According to WWE, one of the greatest pro wrestling moments of all time happened in the main event of 1987’s WrestleMania III as Hulk Hogan managed to body slam the 520-pound and aptly named Andre the Giant. It’s surely an iconic moment and the feud surrounding it has been regarded as one of the biggest wrestling rivalries of the 1980s. It was the third ‘Mania, but this was the one that basically established the concept of the “WrestleMania moment.”
The “body slam heard around the world” was certainly a huge moment, but Hogan and Andre had a full-fledged rivalry going on, with lots of interesting encounters and backstory that have fallen by the wayside, obscured by a single moment.
10 They Wrestled Many Times Before WrestleMania III
Their WrestleMania III match was touted as a huge event -- “the irresistible force meets the immovable object!” -- but it wasn’t anywhere near the first time Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant clashed.
During Hulk Hogan’s first stint with the WWF in the early ‘80s, Hogan and Andre had 21 matches, with the Giant winning pretty much all of them by DQ, Count Out, and even legitimate victories every now and again.
9 Hogan Slammed Andre Before
Most wrestling fans know that Hulk Hogan was not the first person to bodyslam Andre the Giant. Before Hogan, Harley Race, Strong Kobayashi, and Butcher Vachon had all done it in the 1970s. WrestleMania III wasn’t even the first time Hogan bodyslammed Andre!
Seven years prior, the duo collided in New York City’s Shea Stadium in a 1980 event called Showdown at the Shea, where Hogan did the deed. As an extra bit of trivia, both men’s alignments were flipped, with Hogan as the heel and Andre as the face.
8 They Teamed in AWA
In 1981, Hulk Hogan left the WWF to go work on the film Rocky III and ended up working for the American Wrestling Association for a couple of years, where he notably became a top babyface.
Andre The Giant also worked for the AWA around this time, and the pair formed a tag team, regularly feuding with legendary manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, who managed AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel and had a whole stable of heel wrestlers, The Heenan Family to take on the heroes.
7 They Wrestled in New Japan
Both Hogan and Andre were staples in Japanese wrestling and spent a lot of time performing for New Japan Pro Wrestling, where they shared a ring many times in the early to mid-1980s. For the most part, they took part in tag matches -- together and on opposite sides, but ended up wrestling six singles matches against one another.
With the exception of one DQ victory for Andre, all of these matches ended in Double Count Out, including their last bout, which was part of the 1983 IWGP League, the precursor to the G1 Climax. Hogan would end up winning that tournament.
6 They Teamed in WWF, Too
By 1984, both Hogan and Andre were back in the WWF, but their partnership did not end, nor did their feud with Bobby Heenan. Heenan ended up jumping ship to WWF the same year and developed a new version of The Heenan Family to remain a thorn in the side of Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan.
Bobby Heenan-led heels who took on the duo during this era include Adrian Adonis, Big John Studd, and King Kong Bundy.
5 Their Feud Started Over a Trophy
By 1987, Hogan and Andre were established as friends and tag team partners. However, tensions would rise between the friends due to, of all things, a perceived slight over a trophy. In an edition of Roddy Piper’s talk show, Piper’s Pit, Hulk Hogan would receive a great big trophy for his absurdly long WWF Championship reign, which would ultimately last over four years.
Soon enough, Andre the Giant would receive a trophy himself, for the tremendous feat of being “undefeated.” However, Andre’s trophy was a bit smaller than Hogan’s, which made it easy for Bobby Heenan to manipulate the Giant into turning on the Hulkster.
4 Andre Eliminated Hogan in a Battle Royale
The 1980s program Saturday Night’s Main Event not only created a lot of iconic moments but was a great way to promote big wrestling matches without the tedium of a weekly three-hour show. During the build to WrestleMania III, both men took part in a battle royal on Saturday Night’s Main Event X, which had the Giant shockingly eliminate Hogan.
Hercules ultimately won the battle royal, but Andre the Giant gained those coveted pro wrestling intangibilities like “momentum” and “psychological advantage” going into his ‘Mania match with Hogan
3 The Rematches
The Hogan/Andre feud continued past WrestleMania III, with several one-on-one rematches. Most fans remember their rematch at The Main Event I, had Andre winning the title and immediately giving it to Ted DiBiase.
Less remembered is their WrestleMania IV tournament match for the vacant WWF Championship, which ended in a double-countout. Even more obscured is their “final” non-house show match, a steel cage bout in a Milwaukee baseball stadium at the supercard WrestleFest ‘88, which was released on home video but has yet to surface on the WWE Network.
2 The Mega Bucks vs. The Mega Powers
From 1987 to 1989, Hulk Hogan forged a bond with a newly babyface Macho Man Randy Savage, forming an all-star tag team called The Mega Powers. The pair only had a couple of matches before exploding and necessitating a big WrestleMania V bout, but their biggest match as a team was at SummerSlam in 1988.
That's when they took on the team of Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant, a.k.a. The Mega Bucks. The Mega Powers would win the match despite an attempted slow count from guest referee Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
1 Their Last Match Was a Tag Bout in 1990
The SummerSlam match would be followed by a DQ singles win for Hogan at a house show a couple of months later, and Andre the Giant would die in Paris in 1993, but three years before that he would have his final match with Hulk Hogan.
It was yet another tag match, this time at a house show, as Hogan and Big Boss Man took on Andre the Giant and Haku, collectively known as the Colossal Connection. The following year, Andre would leave WWE and wrestle around Mexico and Japan until his death.