12 Things We Learned From The Eighth Wonder Of The World: The True Story Of André The Giant
9. The Tragic Accident That Cost A Man His Life
In a book filled with plentiful new titbits about André Roussimoff, one of the most shocking things to read in The Eighth Wonder of the World is that André hit and killed a moped driver back in the early days of his professional wrestling career.
This tragic accident seemingly took place in 1968, with André having recently won his first Heavyweight Championship and appeared in his first movie. And with this newfound success, André had upgraded his reliable Renault 4CV with a slightly fancier Open Admiral. It was shortly after André getting this new car that a man would lose his life - in an incident in which André was completely free of any blame.
As André's brother Jacques explains in the book, “He was a good driver. The wrestlers used to carpool when they were on the road. Often, he was the one driving. He liked to drive. He liked travelling.”
Jacques continues, “It was late at night, something like 2 a.m. He was coming back from giving a lift to some other wrestlers. A guy on a moped ran a red light and André hit him. The guy died. Thankfully, André had not been drinking. I’m the one who picked him up after. He was in shock. I told him he should get back behind the wheel as soon as possible if he didn’t want to remain traumatized. Police investigation cleared André on any wrong doing.”