Still can’t get the sound to play on that stupid AWA tape, so moving along, I decided on watching another tape I picked up at the same time as Action Zone, that being this Andre the Giant biography.
This Andre video was released in 1999 during that weird mini nostalgia run, which saw them release a tape on Jesse the Body Ventura and all those Rock N’ Wrestling episodes. This initial nostalgia run was kind of weird because it focused only on icons from the early 80s WWF. I remember they released special Jakks figures for Andre, Superfly, Freddie Blassie, etc. which we never bought. I don’t remember us paying too much attention to this first wave of nostalgia, other than being excited to get our hands on Rock N’ Wrestling.
Larger Than Life is surprisingly not a collection of Andre’s matches, but rather an A&E biography from 1998. I remember watching this special Biography when it first aired back in 98 as it had a lot of hype behind it, and I likely have a taped copy of it somewhere, but I haven’t seen it since. Not sure why the WWF chose to release the standalone Biography show without any extra matches or interviews. I’ve developed a huge interest in Andre the Giant these days and I’m really surprised the WWF has never released a multi disc DVD set of his best matches. Because of this current interest I was very excited to finally see this video again.
The bio gets off to an awful start, as they talk about Andre’s biggest match ever taking place during the summer of 1996 at Wrestlemania 3. WTF! How did such a major glaring error in the first couple minutes make it past the editing stage? I was afraid that the rest of the biography would be full of atrocious factual mistakes, but this seems the worst. I’m sure there were smaller mistakes in the mix, but none that stood out as being completely stupid.
The 45 minute biography has a real nice flow and pace and gives you an amazing look into the life of Andre the Giant. Most of it is spent on his life and condition and less on the actual wrestling, which made it very interesting. We get a big section about Andre growing up in a small village in France, featuring interviews from close friends and even his brother Jacques Roussimoff! It’s weird how his brother almost looks like him, but with a moustache. Also funny, Andre’s dad was Boris Roussimoff, who was of Bulgarian descent. We get to see lots of rare photos of a teenage Andre and even his very early start in wrestling. They talk a lot about what made him a giant, and it’s extremely fascinating to hear. Andre did the work of several men on the family farm, but was restless and wanted to get out into the world.
Several old-time wrestlers were interviewed for the bio, including Rene Goulet, Freddie Blassie, Arnold Skaaland, who was one of Andre’s best friends, former ref Tim White who was Andre’s friend and handler on the road, and most shockingly Gorilla Monsoon, who looked super weak and frail, like he was 90 years old. This must be the last video Monsoon was ever featured on before passing away. Very sad to see him in such terrible shape. All of the old-timers had great things to say and amazing stories to tell. Would love to see more of this kind of stuff.
I liked hearing about Andre’s emergence in wrestling, and his eventual move to the States, which comes 20 minutes into the documentary. We get lots of rare footage of 70s and early 80s WWF matches, and I was completely blown away at how incredibly agile Andre was during this time, and marveled at his speed and wrestling abilities. Man, imagine if the Giant was at his peak during the PPV era rather than his decline. What an attraction he would have been!
Even more interesting than the wrestling stories were all the tales from the road. Wrestlers and friends talk about the Giant’s everyday life on the road and how hard absolutely everything was for him. He couldn’t fit in seats or showers or even hold a fork. He was recognized everywhere he went, and because he was only expected to live until 40 he didn’t bother to take care of himself. His drinking and eating are legendary and we get stories about his ability to drink over 100 beers, a couple bottles of wine, and a bottle of hard alcohol in a sitting. Andre loved to sit and drink with his friends and play cards. This lifestyle coupled with the bumps in the ring deteriorated his health, but it was bound to happen anyway due to his disease.
Most interesting is that they reveal Andre had a daughter, which is the number one thing I remember most from when I saw this bio back in 98. I’ll never forget that idiot grade 8 teacher I had, talking to us in Health class about how Andre the Giant couldn’t have kids. Andre was extremely popular with the ladies and had a daughter who was born in 1981, though Wikipedia says it was 1979. I’ve searched for her on Google and she’s made headlines in the last year criticizing the WWF and controversially saying her dad wouldn’t have made it in today’s era because of his inability to cut promos. As a kid I always thought Andre sounded like he had a disability when really it was his heavy French accent.
Also interesting was the fact that Andre lived on a ranch in North Carolina. They showed pics of him living life on his ranch, where he had a custom built house for him. Andre would sit and drink beer outside and watch TV in solitude on his ranch. I love the idea of Andre living it up on this ranch.
His WWF career is only talked about a little bit towards the end, with the discussion focused on Wrestlemania 3. They completely ignore his final years where he competed in Japan in 1992, despite being nearly crippled. Check out the matches on Youtube sometime. The wrestling quality is non-existent, but man is it weird to see Andre in such poor health teaming with Giant Baba. Just amazing footage to see.
Andre’s death is pretty sad, as he had travelled to France to attend his father’s funeral in January 1993. He died in a Paris hotel room of heart failure at the age of 46, defying the doctor’s longevity predictions.
Man, what an amazing person Andre the Giant was! I’m really curious to see more of his matches and learn more about his life after watching this tape. This Biography is too short at 45 minutes, but it provides a nice overview of the life of the Giant. I’m going to have to search out more Andre matches, from all eras.
the RepoDan Wrestling Institution 