André the Giant

Born André René Roussimoff in France on 19 May 1946, he began wrestling in 1966 and moved to North America in 1971, where excess growth hormone had already made him a medical rarity. From 1973 through the mid-1980s he toured as a roving attraction for the WWWF, wrestling across the U.S. and Japan, never staying long enough to wear out the novelty. The 1980s boom locked him into the World Wrestling Federation: he turned heel under Bobby Heenan, feuded with Hulk Hogan, and headlined WrestleMania III in 1987 before a record crowd. In 1988 he beat Hogan on the first episode of The Main Event to wi…