411’s WWE Rivals Report: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant

-Season 2 of this show debuted tonight and this episode is right in my wheelhouse. As I have mentioned countless times, I grew up on the WWF in the 80s. Hulk Hogan is still my favorite wrestler of all time, and his rivalry with Andre The Giant is the first major wrestling feud that I have vivid memories of when I was a kid. This is going to be a winner for me just due to nostalgia and making me feel like a kid again. Let’s get to it!

-Freddie Prinze Jr is our host and he is joined at the table by Booker T, Devon Dudley, JBL, and Natalya.

-Freddie calls it the first great rivalry in the WWF and quite possibly the greatest rivalry of all time. Their rivalry is the foundation of what the WWE became and what WWE Superstars became.

-Hulk Hogan puts Andre over huge and calls him the greatest and biggest Superstar this business has ever known or will ever know. He says Andre laid the groundwork for him, Austin, Rock, or anyone else that comes down the line.

-Hogan says he remembers seeing Andre for the first time and he was the largest human being he had ever seen. We see the famous footage from the AWA where Gene Okerlund would interview Andre and trade coats with him or have Andre engulf Gene’s head with his hand.

-Sean Mooney pops up as a talking heads and mentions that Andre was a great wrestler. Andre’s greatness in the ring as far as a worker was before I became a fan, but thanks to the WWE Network I have learned he was pretty awesome.

-Now to Hulk Hogan who was playing in a Rock N Roll in 1976 and he quit to become a wrestler. He was set up by Mike Graham to train with Hiro Matsuda. We get the famous story of Matsuda breaking Hogan’s leg to force him out of the business. JBL puts Hogan over for breaking into the business in a tough way. He came back for more and made it to the WWF as a villain managed by Freddie Blassie. Oh man, those early Hogan interviews sound just like what we got from Thunderlips in Rocky III.

-In the Summer of 1980 Vince Sr runs Hogan vs. Andre for the first time (which was ignored in the build to WrestleMania III). In their first match, Hogan had a loaded elbow band and split open The Giant. Andre is terrifying as blood pours down his head and he screams for Hogan. This sets up their match at Shea Stadium on the undercard of Bruno/Larry. Hogan says he wasn’t Andre’s favorite person at the time. He says Andre was in great shape at the time and was faster than you would think. He was The Boss! Andre gets the win and it does so well they let them continue to feud. Hogan mentions he earned Andre’s respect after getting his ass beat night after night.

-Commercials!

-More footage of Andre beating the crap out of people. The talking heads bring up what it means to be stiff. Hogan/Andre feud heads to Japan and we get some great footage. In Japan, Andre continued to beat the hell out of Hogan. Hogan says that he realized Andre was trying to help him and was keeping Hogan on the right path. He had a lot of respect for Hogan and knew what he could be.

-Hogan talks about how uncomfortable everyday life was for Andre because of his size. They discuss Andre’s health condition that made him a giant. Mooney notes it’s a cruel condition and brings up Andre broke his ankle getting out of bed.

-Rocky III: JBL does his Thunderlips impression and notes that Hogan looked 9 feet tall in the ring against Stallone.

-Hogan heads to the AWA and becomes a massive babyface with Hulk-A-Mania sweeping the country. Everyone knew Hogan was ready to take the world by storm and Vince McMahon had dollar signs in his eyes.

-MSG 1983: Hulk Hogan beats The Iron Sheik for the WWF Title and not only is history made, but wrestling changes forever. Rosenberg calls it the ultimate changing of the guard. Hogan celebrates backstage and Andre is there to pour champagne on Hogan’s head. This was Andre’s stamp of approval and it was the start of what would be the story that DREW ALL THE MONEY!

-Commercials!

-Booker says Hogan winning the WWF Title changed the landscape forever. The 80s boom hits and my life changed forever as well because wrestling became everything to me as a kid.

-The Princess Bride: Andre was great in the movie and Hogan mentions that Andre set the stage for him.

-Hulk Hogan takes the world by storm as he is on Carson, the cover of Sports Illustrated, MTV, and pretty much everywhere else. Hogan needed a big time opponent and the idea was Andre.

-Roddy Piper had an amazing talk show each week called Piper’s Pit and here we go. They skip some steps (the two trophy presentations) and get to Hogan showing up on Piper’s Pit and Jesse Ventura bringing out Andre The Giant, who is now being managed by Bobby Heenan. I can still the TV in my grandma’s house as I watched all this unfold as a 5 year old boy. Andre challenges Hogan to a Title Match at WrestleMania and then tears the short and cross off his neck. Piper (from 2014) talks about how you can feel the moment and brings up Hogan bleeding from Andre tearing the cross. Piper gets emotional as he recounts the angle and him saying, “you’re bleeding.” “It’s hard to get a promo stronger than that.” TRUTH! Vince had to have cartoon dollar signs in his eyes during all this. Hogan then gives his emphatic “YESSSSSS” to set the crowd on fire and WrestleMania III became Christmas for the wrestling world. I love wrestling!

-Commercials!

-We jump to the contract signing years before it became a wrestling staple. Hogan was pouring sweat, and shaking with anger while Andre sat their calm and collected. Terrifying as the few words he said carried so much weight. Freddie notes he was an Andre fan, so his heart didn’t break. Devon notes that Heenan was huge in getting the crowd to hate Andre. No kidding!

-It is announced that WrestleMania III will happen in the Pontiac Silverdome. They discuss the history of WrestleMania and how II wasn’t as successful, so they needed to hit it out of the park. You need to sell between 70-93,000 seats you run Hogan vs. Andre! The attendance will always be debated and again, I lean on the 90.000 or so number just by the eye test, but perhaps I just want that number to be true as it was my childhood.

-They discuss how bad Andre’s back was at the time and Hogan mentions he understands it even more now after he has had 10 back surgeries. Years of the dropping the leg 300 times a year will do that. Hogan decided to write down the match, step by step on a legal pad. He made sure Andre didn’t have to take any real bumps and if he did it would be near the ropes so he could use them as cover to get back up. Hogan wasn’t sure if Andre would follow as he liked to lead the matches.

-We get footage from outside The Dome as fans are lined up for the biggest show of all time. Hogan notes that Andre had him set next to him during the show. Andre was drinking Crown Royals and handed them to Hogan, who dumped them when Andre wasn’t looking because he knew he couldn’t drink what Andre was drinking without passing out. He kept questioning Andre about what they wanted to do and Andre just kept telling him “don’t worry,” Hogan kept worrying! Hogan tells Jimmy that Andre is going to call it in the ring and if he wanted to go over, he was going over and Hogan couldn’t do anything about it.

-I watched this show from my Grandma’s house. I was the first kid to ever eat dinner in her living room. I remember it was spaghetti and a salad. I miss my Grandma’s spaghetti! Hogan notes he went to the ring and it was the only time he didn’t know if he was going to win or lose.

-Commercials!

-THE STAREDOWN! THE MEMORIES! THE FEELS! JBL: “This is big fight feeling.” Booker says Hogan doesn’t get enough credit for his part in building the drama in the match. There is the infamous early slam attempt that played a part in the reason for the rematch. They mention that Andre had to wrestle with a back brace. Mooney puts over Hogan for taking care of Andre in the ring. Hogan says the story was already there so they didn’t need things like jumping off the top rope. The genius of pro-wrestling and why you don’t need 360 and top rope somersaults to make a match memorable.

-Hogan knocks Andre down once and then Andre yells, “slam.” Hogan hits the MOST FAMOUS SLAM IN WRESTLING HISTORY (and quite possibly the most famous moment in wrestling history) and the legdrop blows the roof off the stadium as Hogan gets the win. Hogan says it is the greatest moment in his career and puts over Andre for doing the honors.

-The feud doesn’t end there though as they go back to the failed slam where Andre and Heenan argue that there was a 3 count. They note Hogan’s shoulder was clearly up, but it was enough for Heenan to demand a rematch.

-Ted Dibiase gets introduced and when he can’t buy The WWF Title, he buys the contract of Andre The Giant from Bobby Heenan. Ted talks about his character and how people hate someone who throws around his money to get what he wants. He puts over Andre as a great guy and how working with Andre was massive for his career.

-The Main Event (I reviewed the show a few weeks back and you can find that here): The talking heads bring up the 33 million people that tuned in to watch Hogan/Andre II. Yes, you read that right: 33 MILLION! Andre gets the win as the ref ignores Hogan kicking out at one and the crowd is stunned. Booker says it was a ceremonial thing for Andre to have the WWF Title once in his career and notes he never needed it. Andre passes the WWF Title to Ted Dibiase and Barrett mentions he was stunned watching it as a fan. Hogan is in tears talking about the ref being paid off and I guess they are just ignoring the twin ref angle and just going with the ref being paid off. Weird!

-Commercials!

-We jump to July of 88 where they faced off in a Steel Cage at Wrestlefest. That was the exclamation point on their rivalry and it was another stadium show. I need to see that show! Mooney talks about how bad Andre was as far as his health, yet he went out there and turned it on again when the bell rang. Hogan wins by escaping the cage and Hogan puts over Andre’s heart and doing something he didn’t have to do.

-Andre always felt it was God’s Plan for him to be The Giant and why he never looked for treatment (like Big Show got). Mooney: “God he loved this business.” We get sad footage of a falling apart Giant in his last few appearances in the WWF. Mooney is nearly in tears talking about it and Hogan says Andre didn’t know what to do with himself. Andre passed in 1993 and Hogan starts crying thinking about it. I will never question Hogan’s love and respect for Andre.

-The table all over their thoughts on the rivalry and Booker says anyone who wants to be a superstar in wrestling need to look at Hogan and Andre. Hogan talks about the credibility Andre had and how he passed that on to him with their story. WE GET THE BODYSLAM AGAIN! We close with a photo of Hogan holding his hand up against Andre’s hand (statue).

-Again, I loved every bit of this because I lived through it. This is my childhood and I will always hold this rivalry up there with anything else that has happened before or since. They could have spent two hours talking about this and I wouldn’t have cared. I love pro-wrestling because of this feud and it’s why I still watch to this day. Thanks for reading!