Andre The Giant's height

[Guest SlowChemical6]

I was just watching the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre The Giant match that took place at Shea Stadium in 1980...it's on the new Hulk DVD. Anyway, at this point in time, Andre towers over the 6'6" Hogan. He doesn't appear to be in the 7'4" neighborhood, but I'd say that he was 7" legit.

 

Of course, when they wrestled 7 years later at the Pontiac Silverdome, Andre's gigantism had reduced him to 6'10" or so, and he only had a few inches on Hogan.

 

My question is this...was Andre EVER a legit 7'4" as he was billed? Or did he peak around 7" even?

 

And does anybody know how tall Andre *really* was once he started to shrink? People say 6'10", but he looks even shorter than that at WrestleMania 6 and 7. I think that even at WrestleMania III he was wearing lifts, because he looked a lot shorter than 6'10" in "The Princess Bride", which came out around the same time period.

[Guest TheRockIsTheEuropeanChampion]

As far as I know, his peak was at seven feet tall.

[Guest J*ingus]

He hit 6'11" or 7' as his absolute peak.

[Guest jimmy no nose]

I had heard that he was 6'10"-6'11" at his peak. I can't say for sure though. I did meet him when I was very young so to me he looked about 30 feet tall.

[Guest Midnight Express83]

This is one of those things things that doesn't matter. He would be taller but the weight on his gut made him seem to "Shrink". And add to the fact he had no business after 1985 wrestling so it doesn't matter come Wrestlemania 3 and WM 6.

[Guest SlowChemical6]

His gut didn't make him shrink, it was how his giantism affected his bone structure.

[Guest Bricks]

I remember reading they listed him as 7'4" so he could be taller than Kareem Abdul Jabbar and thus can be labeled as the biggest and tallest athlete in the world.

[Guest NazMistry]

I've read in various places he peaked at 7'1", and by Wrestlemania 3 he was 6'8".

I remember the WWF quoted Hogan as taller than 6'6" so when they give Andre's height he doesn't seem short.

[Guest Sassquatch]

Dave Meltzer confirmed it a couple years ago that Andre's real height (no kayfabe) was 6'10" without platform boots.

 

Andre throughout his career was listed as anywhere from 7'3" to 7'8". When the average height of a wrestler back in Andre's day was 6 feet, it was fair game for the promoters to list Andre as tall as they wanted.

[Guest nWoScorpion]

I coulda sworn he had a good difference height with guys 6'4" 6'5". I guess it was his shoes.