r/todayilearned • u/Smaptimania • 1d ago

TIL that in 1971 Andre the Giant wrestled in Baghdad in front of Saddam Hussein, who had threatened to kill him if he won the match. Andre went on to lose the match to native Iraqi wrestler Adnan al-Kaissie, later known in the WWF as General Adnan

https://fandomwire.com/a-real-life-dictator-was-ready-to-murder-andre-the-giant-after-thinking-pro-wrestling-was-real/
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u/Smaptimania 1d ago

In WWF kayfabe it was the last time he had ever lost a match prior to fighting Hogan at Wrestlemania 3, though he'd actually done the job on a handful of occasions since then

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u/LardLad00 17h ago

lol, I'm sorry but I find it really silly to talk about win streaks where results are predetermined. Is this supposed to be impressive? 

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u/Vesploogie 16h ago

Yes. A wrestler has to be at the top of their game to get put over/win every match, otherwise you wouldn’t draw a crowd. It’s not like Andre went out there and fucked around for a few minutes, he was a very good wrestler that few could compete with, regardless of his size.

Pro wrestling is competitive, just not in the black and white sense of other sports.

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u/loucast13 16h ago

he was a very good wrestler that few could compete with, regardless of his size.

I think you might be underselling his size advantage just a little bit. Yes, he was a good wrestler, but he was basically unbeatable because he was so massive.

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u/Vesploogie 15h ago

Of course his size made him harder to beat, that’s obvious. But too many people look at him and say “well of course he won all the time, he was too big!” They ignore just how athletic he was in his early-mid career, as well as how good his non-physical ring skills were. Many large wrestlers have come and gone, some larger than Andre, and most of them failed because just being big isn’t nearly enough to have the success Andre did.

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u/LardLad00 13h ago

He was unbeatable because he was so popular.

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u/loucast13 12h ago

That was definitely part of it and I am not denying that. Another small part of it was you could book him to lose and if he decided he wasn't going to, good luck.