So absolutely cool you connected with him for some conversation time. The wrestling legends of our past need as much credit, respect, and attention as we can give them. I wish so much that there was more personal interview content with Andre, Piper, and others like them who have passed.
I've been fortunate enough to meet a couple dozen wrestlers in my life, and Nikolai was one of my favorite. He was very down to earth, good with kids, and reminded me an older funny uncle. Met him, Bruno Sammartino, and Tito Santana in Delaware. All were great guys. Bruno was my mother's favorite wrestler.
Can you imagine facing the team of Andre and Nikolai ? Aside from Andre Nikolai had the biggest chest in wrestling and was one of the strongest men in the business . I read that he Benchpressed 600 lbs without ever taking steroids . He said that he had considered taking them but asked Bruno Sammartino what he thought and was warned that it was dangerous so he decided not to . Can you imagine if he had ?
Corection. Andre Rousimoff was born in France of Polish mother and Bulgarian father (from Teteven region) which are two very similar languages to Russian which actually has a Cyrillic alphabet quasi identical to Bulgarian. Rusev proudly claims he is the 2nd best known Bulgarian wrestler after Andre. His dad Boris had built Samuel Beckett's house and it was fascinating when I was younger reading Waiting for Godot to find out that young Andre used to be around Beckett as a teen.
On of my favorite wrestlers and an awesome heel.....another great from the golden age of wrestling!!!!!!!!!!! Wow Andre and Volkoff as tag team partners?
People really don't understand that Andre didn't drink for pain he celebrated the shit out of life because he was told he was on borrowed time,Given that being the case Andre lived his life to the fullest that's why he didn't give a damn about how much he ate or drank because let's face it he could drop at any moment so i could understand why Andre partied so hard he was trying to go out with a (BANG) literally. He was the highest paid wrestler and spent his money well he left a nice Legacy behind......
Andre the Giant was worth like 40 million when he died. He made sure his daughter was set for life. Imagine the money he would have made now. CRAZY MONEY
The way Nikolia talks about people and conducts himself shows he was a man of class and honor. RIP
I knew Josef since i was a teenager n then the funny thing was i broke into the business as well
"when he lived... he lived" beautiful
I was thinking the same thing.
truth....
that was powerful
If he dies...he dies
That last statement was very eye opening. No one else has ever said that about Andre.
it was deep
That was a great comment at the end I must admit
I enjoy listening to the older generation of wrestling more.
It's kind of funny. Most of the old time heels are actually really nice guys while a lot of the old time babyfaces were dicks
+RobtheTerrible Right I was thinking the same thing
it's great listening and finding out all the behind the scenes action, 20+yrs later!
So absolutely cool you connected with him for some conversation time. The wrestling legends of our past need as much credit, respect, and attention as we can give them. I wish so much that there was more personal interview content with Andre, Piper, and others like them who have passed.
I've been fortunate enough to meet a couple dozen wrestlers in my life, and Nikolai was one of my favorite. He was very down to earth, good with kids, and reminded me an older funny uncle. Met him, Bruno Sammartino, and Tito Santana in Delaware. All were great guys. Bruno was my mother's favorite wrestler.
Oh I bet he was 😬
Can you imagine facing the team of Andre and Nikolai ? Aside from Andre Nikolai had the biggest chest in wrestling and was one of the strongest men in the business . I read that he Benchpressed 600 lbs without ever taking steroids . He said that he had considered taking them but asked Bruno Sammartino what he thought and was warned that it was dangerous so he decided not to . Can you imagine if he had ?
Volkoff was a great man. Very kind. Great worker. Never complained.
Tough man in the ring . Sounds like a really wonderful person outside the ring .
Nikolai's awesome. love that guy.
Corection. Andre Rousimoff was born in France of Polish mother and Bulgarian father (from Teteven region) which are two very similar languages to Russian which actually has a Cyrillic alphabet quasi identical to Bulgarian. Rusev proudly claims he is the 2nd best known Bulgarian wrestler after Andre.
His dad Boris had built Samuel Beckett's house and it was fascinating when I was younger reading Waiting for Godot to find out that young Andre used to be around Beckett as a teen.
I never knew this until today, I just assumed he was just French. Thanks for the info!
Actually the modern Russian it's old Bulgarian Slavic language, which still nowadays it's using over the all Slavic orthodox countries.
Hannibal your shoot interviews are some of the best. Thanks for posting them.
I think Hannibal gets a mutual respect from the legends that so many can't.
Imagine...Andre in Japan.. He must have looked like a skyscraper amongst all the people
Little known maded-up fact, Gozilla was modeled after Andre.
@@knight0334 Especially at last call
What a man Andre. God bless his soul.
Thank you for this. We love Andre!!!
There is no legend in wrestling more matter of fact than this man. Good heart, but it’s just here’s my answer and that’s it.
This guy was crazy strong
R.I.P Nikolai
On of my favorite wrestlers and an awesome heel.....another great from the golden age of wrestling!!!!!!!!!!! Wow Andre and Volkoff as tag team partners?
what a gentle man great guy
Andre the Giant was the epitome of "the gentle giant"
People really don't understand that Andre didn't drink for pain he celebrated the shit out of life because he was told he was on borrowed time,Given that being the case Andre lived his life to the fullest that's why he didn't give a damn about how much he ate or drank because let's face it he could drop at any moment so i could understand why Andre partied so hard he was trying to go out with a (BANG) literally.
He was the highest paid wrestler and spent his money well he left a nice Legacy behind......
RIP Nikolai
Andre the Giant was worth like 40 million when he died. He made sure his daughter was set for life. Imagine the money he would have made now. CRAZY MONEY
godamn a blast from the past
man this guy is still alive !? :-) remeber him- great fights back then!
Still alive and still wrestling in 2018
awesome!
:-(
Fellow Lithuanian!
🇻🇳🇻🇳🇺🇸🇺🇸 and American 🇷🇺🇷🇺 of war
лучший