BOOKER_T FREDDIE_PRINZE_JR HULK_HOGAN_INTERVIEW JBL JIMMY_HART KEITH_GREENBERG NATALYA PETER_ROSENBERG RIVALS_THEME_OPENER SAM_ROBERTS SEAN_MOONEY STEPHANIE_MCMAHON TED_DIBIASE_INTERVIEW WADE_BARRETT DVON_DUDLEY HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Andre the Giant is the biggest and the greatest superstar this business has ever known HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW If I had my way, I was going to chop this giant down PETER ROSENBERG The rivalry between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant is the most important rivalry of all time Bar None RIVALS THEME OPENER Look at this This rivalry has just escalated into a war When two legends collide, their rivalry stays pinned in our minds forever This is where we break down the legendary stories behind the greatest rivalries of all time Im Freddie Prinze Jr and this is WWE Rivals FREDDIE PRINZE JR Todays 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 very much the foundation that all wrestlers stand on today BOOKER T When I saw Hogan and Andre, you know, as a young man, you know, wanting to get into the business thats unattainable because you see two giants NATALYA The most iconic moments in WWE history consist of Andre the Giant DVON DUDLEY I mean, you have a bigger than life character, a giant who had never been defeated in years I mean, as a kid, I was scared to death for Hogan I thought Andre was going to kill him JBL You had to have the perfect foil for the perfect babyface I mean, Hogan is once in a lifetime, man and well 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 HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Andre is a superstar HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW He was the biggest and greatest superstar this business has ever known and ever will know HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Hes the one that laid the groundwork for Hulk Hogan, for Stone Cold Steve Austin for the Rock, for anybody else that walks through these doors of the WWE Universe It wouldnt have happened if it wasnt for the Andre the Giant HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I remember the first time I saw Andre the Giant I just remember looking at his leg It looked like the hip and ascent of a clydesdale and I was like, oh, my God He was just the largest, biggest human being Id ever seen SEAN MOONEY Not only did people want to see this mammoth of a man, but they wanted to see what a seven foot four, pound human being could do in the wrestling ring SEAN MOONEY He was a great wrestler STEPHANIE MCMAHON Andre and I, we were friends You know, WrestleMania one I sat on Andre the Giants lap and actually fell asleep at the WrestleMania afterparty You felt this unbelievable energy from him He had such a presence, such a connection to people PETER ROSENBERG 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 HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I was playing in a rock and roll band and I told them, I said, Im quitting playing music Im 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 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, Im gonna set you up with Hiro Matsuda and hes 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 PETER ROSENBERG Hiro Matsuda is a Japanese wrestler who came to the United States PETER ROSENBERG But he was notoriously tough And if he got any sense that a student didnt take the business seriously, he would make an example of that person and thats exactly what he did to Hulk Hogan JBL Hogan didnt quit that day Its not like Hogan got his leg broke and went home crying Hogan broke in a tough way HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW About hree and a half, four months later, I came back and had a different type of attitude that no one was going to hurt me again KEITH GREENBERG When Hulk Hogan first came to WWE, he was bronzed and charismatic, and even when he was a villain, people wanted to see him I mean, I remember him in that purple cape and hes with Classy Freddie Blassie with his mouthpiece KEITH GREENBERG You felt Well, this is a real bad dude HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW My relationship with Vince Sr was it felt like you took a special interest in me And I just remember he had the half reading glasses and he would you know, he would always click quarters together He was coming over 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 HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I had a manager named Freddie Blassie I used to wear a black armband Freddie Blassie gave me a piece of metal HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I whacked him in the head like a clothesline Got a hit him in the forehead DVON DUDLEY The last thing you want to do is piss a seven foot five pound giant off FREDDIE PRINZE JR Hogan was the bad guy, the heel And Andre was our babyface good guy that everybody loved because he was larger than life and they had a match at Shea Stadium and it kills KEITH GREENBERG 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 baseballs New York Mets HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Shea Stadium was the biggest of the big Well at the time of Shea Stadium, I really wasnt Andres favorite person I think a lot of it had to do with me being young, and I dont think I was arrogant, but I was almost kind of like a smaller dog nipping at his heels, driving him crazy And I didnt mean to be but I just didnt know any better Andre was a really, really, really great shape and he was very fast So if you tried to pull anything, him, get away from him, hed catch you So this is how it was He was the boss KEITH GREENBERG It was the start of a rivalry that would last quite a while KEITH GREENBERG Andre the Giant, against Hulk Hogan at the main event in any arena HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I was real full of myself when I was younger HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I was afraid of him But then after we made physical contact, I became delusional in my mind Thought I could beat this guy I knew I wasnt as big as him, but I thought I was because I was in real good shape And I was very strong when I was younger HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW And he just beat the crap out of me JIMMY HART When Hulk came in, he had a little bit of notoriety I dont care if youre the king on the Hill, but somebody else comes in, which you think might be a threat Theres always that situation of you going, Well, Im must see what this kids really made of and see if he should really be in this business JIMMY HART Andre, I think he really took Hulk to school SEAN MOONEY 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 SEAN MOONEY When Andre got the opportunity to be in the ring with Hulk Hogan This happened a lot in Japan Andre was going to season him, shall we say SEAN MOONEY Andre beat the daylights out of him But you know, of course, it was just tough love HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Finally understood he was trying to help me, you know, because he saw something in me that kind of like nobody else saw I think Andre pretty much kept me pointed in the right direction when I could have taken off the wrong way a bunch of times JBL 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 if he hadnt HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I mean, Ive flown out of JFK with him to Japan I dont 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 in a car SEAN MOONEY Andre learned early in his life he had acromegaly, which is a disease that makes your body grow and continue to grow Thats why he had the giant features Huge limbs, the giant hands It is a cruel condition because your body cant handle the stress of that size I mean, he broke his ankle getting out of bed WADE BARRETT While Andres health was starting to deteriorate, Hogan was enjoying the success of Rocky three HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW The movie Rocky three created an awareness You know, it was like a shot of adrenaline to the whole wrestling world JBL When you had thunder lips out there in the flesh, baby Oh, my God He look like he is freaking nine feet tall against Stallone JIMMY HART If you look at history, most of the bad guys become the best babyfaces you know, because people love to hate them Then they love to love them PETER ROSENBERG Hulkamania begins at Madison Square Garden I used to get, like, emotional whenever they would show that clip PETER ROSENBERG Its the ultimate changing of the guard moment PETER ROSENBERG That celebration in the locker room Andre pouring the champagne on Hogans head PETER ROSENBERG It really hit home, seeing Andre seemingly so happy for Hulk Hogans achievement PETER ROSENBERG What we fans didnt know at the time was that this moment was really just the beginning of the next phase of their rivalry BOOKER T That moment for me, it changed the landscape of wrestling, I think, forever DVON DUDLEY Remember at that point in time, this is when the WWE took off FREDDIE PRINZE JR Yeah HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Andre was a media star SEAN MOONEY 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, Im telling you, knowing Andre and then seeing that movie, that was him That was really Andre the Giant HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Andre was huge And he basically set the stage for me FREDDIE PRINZE JR Hogan is now the American Eagle JBL He was the biggest draw in wrestling SEAN MOONEY 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 FREDDIE PRINZE JR Enter Rowdy Roddy Piper FREDDIE PRINZE JR One of the greatest talkers ever FREDDIE PRINZE JR He had a great segment called Pipers Pit, which all the old school fans remember FREDDIE PRINZE JR But Andre comes in with Bobby Heenan He is the single greatest heel manager in the history of the universe SAM ROBERTS Bobby Heenan is the bad guy manager that all wrestling bad guy managers aspire to be SEAN MOONEY And then Andres had enough And thats when everything changed FREDDIE PRINZE JR And then Andre crosses the line This was one of the greatest turns and a heartbreaking one at that NATALYA You dont forget how somebody makes you feel And when you think about Andre the Giant basically turning into the worlds biggest bad guy I mean, can you imagine watching as a little kid? HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Everything he did was spot on He made it work Not me He did FREDDIE PRINZE JR Now, I was in Andre fan, and so my heart didnt break when this happened However, most peoples did DVON DUDLEY I dont think Andre could have been that super heel back then if it wasnt Heenan by his side SEAN MOONEY After buying the company from his dad, it was clear early on that Vince McMahon was a visionary JBL You had WrestleMania one which is a huge success We had Liberace there, Muhammad Ali, all these great stars WrestleMania two probably not considered as much a success So you had to hit the ball out of the park in WrestleMania three SEAN MOONEY You think about what Vince was trying to do then Put , people into a stadium He had to have something huge to do it SEAN MOONEY At the time of WrestleMania three, Andre was not in good shape physically His back was really bad HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW 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 Ive had ten 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 Vinces legal pad and I said, This is plan A But if you tell him I did this, hes going to kill me because he always leads the match Doesnt need to really take a bump, but if he does go down, he needs to be near the ropes, you know, so he can cover that hes hurt Wrote the legal pad, gave it to Vince He goes oh, Ill talk to Andre about it JIMMY HART Oh, my gosh I mean, people were coming in from all over the world for this particular WrestleMania HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW In the dressing room Andre wanted me to sit next to him And you know, you sit next to a giant for hours that drinks two fists crown royale as youre sitting there and he keeps handing you shots of crown royale its real hard to dump him when hes watching you because theres no way I couldve drank what he gave me to drink and walk to that room It never happened So every time he wasnt looking man, Id dump that sucker JIMMY HART Well, you know, Hulk and I were tight back then I said, What are you doing? And he goes, Well, we dont know yet and I went what? HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I said Andre, want to do out there? Dont worry Hey, Andre What do you think? Ill go up or go down Dont worry So hows your back? You know, my backs good Hes had a couple fists of crown royale in him I said what do you think about a bodyslam? He goes, No Ok I wont worry JIMMY HART I go out again and wouldnt you believe it, theres Hulk getting another cup of coffee And I went Hulkster, did you find anything? Nope It looks like Andres gonna call it in the ring So you dont know if youre winning the title? He goes Nope Gonna call it the ring I went oh my god BOOKER T 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, whats going to happen HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW He was so big You know, I just stayed focused on what was around me at the ringside I didnt even want to really take in what was going on it was so overwhelming For the first time ever in my career, I went to the ring and didnt know who was going to going to win or lose DVON DUDLEY In the very beginning of the match, it was a perfect shot with Andre kind of looking down at him and Hogan looking up JBL You look at that and go, Oh my god, this is Big five BOOKER T I really dont think Hulk Hogan get enough credit for how much drama he brought to that whole situation HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I was worried because I didnt know if I could get him up to tell you the truth HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Right when the match started I was going to try to pick him up When I went to do what I need to do He couldnt help me I knew then I said that this could be a problem KEITH GREENBERG By , 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 Im sure that Hulk Hogan did not want to throw Andre on the wrong spot and perhaps injure him permanently SEAN MOONEY Hulk absolutely took care of Andre in the ring He knew where he was, what physically Andre was enduring HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW He needs to be near the ropes, so I can cover that hes hurt You dont need to go jumping off the top rope Its already there Lets just so a great story and do whatever finish BOOKER T Those guys went out there, they created something special They created something thats life long lasting HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I remember him coming at me Just coming at me and goes slam What? I didnt know what to do except step into him Put him right here and I went oh, my god PETER ROSENBERG Wrestling fan or not, everyone knew Andre the Giant foot , pounds picked up a body slammed in the middle of the ring in front of , people? That moment can never be replicated HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW It was different than anything thats ever happened He didnt have to do that He could have been Andre and retired undefeatedGreatest moment ever in my life as far as my career has to be that WrestleMania Without a doubt It was just the right time, the right people, the right place It was just perfect FREDDIE PRINZE JR So the rivalry isnt over yet We have a very interesting controversial match KEITH GREENBERG Early in the WrestleMania three match Theres a moment where Hulk Hogan tries to bodyslam Andre the Giant and referee Joey Marella counts one, two, three and then very quickly says no His shoulder was up, which it was KEITH GREENBERG 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 of the championship JBL You had to figure out a way to extend this Theyre still drawing massive numbers SAM ROBERTS Ted DiBiase The Million Dollar Man is the guy that weve all interacted with The guy thats 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 hell just buy you off TED DIBIASE INTERVIEW When I became the Million Dollar Man I had to go over the top Everybody hates somebody who bullies people with their wealth TED DIBIASE INTERVIEW Working with Andre, well was that the first big deal when I was starting out He was a great guy He was really a great guy SAM ROBERTS Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan have a second meet on the main event The WWE Championship is on the line SEAN MOONEY The main event was huge in the fact that professional wrestling had not been on national television in that scope since the fifties SEAN MOONEY million people tune in Even today, if a network gets million people to watch a show, theyre ecstatic Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant They were this phenomenon FREDDIE PRINZE JR Hogan kicks out at one Hes looking to the crowd You had to have seen it The crowd sitting there, we saw BOOKER T That was just a ceremonial thing for Andre just to have the championship around his waist just one time Andre definitely didnt need a championship, but he always had the title of champion in this business HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Even Andres got a price? What a no good stinky giant TED DIBIASE INTERVIEW Everybodys got a price WADE BARRETT 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 SEAN MOONEY 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 injury theyre suffering though And somehow they rise to the next level, which separates them from everybody else We cant do what they do That was one of those nights for him 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 can just see it He changed There was an exclamation to that rivalry That was it HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW He came out with a big heart and he could have said no He didnt need to do this But Andre showed up and did his job SEAN MOONEY They said early on in his life that maybe there was a treatment that can make him stop growing I think in some ways Andre knew thats what made him who he was SEAN MOONEY And then he also felt that it was Gods plan and he never pursued anything that might change that God, he loved this business Gave everything to it What is the saddest part about that whole thing is that in the end, with Andre just being this hunched over, obviously in pain person Andre had nothing else that was his his life SEAN MOONEY And I think about that I get emotional, too I just think about seeing him those days and just like I felt like, dont go out Andre, dont go out there HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW He just didnt know what to do with himself He goes, Im still living, but I dont feel like living anymore So He passed shortly after that FREDDIE PRINZE JR One man was magic He was an actual giant We didnt need CGI He literally existed And the other was our hero that we believed in He told us to say our prayers So we did Eat our vitamins So I ate Flintstones vitamins Thats the power that these men had NATALYA It really set the tone for WWE from that moment on about good versus bad and why thats so important in storytelling, especially within our company BOOKER T For the superstar today, if theyre thinking about being big time superstars, they better be thinking about Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and how do I attain that? And there again, thats a tough hill to climb HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Theres never going to be two characters that were built that way for so long HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW The credibility Andre had, the credibility he bestowed upon me in such a beautiful storyline that was real HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW I could feel it when he warmed up to me I could feel it when he started liking me I could feel it when had respect for me He didnt do that with anybody It was different A different time, thats for sure HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW You know, as I started learning the character and really hearing that crowd, just look into the crowd, and I could make them stand up And then they would never sit down I was just so used to that energy You feed off that energy, that crowd It really helped me get that character dialed in, so the moment I stepped in that ring I believed I was Hulk Hogan SEAN MOONEY Theres such a rush of noise I remember feeling it through my chest Like physically hitting me And I remember thinking, theres never been anything like him before KEITH GREENBERG Now, you went from Andre the Giant being the baby face and Hulk Hogan being the heel to them, both being babyfaces and allies PETER ROSENBERG No one was more beloved in WWE in the world than Andre the Giant, and Hulk is already becoming a big star But then he gets that cosine of being Andres guy It took it to a completely different level BOOKER T Sheik Hogan That was a iconic match And moreso because of what the Iron Sheik represented BOOKER T And Hogan on that night, he had to win that match, not just for himself but for America FREDDIE PRINZE JR Yup BOOKER T So I think thats what made it so special I grew to become a Hogan fan just because of he made me feel a certain something BOOKER T The Iron Sheik was the perfect opponent for Hulk Hogan at that time BOOKER T I dont think we would have ever looked at Hogan the way we came to look at him if it wasnt for the Iron Sheik SAM ROBERTS And in one of the greatest story reveals in WWE history, a second referee comes out HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Oh my god Twin referees The Hebner brothers SEAN MOONEY If you have seen Dave and Earl Hamner standing next to each other, you honestly you couldnt tell them apart HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW Its great for me to look at one referee in the other and then let them go Oh, my God Who? Whos the right referee? And turn around I saw the bad referee kick the other one You know, Youre the bad one HULK HOGAN INTERVIEW The only thing I did wrong was I kind of threw Earl too far