12 Things We Learned From The Eighth Wonder Of The World: The True Story Of André The Giant

5. That Rivalry That Put Him On The McMahon Radar

The Eighth Wonder of the World: The True Story of Andre the Giant
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During his time in Montreal, Canada, André - again, as Jean Ferré - embarked on the rivalry that would put him fully in the sights of Vince McMahon Sr. and the World Wide Wrestling Federation.

That rivalry would be with the mutton chop adorned 6'6" figure (although he was billed taller) of Don Leo Jonathan.

Jonathan was, by that point in time, a staple of the Grand Prix promotion that was ran by Paul and Maurice Vachon. And in the young André, the Vachons knew that they had the perfect person to face off against the veteran Jonathan.

This pair competed in several matches in 1972, including one dubbed the Match of the Century and a follow-up called the Battle of the Giants - with both men exchanging DQ wins over the other.

It was during a New York meeting between McMahon and the Vachons that the subject of André was first raised by Vince Sr., and the stars aligned perfectly for André to make the jump to the WWWF. With the Vachons having used André on all of their big shows, the lure and attraction of this unique performer had faded for the small Montreal population.

After all, if you get to see a legit giant on a monthly or weekly basis, the uniqueness of that sight becomes watered down and saturated. But by working for Vince McMahon Sr., whose reach was far larger than the Vachons, it meant that André's drawing power could be maintained by moving him from region to region across the areas ran by McMahon.

And as per that meeting between Vince Sr. and the Vachon brothers, it was André's rivalry with Don Leo Jonathan that had first put André the Giant on McMahon's radar.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.