Andre the Giant

[Mr JMML]

He is one of the best bigs in wrestling history along with Aja and Vader. He is also a great hub.

[elliott]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:29 PM, fxnj said:

It's not going to be much of a controversial opinion to say Andre was awesome in Japan, but holy shit was he awesome in Japan. It's mindblowing to revisit his late-70's and early-80's NJPW stuff every few years and see just how much he'd mastered the art of working as a big man. Even cooler now that we have that added context of his time with 60's French catch and how he developed that style into his own thing.

I dare anyone to find a better worked squash match than this. Everything is on point between the character work, the creativity, the execution, and the comedic timing.

https://archive.org/details/njpw-misc-tv-sky-a-samurai-classics-1978-1980-60fps/1979.05.25a-NJPW-Handicap+Match-Andre+the+Giant+VS+Osamu+Kido+%26+Haruka+Eigen.mp4

Also, the re-evaluation of his time in 90's AJPW as a strong way to close out his career and the new handheld matches that have come out has been my favorite new movement in 90's AJPW these past few years. The Misawa/Kawada tag was already a bit of revelation and a great match for Andre's limitations, but the Jumbo/Taue tag is just a great match full stop without any "for his limitations" qualifier needed. 

 

This is a tremendous match.

Andre has the range, variety, peak, & longevity of a bonafide #1 candidate 

[Mr JMML]

I don't see him going outside the top 20 in 2026.

[elliott]

I have him penciled in at 4. The Andre vs Lawler for #3 is something i'll think a lot about over the course of this project. 

[Mr JMML]

I love how highly regarded he is in this forum.

On 6/2/2023 at 4:48 AM, elliott said:

I have him penciled in at 4. The Andre vs Lawler for #3 is something i'll think a lot about over the course of this project. 

 

[bustedquad]

If you asked me two years ago, maybe even last year, I dont think I would’ve considered Andre for my ballot. But just around this time two years ago, I watched the 1989 Royal Rumble. And Andre, while mostly immobile at that point, put on just a masterclass of working that night, doing most of it from the corner or while holding on to the ropes. It was the best “defensive Giant”, if you will, role I’ve ever seen in a battle royal. It really opened me up to further examining some of his work, and finally digging deeper into his work in Japan and elsewhere. Obviously, missing footage from what his apparent true prime may have been is a detriment, but I feel pretty safe filling in the blanks based on the things I’ve seen otherwise. I think at this point, with weeks to go, Andre’s a lock for somewhere towards the bottom of my 100.