Ric Flair recounts one of the wildest Andre The Giant Stories ever.
Living up to his ring name, Andre stood at 7 feet tall, weighed over 500 lbs and would be a dominating presence within the ring. So much so that the WWE Hall of Famer would very much control the match he was in, using it to make it easy or difficult for his opponent depending on his opinion. Hulk Hogan has gone on record that there was no guarantee that Andre would allow the WrestleMania 3 slam to actually take place, only changing his mind midway through the match.
The former World Champion’s larger-than-life persona would extend out of the ring and into bars around the world, with The Giant’s unreal alcohol consumption also becoming folklore in the wrestling world.
Fellow Hall of Famer Ric Flair was with Andre one night when The Giant hit a century in one sitting. Speaking on The Rich Eisen Show, Flair recounted the night he was there when The 8th Wonder of the World drank over 100 beers in the space of one night:
“I was with him one night at the Downtown in Charlotte in ’74 or ’75 when he drank 106 beers,” recalled Flair. “Here’s what happened. It was getting so ridiculous, he was having one after another and he was with Frank Valois [Andre’s manager], myself, and a guy named Ivan Koloff, and we were there drinking and pretty soon the bartender just said, ‘I’m not believing this. Let me separate this out,’ cause Andre was drinking one beer and everybody else was drinking [another.]
I think he was drinking like regular Miller not Miller Lite, [it] wasn’t around then, and we were drinking something else so he just separated it out. Frank Valois drank 56 and Andre drank 106. That’s from 10 o’clock until like 4 in the morning.”
Recalling a separate account of Andre’s high alcohol tolerance, Flair described how the Hall of Famer once drank a plane dry on a long-haul flight:
“He drank every bottle of vodka on the plane. It was a 747 going to Tokyo — every mini bottle on the plane. I mean I know other people are drinking it too but let’s get serious, who runs out of vodka?”
Ric Flair Recalls Infamous Match
Flair has since signed with AEW following Sting announcing that he will be retiring from in-ring competition in 2024. A fellow veteran of the ring, Ric Flair recently recalled which wrestler gave him the worst match of his life.
H/t to Wrestling Inc.