Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
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Post by Sephiroth on Mar 9, 2019 18:35:06 GMT -5
I bring this up because of the passing of King Kong Bundy. I looked up some old interviews he did and he was pretty vocal in criticizing Andre, saying “Andre was a d**k.” He also accuses Big John Studd of being a roadie to Andre. That brought to mind a passage from Boddy the Brain’s book where he described how Andre used to legit beat up on John Studd in the ring, and he refused to ever be seen with anyone who was actually taller than him, such as certain basketball players. It seems to clash a lot with stories I have heard of Andre as this generous, fun loving guy who loved to party. But from a business perspective, I suppose it makes sense. Andre probably wanted to be the special attraction on any card and probably felt that being featured alongside other superheavyweights bit into his status as THE top attraction. Which is all the sadder, as there is no denying his feud with John Studd and later with Studd and Bundy as a team was something special,.
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Post by honsou on Mar 9, 2019 18:47:37 GMT -5
It seems that Andre was known for beating people up and being used by promoters that way as well. Best example of this was the Akira Maeda match where Andre was told to rough him up a bit but since Maeda actually knew how to fight it didn't go so well for Andre.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2019 19:00:38 GMT -5
I don’t know how tall that André actually was but Wilt Chamberlain was a legit 7’1” and seemed taller than him so I can see André trying to protect his gimmick by only appearing around shorter guys.
safe to say that André probably was a dick though.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Mar 9, 2019 19:11:04 GMT -5
I don’t know how tall that André actually was but Wilt Chamberlain was a legit 7’1” and seemed taller than him so I can see André trying to protect his gimmick by only appearing around shorter guys. safe to say that André probably was a dick though. Pretty much. Andre could be a good dude, but he also was very protective of his market value, and distrusted other giants accordingly, and pair that with drinking and a generally horrible standard of living as the years took their toll on his body, and he could be absolutely miserable to be around. Like, how cordial is a guy going to be when he has to shit in a newspaper spread over the floor because he can't fit onto the toilet? |
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Post by jason1980s on Mar 9, 2019 19:21:09 GMT -5
Bundy was the type of guy who would call things like he saw them and I can see him not liking Andre and if Andre wasn't being fair or respectful or taking care of his opponents, Bundy would be the type to disapprove. It's similar to Iron Sheik going off on Andre in a shoot because Andre wouldn't sign an autograph for kids. Even as a bad guy in the 1980s Sheik made time for signing autographs.
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Post by Prince Petty on Mar 9, 2019 21:26:08 GMT -5
According to Bret Hart, if Andre liked you he liked you, if he didn't you were f***ed. In his book, he told a story of getting on Andre's bad side when he was driving him to a show and they were late. Andre wouldn't speak to him again until Bret managed to side with Andre in an argument he was having with Neidhart about the fitness of football players vs soccer players. Andre definitely had an issue with any other giants, because he thought they were trying to muscle in on his rightful territory. I've definitely heard stories of him hating Big John Studd, and feel fairly sure I've heard similar about his feelings for Bundy. I'm sure that, if Andre's health had been better and he'd continued wrestling into the 90s, he'd have disliked Big Show too. Here's something cool, Andre wrestled Giant Haystacks (Loch Ness in WCW) a couple of times, in the 70s:  It looks like they were about the same height. I wonder how well they got on. |
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Post by Joe Neglia on Mar 9, 2019 22:44:44 GMT -5
Andre despised Studd simply because Studd existed. Andre, despite how awesome and generous he could be, was extremely paranoid about protecting "his spot." Studd was one of the nicest guys on the roster and never could understand why Andre hated him so much. He tried to do things to try to win Andre's favor, but Andre never budged.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Mar 9, 2019 23:02:05 GMT -5
Andre despised Studd simply because Studd existed. Andre, despite how awesome and generous he could be, was extremely paranoid about protecting "his spot." Studd was one of the nicest guys on the roster and never could understand why Andre hated him so much. He tried to do things to try to win Andre's favor, but Andre never budged. He also hated Uncle Elmer, but given him hocking bootleg rolexes, etc, to guys backstage, maybe he wore out his welcome due to that rather than size. I know Andre was obviously the biggest draw in the world at a time. I know Hogan spent time under Andre's learning tree, so it's hard not to wonder if that influenced Hogan's own legendary insecurities and jealousy later on. I know he was significantly shorter, but I am almost surprised Andre was good with working with Kamala for some programs like their cage match. |
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Post by XaviersSS2015hair on Mar 9, 2019 23:49:51 GMT -5
Not defending Andre since I have heard the stories about him being a racist and other not so nice things that were already mentioned here, but wasn't being protective of your spot just a given back then? How many times have we heard about Bruiser Brody, Roddy Piper and numerous others refusing to do business because they thought it would effect their market value? Now imagine you are Andre and your entire schtick is being THEE Giant. Of course he didn't want to be seen by guys his size or near it, it makes sense from the perspective of that era.
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Post by XaviersSS2015hair on Mar 9, 2019 23:53:53 GMT -5
Not defending Andre since I have heard the stories about him being a racist and other not so nice things that were already mentioned here, but wasn't being protective of your spot just a given back then? How many times have we heard about Bruiser Brody, Roddy Piper and numerous others refusing to do business because they thought it would effect their market value? Now imagine you are Andre and your entire schtick is being THEE Giant. Of course he didn't want to be seen by guys his size or near it, it makes sense from the perspective of that era. Double post.  Sorry I am new here and I was trying to quote the post above me to get some more stories about Uncle Elmer. Him selling bootleg Rolex's is a new one to me and sounds highly entertaining. |
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Crappler El 0 M
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Mar 10, 2019 0:01:48 GMT -5
There is the famous picture with him with Wilt Chamberlain, but I've read many stories that he would try to avoid any situation where tall NBA players would be around him. He was probably around 6'10'' and nowhere near 7'4''. There's been many reports that Andre didn't like John Studd, with the supposed reason that Andre didn't want any other "giant" wrestlers around.
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Sorry I am new here and I was trying to quote the post above me to get some more stories about Uncle Elmer. Him selling bootleg Rolex's is a new one to me and sounds highly entertaining. 
