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Vince McMahon later said his relationship with Andre the Giant cooled as Andre’s health and career declined. In McMahon’s account, Andre was in pain and felt that his time in wrestling was over while McMahon and the business carried on. Documentary producer Bill Simmons interpreted that feeling as “you used me,” but that phrase is Simmons’s summary—not a documented statement from Andre. The available accounts describe a painful change in closeness, not a clearly dated break or a single, established argument.
A long professional relationship—and a personal one
Andre joined the McMahon organization in 1973, according to WWE’s announcement of the HBO documentary. WWE’s history of Andre’s career describes the organization taking control of his bookings and moving him among territories. WWE later said he spent around 20 years with the company. Those records establish a sustained professional association, but they do not by themselves establish how close the two men were privately.
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McMahon did describe their bond as a friendship. In a 2017 WWE statement, he said, “I will always value our friendship, and I am proud to tell the story of the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World.’” His later description of distance does not necessarily cancel that regard: it reflects a painful ending to a relationship he still said he valued.
What McMahon said caused the strain
In remarks from the HBO documentary, transcribed in a 2018 report, McMahon recalled visiting Andre before WrestleMania III in 1987. He said Andre was hurting, was “done” with wrestling, and felt that McMahon was continuing while his own time was over. McMahon described resentment and said the warmth and admiration between them were no longer there. This is McMahon’s retrospective account of the relationship, not a contemporaneous explanation from Andre.
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WWE says Andre’s health declined, though he continued appearing in marquee events until 1991. The timeline helps explain the context of McMahon’s recollection, but it does not pinpoint when the relationship cooled or establish a final exchange between them.
How Bill Simmons interpreted Andre’s feelings
Bill Simmons, a producer of the documentary, described McMahon as conflicted about how the relationship ended. Simmons summarized Andre’s reported feeling as “you used me”: in his interpretation, Andre may have felt used once he could no longer wrestle. Simmons also described Andre as unusually close to the McMahon family.
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That interpretation offers a way to understand the tension in McMahon’s account, but it is not proof of Andre’s private thoughts. The sources available here do not provide a direct account from Andre explaining the fallout. It is therefore more accurate to say that McMahon remembered a cooling relationship amid Andre’s pain and the end of his wrestling career, while Simmons interpreted the feeling as resentment over being left behind.
Key dates in their relationship
| Date | What the sources establish |
|---|---|
| 1973 | WWE says Andre joined the organization; its documentary announcement says Vince McMahon Sr. billed him as Andre the Giant. |
| 1987 | McMahon recalled visiting Andre while he was in pain and persuading him to return for WrestleMania III. WWE reports a crowd of 93,173 at the Pontiac Silverdome; that is WWE’s figure, not an independently verified attendance count. |
| Through 1991 | WWE says Andre continued to appear in marquee events as his health declined. |
| January 27, 1993 | Andre died, according to WWE and his official biography. |
What can—and cannot—be concluded
The best-supported explanation is a gradual cooling of personal closeness amid Andre’s declining health and the end of his wrestling career. McMahon’s recollection supplies the account of pain, resentment, and distance; Simmons supplies an interpretation of Andre’s possible sense of being used. Neither source establishes Andre’s own explanation, a precise date when the friendship changed, or one definitive confrontation.
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