Judging by the recent success of "Nature Boy" the Ric Flair ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, and to a lesser extent the "This Was The XFL", wrestling documentaries are going through a bit of a surge in popularity not seen since the release of Barry Blaustein's 1999 hit "Beyond The Mat".
However when it comes to Bill Simmons' first documentary offering with new partner HBO, the buzz has been strong since murmurs of the project started back in 2015. The subject? Legendary wrestler and pop culture icon, Andre The Giant.
Actually, given Andre's impact on mainstream consciousness, from his appearance in cult classic movie, The Princess Bride to being the (sort of) face of Shepard Fairey's "Obey" brand, this film will be a must watch for pretty much anybody, not just fans of professional wrestling.
Obviously famous faces from the pro wrestling world are featured, such as Hulk Hogan, Jerry "The King" Lawler and Vince McMahon but when you see A-list names such as Hollywood legend, Billy Crystal pop up in a documentary about a wrestler, you know you're watching the story of someone very special.
Vince McMahon chimes in at a certain point in the trailer, voicing over a title card which spells out: "Andre The Myth" and says "Mother Nature had done something really special here", the timing of which is no accident as the whole trailer shows the pain of Mother Nature's special doing had The Giant in on a daily basis.
Andre "The Giant" Roussimoff died on January 27th 1993 of heart failure while staying in a Paris hotel. He was in Paris to attend his own Father's funeral. A death as theatrical perhaps as his entire life had been.
The trailer is filled with wonderful one liners and quotes from the various talking heads, such a Hulk Hogan suggesting that Andre "was sports entertainment before there was Sports Entertainment" and also shows some of the famous imagery that gives us some sort of scale for how big The Giant really was.
Andre The Giant will premiere on HBO in the US on April 10th.
