniture mover.
16. One time in the early 80's during an early stint that pro wrestler Bad News Brown had with the WWF, the boys were all on a bus traveling between shows.
Andre the Giant was in the back of the bus with the other guys and they were all telling racist jokes that Bad News took offense to.
Bad News told them all to shut up, then when he turned around Andre shouted out a racial slur.
Bad News made the driver stop the bus and told Andre to meet him outside.
Andre refused and Hulk Hogan and others tried to soothe the situation.
The next day Andre apologized to Bad News. Keep in mind this was back when Andre was still in decent shape, before his body really deteriorated.
17. The Andre the Giant vs. Akira match that took place in 1985 turned out to be a major disaster. The mega-hyped match that turned into a near shoot because Andre wouldn't sell Maeda's offense.
Maeda was getting a big head and Andre was told to embarrass him in the ring since everyone believed in the Andre myth.
Maeda didn't know and Andre, even drunk, was very powerful as Hell and started going for Maeda's eyes after no selling his submissions.
When Maeda saw it was on, he reacted as only he could.
The reason it wasn't stopped earlier was because the idea was for Andre to really beat up Maeda and the officials were waiting for it to happen.
Maeda was kicking Andre's knee until it turned bright red and took him down rather easily a few times.
He turned to Kantaro Hoshino and asked if he could finish him off and Hoshino shook his head "no."
Maeda was very angry and threw a kick at the guard rail that was more brutal than any kick he threw at Andre.
Maeda has been very unprofessional at certain points in his career, but in this case, a guy twice his size started it with him and he was trying to protect himself, put some fear into Andre, and not hurt Andre all at the same time.
Dick Murdoch, who believed in the myth of Andre, as did everyone at the time, came back and said that he thought Maeda was going to end Andre's career.
18. NFL football star Ernie Holmes got very hot-headed backstage at a WWF taping. Andre The Giant muttered, "You know, you talk too much," and Ernie never said a peep after that.
According to two people in the van when it happened (it was a rehearsal for the Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 2), Holmes was talking about how tough he was and Andre got tired of hearing about it.
Holmes was ready to fight him, but was talked out of it and nothing happened. It's unsure who told Holmes that it was probably a bad idea.
19. During a series of matches between Andre The Giant and the Ultimate Warrior, they had a spot set up where Warrior would charge Andre with a clothesline knocking the Giant back into the ropes to be tied up.
Problem was, that Warrior would charge at Andre going at full speed. Now it didn't hurt Andre, but made him very angry.
When he was hit by the clothesline, Heenan would hear Andre grunt.
This went on for a while, match after match, same thing. Warrior at full speed and Andre grunting.
Finally Andre had enough. The spot came up and Warrior charged full speed at Andre, but the Giant simply held up his fist which connected and Warrior was knocked senseless.
Next match, spot comes up, Warrior goes for the clothesline and basically goes in slow motion and connects with the clothesline.
Andre gets tied up in the ropes and leans over to Bobby and says "He's learning."
20. He didn't like Jake "The Snake" Roberts and whenever they wrestled, he was very stiff with him.
21. He didn't like The Iron Sheik either and was stiff in the ring with him as well.
22. In Mexico City, Mexico, just one month before Andre passed away he took on pro wrestler Bad News Brown in a six man tag team match.
Both were on opposing sides. Bad News Brown's partners in the match were Bam Bam Bigelow and the late, great Yokozuna and Andre was with two Mexican wrestlers.
Andre had been sick all day with diarrhea. During his match when Bad News Brown was in the ring with him, he threw him in the corner and gave him a big bump, at that very moment he shit himself and it went all over Bad News Brown's chest.
Bad News Brown fell out of the ring and barfed. Bad News Brown looked up at his two partners and they were laughing their asses off at him.
Bad News Brown left and went back to the locker room to clean himself up and he did not return to finish the match.
When they finished the match and came into the locker room they were all hysterical.
23. Since Andre the Giant was in such bad physical condition during his feud with Hulk Hogan in the mid-80's, the WWF made Bobby Heenan Andre's manager. When the match slowed down, Heenan was able to do something outside the ring to keep the match entertaining. Andre had very bad back problems later on in his career. In an interview Bobby Heenan said Andre would lean on him while walking up the stairs to the ring and that Andre wouldn't be able to move at all after his matches.
24. According to Ric Flair's book, Flair talks about Andre downing 100 beers and almost drowning Blackjack Mulligan and Dick Murdoch because he got sucker punched by them.
25. He once lifted the car of a man who was inside the car because the man was drunk and making fun of Andre's size.
26. When Andre was working on the movie, The Princess Bride.....despite his character Fezzik's almost-superhuman strength, Andre's back problems at the time prevented him from actually lifting anything heavy. Robin Wright Penn had to be attached to wires in the scene where Buttercup jumps from the castle window into Fezzik's arms because he couldn't support her himself.
27. While rehearsing for the film, Andre the Giant's thick accent prevented many of his lines from being understood. To remedy this, actor Mandy Patinkin slapped Andre in the face to get him to concentrate harder.
28. Kamala also said that Andre once called him a racist name during a match.
29. A wrestling fan posted the following story about Andre on a wrestling message board:
"Ok Andre was before my time, and I'm not "up" on classic wrestling as i would like to be, but that aside i have an amusing story about Andre, Its funny but it also says something about his personality.
My Uncle is telling me wrestling stories, His favorite wrestlers, Shows he went to, yadda yadda yadda, good times. One story stood out. and i thought you all might like to read it.
WWF is having a small venue in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate N.Y.
Early 80's---
The show is at a Golf club where my Uncle frequently went to to work on his game.
He walks into the club house bathroom, and notices two MASSIVE feet under one of the stalls... my Uncle chuckles to him self on the size of his feet and the thought of how big the rest of this guy is. but he puts the humor of it aside and goes into the next stall.
My uncle is just siting there clenching and squeezing away. when out no where a heavy, deep, broken English voice calls out.
"You having Shitting problems too?"
"huh.... yeah" my uncle responds
The unknown "Bathroom Giant" continues to make small talk, they discuss wrestling, local pubs, and all from stall to stall.... suddenly my uncle bursts out
"FUCK"
"what?" the giant says
"No toilet paper" my uncle responds
" I got just a little over here... do they pay people to keep up with these things?"
A enormous hand reaches from underneath the stall holding a roll of TP with VERY little paper left on it.. My Uncle refuses at first but the Unknown Bathroom giant insists.. my uncle thanks him "cleans himself" and exits the stall to wash his hands... The stall door opens, and the man, the myth, the Legend ANDRE THE GIANT emerges from the bathroom stall. clenching his butt cheeks together (and yes he was wearing pants) walking like a penguin. My Uncle is star struck.. He Didn't make the connection between the voice and giant feet and hands....Andre shakes my uncles hands and says
"nice talking to you, but i need to go.. theres toilet paper on the bus, and i need to get ready for the show"
My Uncle tells this story a lot, seeing how its the coolest thing to ever happen to him, (in a sick sort of way) And he ways ends it the same way.
"Some people give you the shirt off their backs.. Andre.. God bless his heart, would give ya the last of the toilet paper....."
Now I realize not everything you read on the Internet is true and that I really shouldn't take it all too seriously but how can a whole bunch of people be wrong? With that being said, I was checking out a very cool and popular site that lists real life fights between wrestlers and almost all the ones about Andre involve him being owned.
Now after doing some research, I made a little list of some very interesting things that are note worthy that happened in Andre's life. Rather they are true or not, I do not know but I don't see why someone would make the following up:
1. He openly masturbated in every hotel room he ever stayed in.
2. He urinated on the carpet and furniture of every hotel room he ever stayed in.
3. Because he was so big, he could not ever use regular toilets to go to the bathroom. This really annoyed him, so one time.....he took a shit on the floor of a hotel room he was staying in and used the curtains to wipe his ass.
4. At a Japanese hotel, he took a whole bunch of Japanese newspapers, put them on his bed, and used the bed as a toilet.
5. He had a very bad odor problem causing people he wrestled against to pass out during their matches.
6. When Andre had to wrestle wrestlers he did not like, he would throw them into the corner, sit on them and fart on their head.
7. At a time, he did not like Hulk Hogan at all and thought that Hogan was just a young, stuck up, blonde, cocky, primma-donna, snobby, suck-up, punk kid from Hollywood that was going to try and steal Andre's spot as the official giant of professional wrestling.
And the Hulkster going around telling people in the locker room that Andre was his hero and that he wanted to surpass him didn't really get him into good graces with The Giant either.
Andre heard about what Hogan would say about him to the boys in the back and Andre took it as a direct threat.
So whenever they had to wrestle each other, Andre would work very stiff with Hogan and try to end his career but make it look like an accident.
Hulk refused to snitch on Andre however and complain to the head office.
Hulk Hogan would tried to talk to Andre but Andre refused to even speak with him.
Whenever Hulk had to wrestle Andre, Hulk was so scared of him that whenever he would be driving to the building, he would pull his car over and puke because he was so nervous and terrified.
Andre gained respect for Hogan however because no matter how many times Andre would whip Hogan's ass, Hogan never quit and he would never bitch about it to the front office.
And Hogan became Andre's personal bitch for a while. He'd sit there and bring Andre's food to him, tell the bus driver when to stop whenever Andre had to piss, and he'd even scrub his back for him when they were at hotel's because Andre was too big to use the shower.
And when the WWF went to Japan and Hogan had to wrestle a Japanese wrestler named Tatsumi "Dragon" Fujinami who was a legit tough guy and the match could have turned into shoot match.
Hogan was the world champion at the time and Vince McMahon told Hogan, " Hulk, be sure to take care of business tonight because we're not coming back to Japan anytime soon."
If Fujinami wanted to, he could have broken Hogan's arms and legs and pinned him for the belt right in the middle of the ring but none of it happened but Hogan was still very worried and scared.
When it was over, Andre came up to Hogan and said, "Hey Boss, why didn't you tell me? I would have taken care of him for you."
Hogan replied with "No Andre. It was my battle."
Hogan knew things were going to be cool with him and Andre from then on because Andre only called people he liked "Boss".
After that, things did indeed change between Andre and Hogan and they patched things up and became very good friends.
But Hogan still recalls there being some VERY uncomfortable and awkward times in the locker room and on bus trips with Andre.
8. Andre called people he liked, "Boss".
9. Hulk Hogan has reported that Andre drank a case of tall boys each day on the tour bus.
At the end of each can Andre would belch very loudly, crush the can in his dinner-platter-sized paw and bounce the empty can off the back of Hogan’s head.
[It paid to be on Andre’s good side and this was when Andre did not like Hogan.]
While touring Japan [where Andre was a mega-celebrity and a household name] one of his Japanese sponsors rewarded the Giant with a case of expensive plum wine.
Andre took his usual seat at the back of the bus, where seats had been removed to accommodate his bulk, and started in on the wine with his usual gusto for things fermented.
Four hours later Andre had polished off the last bottle in the case. Sixteen bottles of wine in four hours. That feat alone earns him a place on Bacchus's right shoulder, but it gets even better.
Still reeling from the effects of fermented plums, Andre proceeded straight to the ring where he wrestled three matches [including a battle royal] and no one had the slightest clue that they were in the presence of a walking wine vat.
10. On the day of Wrestlemania 3, he drank 13 bottles of champaign. Because Andre was very large man, he could drink a lot more than a normal man could. In fact he could drink a six-pac of beer and not be affected by it at all. Andre also had his own winery in France for the later part of his life. He also would drank two cases of beer every day for a period of his life. And he once drank 117 bottles of beer in one sitting.
11. He was drafted into the French army but was rejected because they did not have footwear in his size.
12. He had 50% more teeth than most people.
13. The Washington Redskins tried to recruit him.
14. He was a "gentle giant" and his feelings were easily hurt.
15. He left home at fourteen to be a furniture mover.
16. One time in the early 80's during an early stint that pro wrestler Bad News Brown had with the WWF, the boys were all on a bus traveling between shows.
Andre the Giant was in the back of the bus with the other guys and they were all telling racist jokes that Bad News took offense to.
Bad News told them all to shut up, then when he turned around Andre shouted out a racial slur.
Bad News made the driver stop the bus and told Andre to meet him outside.
Andre refused and Hulk Hogan and others tried to soothe the situation.
The next day Andre apologized to Bad News. Keep in mind this was back when Andre was still in decent shape, before his body really deteriorated.
17. The Andre the Giant vs. Akira match that took place in 1985 turned out to be a major disaster. The mega-hyped match that turned into a near shoot because Andre wouldn't sell Maeda's offense.
Maeda was getting a big head and Andre was told to embarrass him in the ring since everyone believed in the Andre myth.
Maeda didn't know and Andre, even drunk, was very powerful as Hell and started going for Maeda's eyes after no selling his submissions.
When Maeda saw it was on, he reacted as only he could.
The reason it wasn't stopped earlier was because the idea was for Andre to really beat up Maeda and the officials were waiting for it to happen.
Maeda was kicking Andre's knee until it turned bright red and took him down rather easily a few times.
He turned to Kantaro Hoshino and asked if he could finish him off and Hoshino shook his head "no."
Maeda was very angry and threw a kick at the guard rail that was more brutal than any kick he threw at Andre.
Maeda has been very unprofessional at certain points in his career, but in this case, a guy twice his size started it with him and he was trying to protect himself, put some fear into Andre, and not hurt Andre all at the same time.
Dick Murdoch, who believed in the myth of Andre, as did everyone at the time, came back and said that he thought Maeda was going to end Andre's career.
18. NFL football star Ernie Holmes got very hot-headed backstage at a WWF taping. Andre The Giant muttered, "You know, you talk too much," and Ernie never said a peep after that.
According to two people in the van when it happened (it was a rehearsal for the Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 2), Holmes was talking about how tough he was and Andre got tired of hearing about it.
Holmes was ready to fight him, but was talked out of it and nothing happened. It's unsure who told Holmes that it was probably a bad idea.
19. During a series of matches between Andre The Giant and the Ultimate Warrior, they had a spot set up where Warrior would charge Andre with a clothesline knocking the Giant back into the ropes to be tied up.
Problem was, that Warrior would charge at Andre going at full speed. Now it didn't hurt Andre, but made him very angry.
When he was hit by the clothesline, Heenan would hear Andre grunt.
This went on for a while, match after match, same thing. Warrior at full speed and Andre grunting.
Finally Andre had enough. The spot came up and Warrior charged full speed at Andre, but the Giant simply held up his fist which connected and Warrior was knocked senseless.
Next match, spot comes up, Warrior goes for the clothesline and basically goes in slow motion and connects with the clothesline.
Andre gets tied up in the ropes and leans over to Bobby and says "He's learning."
20. He didn't like Jake "The Snake" Roberts and whenever they wrestled, he was very stiff with him.
21. He didn't like The Iron Sheik either and was stiff in the ring with him as well.
22. In Mexico City, Mexico, just one month before Andre passed away he took on pro wrestler Bad News Brown in a six man tag team match.
Both were on opposing sides. Bad News Brown's partners in the match were Bam Bam Bigelow and the late, great Yokozuna and Andre was with two Mexican wrestlers.
Andre had been sick all day with diarrhea. During his match when Bad News Brown was in the ring with him, he threw him in the corner and gave him a big bump, at that very moment he shit himself and it went all over Bad News Brown's chest.
Bad News Brown fell out of the ring and barfed. Bad News Brown looked up at his two partners and they were laughing their asses off at him.
Bad News Brown left and went back to the locker room to clean himself up and he did not return to finish the match.
When they finished the match and came into the locker room they were all hysterical.
23. Since Andre the Giant was in such bad physical condition during his feud with Hulk Hogan in the mid-80's, the WWF made Bobby Heenan Andre's manager. When the match slowed down, Heenan was able to do something outside the ring to keep the match entertaining. Andre had very bad back problems later on in his career. In an interview Bobby Heenan said Andre would lean on him while walking up the stairs to the ring and that Andre wouldn't be able to move at all after his matches.
24. According to Ric Flair's book, Flair talks about Andre downing 100 beers and almost drowning Blackjack Mulligan and Dick Murdoch because he got sucker punched by them.
25. He once lifted the car of a man who was inside the car because the man was drunk and making fun of Andre's size.
26. When Andre was working on the movie, The Princess Bride.....despite his character Fezzik's almost-superhuman strength, Andre's back problems at the time prevented him from actually lifting anything heavy. Robin Wright Penn had to be attached to wires in the scene where Buttercup jumps from the castle window into Fezzik's arms because he couldn't support her himself.
27. While rehearsing for the film, Andre the Giant's thick accent prevented many of his lines from being understood. To remedy this, actor Mandy Patinkin slapped Andre in the face to get him to concentrate harder.
28. Kamala also said that Andre once called him a racist name during a match.
29. A wrestling fan posted the following story about Andre on a wrestling message board:
"Ok Andre was before my time, and I'm not "up" on classic wrestling as i would like to be, but that aside i have an amusing story about Andre, Its funny but it also says something about his personality.
My Uncle is telling me wrestling stories, His favorite wrestlers, Shows he went to, yadda yadda yadda, good times. One story stood out. and i thought you all might like to read it.
WWF is having a small venue in the Catskill Mountains in Upstate N.Y.
Early 80's---
The show is at a Golf club where my Uncle frequently went to to work on his game.
He walks into the club house bathroom, and notices two MASSIVE feet under one of the stalls... my Uncle chuckles to him self on the size of his feet and the thought of how big the rest of this guy is. but he puts the humor of it aside and goes into the next stall.
My uncle is just siting there clenching and squeezing away. when out no where a heavy, deep, broken English voice calls out.
"You having Shitting problems too?"
"huh.... yeah" my uncle responds
The unknown "Bathroom Giant" continues to make small talk, they discuss wrestling, local pubs, and all from stall to stall.... suddenly my uncle bursts out
"FUCK"
"what?" the giant says
"No toilet paper" my uncle responds
" I got just a little over here... do they pay people to keep up with these things?"
A enormous hand reaches from underneath the stall holding a roll of TP with VERY little paper left on it.. My Uncle refuses at first but the Unknown Bathroom giant insists.. my uncle thanks him "cleans himself" and exits the stall to wash his hands... The stall door opens, and the man, the myth, the Legend ANDRE THE GIANT emerges from the bathroom stall. clenching his butt cheeks together (and yes he was wearing pants) walking like a penguin. My Uncle is star struck.. He Didn't make the connection between the voice and giant feet and hands....Andre shakes my uncles hands and says
"nice talking to you, but i need to go.. theres toilet paper on the bus, and i need to get ready for the show"
My Uncle tells this story a lot, seeing how its the coolest thing to ever happen to him, (in a sick sort of way) And he ways ends it the same way.
"Some people give you the shirt off their backs.. Andre.. God bless his heart, would give ya the last of the toilet paper....."