Original subtitles

Andre the Giant is the biggest and greatest superstar this business has

known. I had my way. I was going to chop this giant down.

He didn't want anybody around him that he didn't like.

Giant just attacked our Wheaties boy.

What's going on?

What are you doing, Andre?

And welcome to WrestleMania.

The rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant is the most important rivalry

of all time, bar none.

When two

legends collide, their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever.

This is where we break down the legendary stories behind the greatest

of all time.

I'm Freddie Prinze Jr., and this is WWE Rivals.

If any one man can defeat Andre, it's this man, Hulk Hogan.

Today's rivalry is the one that started it all. Hulk Hogan and my favorite of

all time, Andre the Giant.

This is the first huge rivalry that WWE had.

It is arguably the greatest. The foundation that those two men built is

much the foundation that all wrestlers stand on today.

When I saw Hogan and Andre, you know, as a young man, wanting to get

into the business, that's unattainable because you see two giants.

The most iconic moments in WWE history consist of Andre the Giant.

I mean, you have a bigger than life character, a giant who had never been

defeated in 15 years.

I mean, as a kid, I was scared to death for Hogan.

I thought Andre was going to kill him. You had to have the perfect pull for the

perfect baby face.

I mean, Hogan is once a lifetime, man. We'll never see anything like Hogan

again. And Andre was an incredible guy, a tough guy, a strong guy, and could

drink massive amounts of wine.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

I don't have to tell you my name. You know who I am.

Andre the Giant.

Andre is a superstar.

And there he is, the eighth wonder of the world.

He is the biggest and greatest superstar this business has ever known and ever

will know.

Look at this massive humanity here.

He's the one that laid the groundwork for Hulk Hogan.

For Stone Cold Steve Austin, for The Rock, for anybody else that walks

these doors of the WWE Universe, it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for

Andre the Giant.

Andre the Giant, ladies and gentlemen, for the benefit of you who do not know,

is the only undefeated superstar in professional wrestling.

What about your winner, Andre the Giant?

Just exactly how tall are you, Andre? How much do you weigh? Seven feet four

a half, and I weigh four and a half ninety -seven pounds.

I remember the first time I saw Andre the Giant.

I just remember looking at his leg.

It looked like the hip and ass end of a Clydesdale.

I was like, oh my God.

He was just the largest, biggest human being I'd ever seen.

Fans, take a look at this. Can you believe that?

Perhaps even, let's compare it to the size of my head.

Andre, the... The interviews that I did with Andre were kind of vignettes. They

weren't really actual interviews. We would trade sport coats.

They looked like the drape at a Ramada Inn.

Weather does get chilly periodically.

It looks like a top coat. I can't believe it. This is unreal.

Andre, you're the best. And he had these custom -made shoes, size 22 or 3. A big

guy. All my clothes come from Japan, except my boots.

Just like the fact everything is big, it comes from.

Makes sense.

Uh, symmetry.

Oh, no problem.

Now Stunt's gonna try to body slam him. Woo -hoo! No way!

Has anybody ever lifted you and body slammed you?

No.

Not only did people want to see this mammoth of a man, but they wanted to see

what a 7 '4".

500 -pound human being could do in a wrestling ring.

And kaboom! He was a great wrestler.

Look at that strength.

What a phenomenal individual.

Whoever's wrestled you ever has always had trouble getting you down. Is that

secret to beating Andre the Giant?

But first they have to put me down.

There's the friendly smiling giant.

Andre and I, we were friends.

You know, WrestleMania I.

I sat on Andre the Giant's lap and actually fell asleep at the WrestleMania

after party.

You felt this unbelievable energy from him. He had such a presence, such a

connection to people.

Big heart, loves people, loves kids.

Everybody loves him back.

Andre the Giant is the most recognizable superstar in the sport. And at that

same time, a young Hulk Hogan is just breaking into the wrestling business.

1976. I was playing in a rock and roll band, and I told them, I said, I'm

quitting playing music.

I'm going to be the greatest professional wrestler that ever lived.

There were five of us in the band, and four of them were laying on the floor

laughing. And they thought it was hilarious.

Word got around that I was running in my mouth that I wanted to be a wrestler.

So I was lifting weights and working out, and I thought I was in great shape.

And Mike Graham said, look, if you want to be a wrestler, I'm going to set you

up with Hiro Matsuda, and he's going to give you a tryout. And the first thing

Matsuda did was he got me in the ring and broke my leg right away.

Hiro Matsuda is a Japanese wrestler who came to the United States.

There's the mentor, Hiro Matsuda. There he is. But he was notoriously tough, and

if he got any sense that a student didn't take the business seriously,

he would make an example of that person.

And that's exactly what he did to Hulk Hogan.

Hogan didn't quit that day. It's not like Hogan got his leg broke and went

crying. Hogan broke in a tough way.

About three and a half, four months later, I came back and had a different

of attitude that no one was going to hurt me again.

And that's the word for this man, incredible.

He is just that. Wow.

When Hulk Hogan first came to WWE, he was bronzed and charismatic. And even

he was a villain, people wanted to see him. I mean, I remember him in that

purple cape. He was classy, Freddie Black. He was mouthpiece.

The man is just unbeatable.

Never been defeated.

It's a new decade.

1980, you are looking at the new king of professional wrestling. You felt, wow,

this is a real bad dude.

Mr. Vince McMahon being introduced now, the promoter at Madison Square Garden.

My relationship with Vince Sr. was, it felt like he took a special interest in

me. And I just remember he had the half -reading glasses, and he would always

click the quarters together, and he was kind of looking over the glasses,

looking at me, you know, when he talked to me.

And he was looking for an opponent for Andre the Giant at the time.

I had a manager named Freddie Blassie.

I used to wear a black on band.

And Freddie Blassie gave me a piece of metal.

Hey, look at this. Blassie just slipped something in Hogan's elbow there. He

slipped something in? He absolutely did. Coming back to Hogan Hammer.

Whacked him in the head like a clothesline by hitting him in the

And there he goes. He just slipped it out. Andre is cut and cut badly.

The last thing you want to do is piss a 7 '5", 500 -pound giant off.

Hogan was the bad guy, the heel, and Andre was our baby face, good guy that

everybody loved because he was larger than life. And they had a match at Shea

Stadium, and it killed.

Before the WrestleMania era, the showdown at Shea was a special series

of matches that occurred at Shea Stadium in Queens, and that was the home of

baseball's New York Mets.

Shea Stadium was the biggest of the big.

Well, at the time of Shea Stadium, I really wasn't Andre's favorite person.

I think a lot of it had to do with me being young, and I don't think I was

arrogant, but I was almost kind of like a smaller dog nipping at his heels,

driving him crazy.

And I didn't mean to be, but I just didn't know any better.

Andre was in really, really, really great shape, and he was very fast.

So if you tried to pull anything and hit him and get away from him, he'd catch

you. So that's just how it was. He was the boss.

There it is, the winner, Andre.

It was the start of a rivalry that would last quite a while.

Discapacity crowd up for one of the great matchups. Andre the Giant against

Hogan. That's a main event in any arena.

I was real full of myself when I was younger.

Is this arrogant? Look at this.

I was afraid of him, but then after we made physical contact, I became

delusional. In my mind, I thought I could beat this guy.

I knew I wasn't as big as him, but I thought I was because I was in really

shape and I was very strong when I was younger.

Well, guess who's boss?

And he just beat the crap out of me.

Hogan's got to be saying, what did I do now?

When Hulk came in, he had a little bit of notoriety.

I don't care if you're the king on the hill.

When somebody else comes in that you think might be a threat, there's always

that situation of you going, well, I'm going to see what this kid's really made

of and see if he should really be in this business.

The human peacock, also known as Hulk Hogan. Do you like those colors?

All of the colors. Proud of the peacock.

Andre, I think he really took Hulk to school. He plays a little rock and roll

Hulk Hogan's head. Hulk Hogan's head. Andre knew what he was doing, but if

something went wrong, he would let you know.

What the hell are you?

Hulk Hogan was very raw as a Thomas. They had a term for it back in the

room with the old -timers. The kid's green.

As most new arrivals are.

And they can be stiff in the ring.

What that means is that sometimes they hit somebody a little harder than they

should. Around the rope and a mighty hit.

Andre says, I'm in trouble.

Throughout the early 80s, Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, had match after match

over the East Coast, tore it up. But then it became international.

When Andre got the opportunity to be in the ring with Hulk Hogan, and this

happened a lot in Japan.

Andre was going to season him, shall we say.

Andre beat the daylights out of him.

You know, of course, it was just tough love.

Tommy understood he was trying to help me. You know, because he saw something

me that kind of like nobody else saw.

I think Andre pretty much kept me pointed in the right direction when I

have. take him off the wrong way a bunch of times.

Andre had a lot of respect for Hogan, of who he was, and that was very important

to this because Andre would not have been as generous to behead him.

I mean, I've flown out of JFK with him to Japan, I don't even know how many

times, because we were on a lot of the same tours together.

It was hard to watch because I always knew he was never comfortable.

If you can imagine, there was never a chair, there was never a bed.

Good luck getting a car.

Andre learned early in his life he had acromegaly, which is a disease that

your body grow and continue to grow.

That's why he had the giant features.

Huge limbs, the giant hands.

It is a cruel condition because your body can't handle the stress to that

I mean, he broke his ankle getting out of bed.

While Andre's health was starting to deteriorate, Hogan was enjoying the

of Rocky III.

Everybody knows that Hulk Hogan is big and strong, but did you know that he had

a part in the movie Rocky III? The movie Rocky III created an awareness.

You know, it was like a shot of adrenaline to the whole wrestling world.

When you had thunder lips out there in the flesh, baby.

Oh, my God. He looked like he was freaking nine feet tall against

You know what something means, Gene? Everything positive comes from the

And I'm all heart, Daddy, and that's the way I've been thinking. My goals in my

life have changed.

Hogan actually started out as a bad guy, but his conversion to truth, justice,

and the American way has been both effective and lucrative.

If you look at history, most of the bad guys become the best baby faces, you

know, because people love to hate them, then they love to love them.

Your winner on All -Star Wrestling, and look at these muscles.

Andre. Even knew it.

Andre was a good judge of what's going on, what's good, what the people like.

Hogan drew interest. He drew moolah.

Money, honey.

Welcome to Madison Square Garden.

This is for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship.

Hulkamania begins at Madison Square Garden.

I used to get, like, emotional whenever they would show that clip.

Hulk Hogan!

It's the ultimate changing of the guard moment.

That

celebration

in the locker room, Andre pouring the champagne on Hogan's head.

It really hit home seeing Andre seemingly so happy for Hulk Hogan's

What we fans didn't know at the time was that this moment

was really just the beginning of the next phase of their rivalry.

That moment, for me, it changed the landscape of wrestling, I think,

Remember, at that point in time, this is when the WWE took off.

Wrestling, not the Olympic variety, but professional wrestling.

It's always been popular, but lately it's been emerging from second -rate

to attract a whole new generation of fans.

Beat it, or I'll call the Brute Squad.

I'm on the Brute Squad.

You are the Brute Squad.

Hunter is a media star.

Princess Bride for Andre humanized him.

To that point, I really think, you know, people just saw him as this freak

giant. But you watch that movie.

I'm telling you, knowing Andre and then seeing that movie, that was him. That

was really Andre the Giant.

Andre was huge.

And he basically set the stage for me.

Welcome to Hulk Hogan.

You are right here, but you're still bigger than all the kids in the third

grade, right?

Let's get that picture.

Yours.

Hogan is now the American Eagle. He was the biggest draw in wrestling.

Train, say your prayers, eat your vitamins, be true to yourself, true to

country, be a real American.

At that time, when Hulk was on the rise, he was the biggest thing out there.

Hulk Hogan needed an opponent that matched his star power, that matched his

ability to draw people.

There was only one wrestler who could do that. That was Andre the Giant.

Enter Rowdy Roddy Piper.

One of the greatest talkers ever.

He had a great segment called Piper's Pit, which all the old school fans

remember.

But Andre comes in with Bobby Heenan. He is the single greatest heel manager in

the history of the universe.

What's going on here? Hold on, man.

What are you doing with him?

Bobby Heenan is the bad guy manager that all wrestling bad guy

managers aspire to be. He's sick and tired of you and what you stand for.

Did you ever once, once in your life?

Offer him a championship match?

You're the reason I got in professional wrestling.

You were like a god to me, a role model.

You can't be here with him, man.

Even though you came out here with him, you don't have to leave with him.

And then Andres had enough.

And that's when everything changed.

Look at me when I'm talking to you.

I'm there for one reason.

to challenge you for a world championship match in the WrestleMania.

Andre, please, no, it's not happening.

We're in the pit, Andre, Hogan, and myself.

I can see what's going on. You can feel it once you get in there.

You can't believe it? Maybe you'll believe this, Hogan.

And then Andre crosses the line.

This was one of the greatest turns and a heartbreaking one at that.

Here's where the magic is. When Andre ripped the cross off, he tore the skin

Hogan was bleeding.

I got one more thing to say. Like, every time you think you got all the answers,

I change the questions. And the most important thing to say was, you're

bleeding.

It's not out. Andre, come back, man. You don't have to leave like this.

What is he doing?

You're bleeding.

It's hard to get a promo stronger than that.

A giant just attacked our Wheaties boy.

What's going on?

I don't know, but we better get a ticket.

Tell me yes or no.

for any heavyweight title match in history, as you all know.

You don't forget how somebody makes you feel.

And when you think about Andre the Giant basically turning into the world's

biggest bad guy, I mean, can you imagine watching as a little kid?

You never once gave this man an opportunity.

Now he's got that opportunity. Sign it if you're going to sign it.

Everything he did was spot on.

He made it work, not me. He did.

You think I tell you everything you know in professional wrestling?

Well, I don't.

And believe me, WrestleMania III will be your last lesson.

I didn't give you anything, man.

Now, I was an Andre fan, so my heart didn't break when this happened.

most people did.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not signed in ink.

It's signed in blood.

Oh, wow.

I don't think Andre could have been that superhero back then if it wasn't for

Heenan by his side.

You're in some deep trouble, Mr. Hogan. I can't stand you. Matter of fact, I

hate you.

That was a pretty strong word, but that's how I feel right here.

Myself and Andre the Giant, we know that Hulkamania is dead.

World Wrestling Federation officials have announced that WrestleMania III

be held at the beautiful Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, just outside of

Detroit. After buying the company from his dad, it was clear early on that

McMahon was a visionary.

The World Wrestling Federation presents the wrestling extravaganza of all -time,

WrestleMania. He had WrestleMania I, which was a huge success. We had

there, Muhammad Ali, all these great stars.

WrestleMania 2, probably not considered as much a success. So you had to hit the

ball out of the park in WrestleMania 3.

You think about what Vince was trying to do then. Put 90 ,000 people into a

stadium?

He had to have something huge to do it.

There hasn't been a match of this magnitude ever.

Not only since I've been around professional wrestling, but ever. Is

already animosity building between the two of you? As far as aggressive

it's just been the way Andre's changed.

I don't change at all.

I think you were scared.

I don't change at all.

At the time of WrestleMania III, Andre was not in good shape physically. His

back was really bad.

It was a heck of an ask to ask Andre to do what he did.

I know he was in a lot of pain.

Now that I've had 10 back surgeries, I know the type of pain he was in.

I had a conversation the night before with Vince. We were worried about it.

Took Vince's legal patent. I said, this is plan A.

But if you tell him I did this, he's going to kill me.

Because he always leads the match.

He doesn't need to really take a bump.

But if he does go down, he needs to be near the ropes, you know, so he can

that he's hurt.

I wrote the legal pad, gave it to Vince. He goes, well, I'll talk to Andre about

it.

In the business, we knew how temperamental Andre could be.

Because you can't read this guy's mind, and he sure as hell isn't going to tell

you.

Oh, my gosh.

I mean, people were coming in from all over the world for this particular

WrestleMania.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the magnificent Silverman.

And welcome to WrestleMania III.

In the dressing room, Andre wanted me to sit next to him.

And, you know, when you sit next to a giant for 10 hours that drinks two fists

of Crown Royal as you're sitting there, and he keeps handing you shots of Crown

Royal, it's real hard to dump him when he's watching you.

Because there's no way I could have drank what he gave me to drink and

that ring. It never happened.

So every time he wasn't looking, man, I'd dump that sucker.

Power against power right now.

These guys are enormous.

Well,

you know, Hulk and I were tight back then.

I said, what are you doing? And he goes, we don't know yet. And I went, what?

Look at here. I got my, I got my WrestleMania shirt right there. Went

got it. Come on, Jess.

So, Andre, what do you want to do out there? Don't worry.

Hey, Andre, what do you think, man? You think I go up or go down? Don't worry.

I said, how's your back? You know, and he says, my back's good. He's had a

couple of fists around rolling.

I said, what do you think about a body slam?

No. Okay, I won't worry.

Just one hour away from his moment of destiny.

Well, you know they said it was my last ride, man.

Yesterday when I finished hanging and banging, when I jumped on the Harley,

as I went through the intersection, as I headed for the mountains, some of the

non -believers in the gym said, see you later, Hulkster, man.

This is your last ride.

I go out again, and wouldn't you believe it, there's Hulk getting another cup of

coffee, and I went, Hulkster, did you find anything?

Nope, it looks like Andre's going to call it in the ring.

So you don't know if you're winning the title. He goes, nope, going to call it

in the ring. I went, oh, my God.

And I'm going to the ring. I'm going to be. It's not going to take me too long

to come back right in front of the camera with the world championship belt.

This is the main event of the evening.

It is for the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Championship.

scheduled for one fall with a one -hour time limit.

The night the stars came out, everybody wanted to be a part of it. Everybody

wanted to see the spectacle and to wonder, more than anything, what's going

happen. We could be looking at the next heavyweight champion of the world. And

now his opponent is the World Wrestling Federation heavyweight

champion. It was so big.

You know, I just stayed focused on what was around me, the ringside. I didn't

even want to really take in what was going on. It was so overwhelming.

The first time ever in my career, I went to the ring and didn't know who was

going to win or lose.

Look at the look of disdain on the face of opera.

In the very beginning of the match, it was a perfect shot with Andre kind of

looking down at him and Hogan looking up. The irresistible force beating the

immovable object.

You look at that and go, my God, this is big size.

He's hulking up right now.

I really don't think Hulk Hogan can get enough credit for how much drama he

brought to that whole situation.

Oh, big right hand.

I was worried because I didn't know if I could get him up, to tell you the

truth.

Right

when

the match started, I was going to try to pick him up. When I went to do what I

needed to do, he couldn't help me.

I knew then, this could be a problem.

By 1987, Andre was much heavier than he had been in those earlier years. This

was also complicated by the fact that Andre was wrestling with a back brace.

So not only do you have the weight of that brace, but I'm sure that Hulk Hogan

did not want to throw Andre on the wrong spot and perhaps injure him

permanently.

Hulk absolutely took care of Andre in the ring.

He knew where he was, what physically Andre was enduring.

He needs to be near the ropes, you know, so he can cover what he's hurt.

Don't need to go jumping off the top rope.

It's already there. Let's just tell a great story and do whatever finish.

Andre picked him up with ease.

That's awesome.

But Andre?

Made it as good as it possibly could have ever been.

The guys went out there and they created something special.

They created something that's lifelong lasting.

I remember him coming at me. He was coming at me. He goes, whoa!

What?

I didn't know what to do except step into him.

I put him right here, and I went, oh, my God.

Look at this!

He's like a man of honor!

I don't believe it!

I don't believe it! Over for the cover!

Unbelievable!

I've never heard it so loud.

It was just a roar.

It would be like a freight train coming through your living room.

Wrestling fan or not, everyone knew Andre the Child.

7 '4", 500 pounds, picked up and body slammed in the middle of the ring in

of 93 ,000 people.

That moment could never be replicated.

It was different than anything that's ever happened.

He didn't have to do that. He could have been Andre and...

Retired undefeated, who the hell's going to beat him?

Greatest moment ever in my life, as far as my career, it has to be that

WrestleMania, without a doubt.

It was just the right time, the right people, the right place. It was just

perfect.

So the rivalry isn't over yet. We have a very interesting, controversial match.

Andre the Giant.

He has not been in a wrestling ring since he was robbed because of poor

officiating and because of the likes of one man, Hulk Hogan. Early in the

WrestleMania three match, there's a moment where Hulk Hogan tries to body

Andre the Giant and referee Joey Morella counts one, two, three, and then very

quickly said.

No, his shoulder was up, which it was.

Was that two or was that three?

Two count only.

Ooh, that was close, Corella.

But then that allowed Andre the Giant and Bobby the Brain Heenan to insist we

beat Hulk Hogan, but because of backstage politics, we were screwed out

championship. Hogan is literally helpless. I'll tell you what, Hogan

never, ever step into the ring with this man again.

You had to figure out a way to extend this. They're still drawing massive

numbers. You didn't believe me when I said that I would buy the World

Federation heavyweight title.

I went out and I fought the eighth wonder of the world, Andre the Giant.

Ted DiBiase, the million -dollar man, is the guy that we've all interacted with.

The guy that's made a ton of money, God knows how, and feels like he can rub it

in your face. And if you have a problem with it...

Well, he'll just buy you off.

When I became the million -dollar man, I had to go over the top.

Everybody hates somebody who bullies people with their wealth.

I bought what I want, and I won the World Wrestling Federation heavyweight

title. Working with Andre, that was the first big deal when I was starting out.

He was a great guy.

He was really a great guy.

Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan have a second meeting on the main event.

The WWE Championship is on the line. Hulk Hogan may wear the belt for now,

after the night, that belt will fit as easily around Andre's waist as the

Giant's hands fit around Hogan's neck.

The main event was huge in the fact that professional wrestling had not been on

national television in that scope since the 50s. Welcome to the largest

television audience in World Wrestling Federation history.

33 million people tune in. Even today, if a network gets 10 million people to

watch a show, they're ecstatic.

Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, they were this phenomenon.

Hogan kicks out at one. He's looking to the crowd. You had to have seen it. The

crowd's sitting there. We saw it.

He can't believe it. He's saying it was only two.

He can't be giving the title to Andre.

You tried to steal.

Yeah, you tried to steal from Hulk Hogan. But I beat Hulk Hogan.

The referee come one, two, three.

That was the referee's decision.

He can't be giving the title to Andre. He can't be. He's going to present it.

presents it to Andre.

Raises his hand.

We have a new world champion.

That was just a ceremonial thing for Andre just to have the championship

his waist just one time. Andre definitely didn't need a championship,

always had the title of champion in his business.

Oh, no.

Even Andre's got a price?

What a no -good stinky giant.

Everybody's got a price.

As a fan watching the main event, it was such a shock seeing Andre hand the

championship to the Million Dollar Man. Andre had just won the championship

moments earlier, and he just gives the belt away.

I give the belt to DiBiase.

That was my job. I was paid for that.

How much did he pay you for that belt? Oh.

In my wildest dreams, me, Gene, would I think that I would get ripped off by a

penny -pinching two -time referee.

Look at the shoulder. That's him. The referee has paid off, brother.

Look at the $100 bill falling out of his pocket. I know you're disappointed.

Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, Jesse Ventura, back to you.

We're excited about the steel cage match featuring Hulk Hogan and Andre the

Giant. Shown without a shadow of doubt, the most dangerous match in professional

wrestling today is a cage match. In one corner, you have Andre the Giant, who is

in excess of 500 pounds. In the other corner, you have the greatest wrestler

the world, Hulk Hogan.

There will be a winner in this one when one of the opponents goes over the top

of the steel cage.

They needed an exclamation point for this rivalry between Andre and Hulk.

I think people sensed that this was probably it between these two.

Some very gifted athletes, a lot of times, they may have an unbelievable

they're suffering through.

And somehow they rise to the next level, which separates them from everybody

else.

who can't do what they do.

That was one of those nights for Andre.

Because if you saw him backstage and how he moved, you would have thought, how

in the world is this guy going to get into the ring and participate in a steel

cage match?

And yet, he did it.

Once he got in there, you could just see he changed.

There was an exclamation to that rivalry.

That was it.

They came out with a big heart, and he could have said no.

He didn't need to do this.

But Andre showed up and did his job.

They said early on in his life that maybe there was a treatment that could

him stop growing.

I think in some ways Andre knew that's what made him who he was.

Most extraordinary athlete of this or any other generation, ladies and

gentlemen. And then he also felt that it was God's plan, and he never pursued

anything that might change that.

God, he loved this business and gave everything

to it.

One of the saddest parts about that whole thing is that in the end, With

just being this hunched over, obviously in pain person.

Andre had nothing else. That was his life.

What does the future hold for Andre the Giant?

Well, what it is, the doctors say it will be better than ever.

We never know.

And I think about that. I get emotional, too. I think about seeing him those

days.

And it's like, I felt like, don't go out, Andre. Don't go out there.

He just didn't know what to do with himself.

He goes, I'm still living, but I don't feel like living anymore, so.

He passed shortly after that.

One man was magic.

He was an actual giant. We didn't need CGI. He literally existed.

And the other was our hero that we believed in. He told us to say our

so we did. Eat our vitamins. So I ate Flintstones vitamins.

That's the power that these men had.

It really set the tone for WWE from that moment on about good versus bad and why

that's so important in storytelling, especially within our company.

For the superstar today.

If they're thinking about being big time superstars, they better be thinking

about Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan. And how do I attain that? And there

that's a tough deal to cry.

There's never going to be two characters that were built that way for so long.

Andre has proven himself worldwide. If Hulk Hogan can't defeat Andre the Giant.

He will become the biggest man literally as well as figuratively in pro

wrestling today.

The credibility Andre had, the credibility he's bestowed upon me in

beautiful storyline that was real.

We're seeing what this guy is really made of. What he is.

The greatest professional athlete in the world today. Look at this.

I could feel it when he warmed up to me.

I could feel it when he started liking me.

I could feel it when he had respect for me.

And he didn't do that with anybody.

It was a different time, that's for sure.