Billed at 7’4” and at 520 pounds, Andre the Giant is an icon, a pro wrestler who was such a larger-than-life phenomenon that his life story is surrounded by legends, myths, and incredible stories. He drank oceans of beer and liquor just to get a buzz, could eat 12 steaks in one sitting if he wanted to show off, and once ripped open a car because some dudes in a bar were harassing him.
Andre the Giant wrestled in the WWE as well as internationally, and Andre’s legend extends to how he interacted with his wrestling contemporaries, so what about more wrestling-specific stories? Let’s break a little kayfabe and talk about ten crazy backstage stories about The Eighth Wonder of the World.
10 He Personally Fired The Fabulous Freebirds
In 1984, Vince McMahon briefly hired The Fabulous Freebirds, a popular tag team trio consisting of (at the time) Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts. The group’s rock star vibes fit in with the “Rock ‘n’ Wrestling” boom period the WWF was enjoying thanks to their MTV exposure, but that lifestyle also extended to The Freebirds’ backstage behavior. When the Freebirds got super drunk and arrived at a show late, Andre The Giant grew incensed and told them they were fired.
When they protested his authority to fire them, Andre offered an ultimatum -- don’t show up to work ever again, or deal with Andre the Giant. The Fabulous Freebirds did not show up.
9 Tension with Kamala
Kamala has a pretty intense story about a backstage fight with Andre the Giant in 1983. Andre got mad at him in the ring and called him something “derogatory” -- there are conflicting stories about what -- but afterwards Kamala pummeled Andre and threatened him with a gun if he ever did that again.
Kamala began carrying a small pistol in his loincloth (just in case), but apparently the two made up to the point of Andre even helping Kamala get into the WWF.
8 He Did Not Like Randy Savage
Andre the Giant reportedly had a decent relationship with Hulk Hogan, but he did not like Macho Man Randy Savage -- and it’s all because of baby oil. According to Savage’s brother, Andre the Giant hated baby oil, presumably because it made it harder to do predetermined moves on a guy that was slipping out of your arms. But Savage refused to change his body lubrication practices, claiming it was as essential to his character as being a giant was to Andre’s.
However, Andre’s daughter Robin has also said that the reason for the animosity involved the Giant’s dislike of steroid users, and Savage was an avid juicer. Maybe “baby oil” was a thinly veiled code?
7 He Liked Randy’s Brother, Though
Randy Savage’s brother is “Leaping” Lanny Poffo, later known in WWF as The Genius. He tells a story about how he, unlike his brother, actually got on the good side of Andre The Giant.
One time, before a show, Poffo gave Andre a deck of cards -- and playing cards was one of the Giant’s favorite things to do. After that, Andre treated Poffo as a friend, an attitude Lanny likened to the old Aesop fable about winning over the lion’s affection by removing a thorn from its paw.
6 A Different Kind of Andre The Giant Beer Story
One of the most famous tales people like to tell about Andre the Giant involves him drinking over a hundred beers in one sitting, or racking up a $40,000 bar tab while shooting The Princess Bride. This is a different kind of beer story. Once, in a tag match against One Man Gang, Andre the Giant came to the ring with a beer and poured the whole thing down Gang’s throat.
Which seems somewhat benign as far as wrestling is concerned, but the whole thing seems strangely sinister when you find out that One Man Gang didn’t drink. However, on the flip side, Gang also had nice things to say about Andre as a generous in-ring partner.
5 Bad Times with Bad News Brown
Andre the Giant had a fraught relationship with Bad News Brown. On a 1980 bus ride in Japan, an incredibly plastered Andre sat in the back, loudly telling racist jokes, Brown told him to stop, but Giant wouldn’t relent, so Brown ordered the driver to stop the bus so they could take it outside.
The two never ended up fighting, but Brown did confront a sober Andre about it the next day, explaining his viewpoint. Tensions didn’t exactly ease after that, but the two would ultimately things up before Andre’s death.
4 Absolutely Wrecking The Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior was one of the most popular characters of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s maximum cartoon era of WWF -- behind Hulk Hogan, obviously -- but Warrior also had a reputation of being ridiculously hard to work with. He wrestled a series of house show matches with Andre the Giant, where they’d do a clothesline spot against the ropes, but Warrior was working way too stiff and refused to ease up even when Andre asked.
That is, until Andre got fed up. One night, instead of taking the clothesline, Andre simply put out his fist, obliterating the face-painted maniac. Needless to say, Warrior eased up on the clothesline.
3 Bad News Brown, Brown’d
The other big story about Andre the Giant and Bad News Brown is a little more comedic. Basically, in a match in Mexico in 1992, Andre -- drunk off tequila and suffering from a virus -- was wrestling Brown in what would come to be some of his final matches before his death months later, and inadvertently had diarrhea all over the poor guy.
Brown hurried to the back mid-match and showered in his wrestling boots, but remained a surprisingly good sport about it, all things considered.
2 His WCW Appearance Upset Vince McMahon
In 1992 Andre, reportedly feeling some ill will towards Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation, made a single appearance for competitor World Championship Wrestling at Clash of the Champions XX.
It wasn’t a performance or anything, just Andre showing up on camera for a brief interview with Gordon Solie. Despite that, Vince McMahon was upset by the appearance, feeling betrayed by it. Andre and McMahon would later talk about it, and the Giant would apologize.
1 Jerry Lawler Defeating Andre (But Not Really)
In the territory days, Vince McMahon Sr. loaned Andre the Giant out to other wrestling promotions, as the Giant had run out of credible foes in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (as it was known at the time). At one point, the Giant had a match with Jerry “The King” Lawler in the mid-1970s where Andre had lost via count-out disqualification. The match wasn’t televised, but a wrestling magazine ran a story about Lawler beating Andre, which made the elder McMahon go ballistic and accuse Lawler of killing Andre’s career.
As damage control, the magazine would publish a story about Andre the Giant remaining undefeated, which seemed to cool off the enraged WWWF boss.