The new Andre the Giant doc is out this week on HBO.

I highly recommend watching it, even if you weren't a big wrestling fan growing up. The doc goes way deeper into Andre's life than just his wrestling career. Really goes in depth into his childhood, personal life and the pain he endured, both physically and emotionally having to be Andre the Giant 24/7.

Andre the Giant truly was the closest thing our generation had to a fairy tale myth or legend.

I don't have HBO, but I'm sure this will be out on Netflix or some other form eventually. I did see this article about the documentary the other day, so I thought I'd share it here as well for those interested...

https://sports.yahoo.com/misunderstood-life-career-andre-giant-160031441.html

I watched it last night, and it was very good. Lots of great stories and interviews.

I grew up in the 80's watching WWF. WrestleMania III played a good sized part in the documentary, and I remember watching it live on PPV in '87. I remember thinking that Hulk Hogan slamming Andre was the most amazing thing ever.

TriCHawk wrote:I watched it last night, and it was very good. Lots of great stories and interviews.

I grew up in the 80's watching WWF. WrestleMania III played a good sized part in the documentary, and I remember watching it live on PPV in '87. I remember thinking that Hulk Hogan slamming Andre was the most amazing thing ever.

Nice.

I wasn't a big wrestling fan growing up, not because I didn't like wrestling..........but because my parents were too cheap to pay for cable until I was well into high school.

But after that I never missed an opportunity to see Andre the Giant wrestle. I'd put him right up there with the great athletes in the fact that if he was on TV? You were glued to the TV. He truly was his intro "The 8th wonder of the world."

Just saw this yesterday while browsing the app. Immediatly put it on. Wrestling documentaries are usually a fun watch for me.

Saw part of an interview with Hulk Hogan at the premier about how going into the match, he didn't know if Andre was going to let him win or not. He said it was the only time he's ever gone into the ring not knowing the outcome of the match.

I also read a story (though it might not be true and might be confused with the above story) that Hogan didn't think he could slam Andre, but that Andre suggested doing it during the match. Hogan initially didn't want to do it but Andre convinced him he'd be able to do it.

Looking forward to watching the documentary when it is available on something other than HBO.

I started watching wrestling as a kid at the tail end of his career. Some of those clips from his younger days when he looked much more agile would be interesting to watch. By the time I saw him, he was largely slow and lumbering (if I recall correctly, he had basically retired before Wrestlemania III and got a special back surgery just to be able to come back.

Watched it. Cried. Loved it.

Watched it last night. Fantastic. Gentle Giant.

HawkGA wrote:Saw part of an interview with Hulk Hogan at the premier about how going into the match, he didn't know if Andre was going to let him win or not. He said it was the only time he's ever gone into the ring not knowing the outcome of the match.

I also read a story (though it might not be true and might be confused with the above story) that Hogan didn't think he could slam Andre, but that Andre suggested doing it during the match. Hogan initially didn't want to do it but Andre convinced him he'd be able to do it.

Looking forward to watching the documentary when it is available on something other than HBO.

I started watching wrestling as a kid at the tail end of his career. Some of those clips from his younger days when he looked much more agile would be interesting to watch. By the time I saw him, he was largely slow and lumbering (if I recall correctly, he had basically retired before Wrestlemania III and got a special back surgery just to be able to come back.

Both these stories are in the doc...............and yes I'd never seen young Andre pre WWF, amazing to see just how agile and athletic he was, AND with that huge height and frame.

Hogan touched on that in the doc, that Andre didn't get half the credit he deserved for how athletic and strong he was. It didn't matter how big of a wrestler you thought you were, you were in Andre the Giant's world, and he had no problem letting you know it if you didn't give him that respect.

And if you did? You had a friend for life.

The worst part of his life had to be his name. I mean, how unlucky do you have to be to both be born as this freakishly huge guy, but also have the last name 'The Giant? That's just cruel.

fenderbender123 wrote:The worst part of his life had to be his name. I mean, how unlucky do you have to be to both be born as this freakishly huge guy, but also have the last name 'The Giant? That's just cruel.

This is not true and I think you know that. His last name was just Giant. "The" was his middle name.

The Andre documentary got me watching some other videos with wrestlers from back in the day. This video of Jake "The Snake" Roberts talking about the cobra with Randy "Macho Man" Savage is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeS-5ZOIm44

LargentFan wrote:

fenderbender123 wrote:The worst part of his life had to be his name. I mean, how unlucky do you have to be to both be born as this freakishly huge guy, but also have the last name 'The Giant? That's just cruel.

This is not true and I think you know that. His last name was just Giant. "The" was his middle name.

Lol

HawkGA wrote:The Andre documentary got me watching some other videos with wrestlers from back in the day. This video of Jake "The Snake" Roberts talking about the cobra with Randy "Macho Man" Savage is hilarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeS-5ZOIm44

The Nature Boy Rick Flair 30 for 30 doc on ESPN is really good too. Highly recommended.

Dude partied like a rockstar for almost 20 years, AND wrestled................ and is somehow still alive.

I need to watch the Andre one soon. Andre was so amazing. The Flair 30 for 30 was great too. I watched that the first night it was on.

Why are documentaries on wrestlers so interesting?

The Resurrection of Jake the Snake is on Netflix right now too, really interesting.

twisted_steel2 wrote:
Why are documentaries on wrestlers so interesting?.

I think it's because most of the time we see athletes, and in this context wrestlers fit into that category as super heroes almost.............bigger than life seemingly perfect figures that we grew up idolizing.

So it makes for compelling TV when we get to see the vulnerability and imperfections exposed.

Sgt. Largent wrote:

twisted_steel2 wrote:
Why are documentaries on wrestlers so interesting?.

I think it's because most of the time we see athletes, and in this context wrestlers fit into that category as super heroes almost.............bigger than life seemingly perfect figures that we grew up idolizing.

So it makes for compelling TV when we get to see the vulnerability and imperfections exposed.

I think another major contributing factor is the blurring of lines between how much of the wrestler is their character and how much of it is the "real" them. Pro wrestlers are usually in character every time we see them and even when they're not, you can often see the character come through in their real personality. Combine that with the fact that they're typically not really well respected in the world of actors or athletes, they're kind of caught somewhere in between. And then take into account that pro wrestling is commonly accepted as "fake" and the average person is probably not fully aware of what kind of dedication and sacrifice goes into being a successful pro wrestler. It's hard living, which means that more often than not the story of how and why a person goes into and remains in that life for as long as many of them do is probably quite compelling. Anyway, that's what I think.

Sling is giving us HBO for a little while so I got to watch this. Honestly, it wasn't as good as I expected. Get on YouTube and watch some of the interviews with other wrestlers from the era. There is a lot of good stuff there.