Andre The Giant is one of the most famous professional wrestlers ever. His career started in the early 1960s, he gained a lot of popularity by the mid-1970s, and his most famous match ever took place at WrestleMania III in 1987 against Hulk Hogan. That’s not just his most famous match; it may be the most famous match in the history of wrestling. Sadly, Andre died in 1993 when he was just 46 years old. Andre was the first person inducted in WWE’s Hall of Fame in 1993.
There’s a new documentary about Andre’s life and times that is being produced by HBO, with an assist from WWE. The project has been rumored for a few years and confirmed back in February, with The Ringer boss and lifelong wrestling fan Bill Simmons heading up the project.
A 30-second teaser trailer for the new documentary was finally released by HBO on Friday. It features footage of a young Andre in action.
You can see how agile the Giant was in his younger days. If you only watched him during his 1980s WWE days, you may not remember him doing that much in the ring, but in that clip above you can see him jumping off the top rope to deliver a seated butt splash onto his opponent. Very impressive for a man that weighed in around the 500 pound range at various points in his life.
The documentary will be released in Spring 2018, with no specific release date available at the moment. It is being directed by Jason Hehir, who is an Emmy Award winner who was with HBO Sports from 2001-2008, and also produced their critically acclaimed 24/7 documentaries.
When the project was announced in February, this is what WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon said about Andre.
“For more than 20 years, Andre the Giant’s larger than life personality and unique charisma captured the imagination of fans around the world. I will always value our friendship, and am proud to tell the story of the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’.”
There’s also an Andre biopic that is happening although we haven’t heard about that in a long time and it’s unrelated to this documentary.
If you can’t wait for this documentary, check out these eight facts about Andre’s life.
