Months after its announcement, the first teaser for HBO's upcoming documentary about pro wrestling legend André The Giant has arrived, and we're already cheering from the top turnbuckle. The documentary, which is titled André The Giant, will apparently feature lots of footage of André in the ring, as the teaser below shows the crowd loving it while "The 8th Wonder of the World" grins up a storm. Let's get a chant started!
As the teaser for André The Giant states, this dude was a god. Even today, decades after his death, the WWE continues to push big hulking men like The Big Show and Braun Strowman in the hopes of finding the same celebrity embrace that André earned at his peak. Considering the actor and wrestling icon continues to receive big love from fans even today, that will be a very hard for the organization to pull off, if it's even possible. The long-awaited HBO documentary, which is directed by prominent 30 For 30 director Justin Hehir, will follow Andre's life from its beginnings in France -- where he was born André René Roussimoff -- all the way to his transformation into the 7'4", 500+ lb wrestling legend he's remembered as today.
That means wrestling fans are in for a lot of great stories of André at his peak, which hopefully means hearing stories about his truly incredible feats of drinking, his role in The Princess Bride, and the Wrestlemania feud with Hulk Hogan that resulted in the "bodyslam heard around the world." Those are just a few of the great stories André The Giant can tell about the athlete's life, and with the documentary promising never-before-seen footage, it's entirely possible there could even be stories we've never heard before!
Other things that might be revealed are the facts behind the myths. For example, while it is widely publicized that André The Giant is 7'4", the WWE has been known to fudge the numbers on the physical billing of its athletes, as a way of making them sound much more intimidating. While there's no disputing that André was tall, many have given more realistic measurements for his height as being somewhere closer to 6'11", or maybe even just a hair shorter. Then again, the primary focus of André The Giant from this footage appears to focus on his celebrity, so it's also possible the filmmakers could glaze over the realities entirely, just focusing on the stories that wrestling fans from back in the day would love to hear.
André The Giant will premiere on HBO sometime in the spring of 2018. For more on 2018's offerings, be sure to visit our midseason premiere guide to see what shows are returning or premiering in the new year. Those wishing to keep things 2017 can still find shows to watch in the coming weeks on our fall premiere guide, and they can also take a look back on some of the shows that were lost this year by heading over to our cancellation guide.
