Andre The Giant
Titles Won:
- WWF World Heavyweight Championship
- WWF Tag Team Championship – with Haku
- WWE Bronze Statue (2013)
- WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1993)
Roussimoff stood around seven feet tall, which was a result of gigantism caused by excess growth hormone, and later resulted in acromegaly. It also led to him being called “The Eighth Wonder of the World”.
He found success as a fan favorite throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, appearing as an attraction for various professional wrestling promotions. During the 1980s wrestling boom, he was paired with the villainous manager Bobby Heenan and feuded with Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The two headlined WrestleMania III in 1987, and in 1988, he defeated Hogan to win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, his sole world heavyweight championship, on the first episode of The Main Event. He also held the WWF Tag Team Championship before failing health forced him to retire in 1992.
Outside of wrestling, he was best known for appearing as Fezzik the giant in The Princess Bride. After his death in 1993, he became the inaugural inductee into the newly created WWF Hall of Fame. He was later a charter member of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame; the latter describes him as being “one of the most recognizable figures in the world both as a professional wrestler and as a pop culture icon.”
Notable Feuds: vs. Hulk Hogan, vs. Big John Studd, vs. Ultimate Warrior, vs. Jake Roberts
Other Notable Achievements: World’s Strongest Tag Determination League East Sports Special Award (1991) – with Giant Baba
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship – with Dusty Rhodes
IWA World Tag Team Championship – with Michael Nador
NWA Los Angeles Battle Royal (1975, 1980)
NWA Cow Palace Battle Royal (1977)
NJPW International Wrestling Grand Prix (1985)
MSG League (1982)
MSG Tag League (1981) – with Rene Goulet
Sagawa Express Cup (1986)
NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) – with Dusty Rhodes
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Class of 2002
Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)
NWA Austra-Asian Tag Team Championship – with Ron Miller
