Andre The Giant

Bio
Raised in a small French farming village, Andre lived a quiet, pastoral life as a child. However, his size was an issue almost from the start. Born with acromegaly, a disorder that causes bones to grow at an accelerated rate, Andre stood 6-foot-3 and weighed 200 pounds by the time he was 12 years old. After making an impact in Japan and Canada, the 27-year-old giant was taken under the wing of Vincent McMahon Sr. in 1973. Andre spent the next 20 years with WWE, even going so far as to turn down a contract from the NFL’s Washington Redskins in order to remain with the promotion.

In 1987, Andre shocked the world when he turned on long-time ally Hulk Hogan and allied himself with the villainous Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. The Brain scored Andre his first-ever opportunity at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania III. In front of 93,173 WWE fans in Pontiac, Michigan, Andre’s 15-year winning streak ended when Hulk Hogan slammed him to the mat in a torch-passing moment that ignited a new era in WWE history.

Andre continued to experience success in his waning days in WWE, winning the World Tag Team Titles with Haku in 1990, the last title he would ever hold. After losing the tag championship gold at WrestleMania VI, Andre finally turned against Heenan, once again putting himself in the crowd's favor. The Eighth Wonder of the World made several cameo appearances over the next few years, but on Jan. 27, 1993, Andre the Giant quietly passed away in his sleep in Paris, France. One year after his passing, Andre was honored by his peers as the first inductee in the newly founded WWE Hall of Fame – a fitting end to a career of a Superstar so great, so monumental, and so larger-than-life itself