Andre the Giant is one of pro wrestling’s most legendary figures, in part because there is no shortage of outlandish stories that former wrestlers have about him. No shortages of any kind, really, since Andre’s size is what led to many of his uniquely interesting experiences. Fans with Peacock Premium subscriptions have no doubt watched his documentaries and other behind-the-scenes content available for streaming, and one story that arguably stands out above the rest, however, is a sordid tale from wrestler Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, who recalled a Tokyo flight that left passengers “puking, gagging, and crying” after the behemoth athlete had to improvise a mid-travel bathroom excursion.
Brutus Beefcake (real name: Edward Leslie) appeared as a guest on Wrestling Shoot Interviews, and after being asked about his wildest plane story, didn't take long before recalling Andre The Giant making the trip one that no one would forget. Beefcake set up the story by explaining that, due to Andre’s size, using a standard airplane toilet wasn’t possible, and though the wrestler typically made sure to handle such business well before arriving at airports, a busy road trip into a long flight out of Tokyo meant he hadn’t had the opportunity to relief himself the night before. This meant the odds were higher than his own forehead that he’d have to go during the plane trip. And as Brutus Beefcake explained it, taking care of such bodily functions was easier said than done:
So, Andre, he’s up in First Class and he tells them, ‘I gotta go, I gotta go,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, what are we gonna do? What can we do?’ They bring him to the back of the plane and into the area where they prepare the meals and stuff and get a big black garbage bag, and they string it up between some of those carts that they use for the drinks and everything. And so, they basically pulled the curtains and Andre goes to town. Buddy, I mean he is ripping farts. It just sounds like they’re not human…I never heard anything like it.
I give all the credit in the world to the airline attendants for allowing Andre The Giant to defecate into the drink cart trash can when using a normal toilet was not an option. I’d have to imagine if I was a passenger on that flight, however, I’d certainly be declining my complimentary drink, as well as that in-flight snack, and anything else being offered that isn't a parachute with a tank of fresh air to breathe from.
To that end, I’d imagine not too many passengers were eager for in-flight meals at that point, anyway, thanks to the wafting odors spawned by Andre The Giant’s ordeal. Brutus Beefcake said that the smell of the wrestler’s waste quickly reached the noses of people seated in the smoker’s section, and it was not a pleasant sitch:
The smell that started coming out from under the curtains there started coming forward. The back of the plane [back] then was where all the smokers went, so the back of the plane had a lot of people…There were people falling out of their seats, almost into the aisles. Gagging, puking, you know, crying, screaming. And the boys we were all falling on the floor just laughing ourselves sick…It’s hysterical.
While passengers were likely fighting for a breath of fresh air, Brutus Beefcake confirmed that he and many other wrestlers were too busy laughing at how awful the situation was all around. Which presumably just meant they were breathing in that foul air even harder as they laughed. The most hilarious part of this story might be how many wrestlers voluntarily went to check out what was happening, especially considering some of them likely knew just how nightmarishly bad it would be.
Any reader who stuck around this long obviously wants to know how things...tapered off...and the aftermath of what went down. Brutus Beefcake didn’t disappoint on that front, closing the story with how the flight attendants disposed of the poop, along with sharing Andre The Giant’s reaction after the fact. In his words:
He must’ve half-filled up a garbage bag full of shit…That guy weighed 600-plus pounds…he could eat twenty pounds in a sitting. You know, it’s funny, the poor flight attendants. They had towels to cover their faces, and a couple of them were puking and trying to bag up this bag of shit. They finally get it bagged into that, and they bag it in another bag, in another bag, and then they put it in the elevator and they sent it down to the bottom of the plane just to get it the hell out of there…He just comes walking back up to First Class, ‘Oh, give me some wine boss,’ and starts drinking and starts eating again just like he didn’t miss a beat.
That’s quite a story, and one might wonder why Andre The Giant was seemingly so unfazed after what some might see as a traumatic and hard-to-survive event. (Slight hyperbole, but I mean, seriously.) It might be because, as other wrestlers have confirmed in other interviews, it wasn’t so uncommon for Andre The Giant to be unable to use public toilets alongside his fellow athletes. Jake "The Snake" Roberts once noted that most hotel bathrooms were also unusable for Andre, so he was forced to use the bathtubs instead (via JRE Clips).
I’m not sure there’s ever been a more appropriate instance to use the term “Same shit, different day,” but it seems like this wasn’t anything too out of the norm for Andre The Giant. Luckily he seems to be as equally known for these incidents as he is his kind heart and is often hailed by wrestlers like The Rock and former co-stars from The Princess Bride as a true gem of a human being.
Andre The Giant was an icon whose surprising athleticism needs to be seen to be believed, with some of his biggest matches streaming now, with Peacock also giving wrestling fans access to all the upcoming WWE events coming in the future.
