THE 47-year-old actor posted a rare black-and-white photo of his grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia and the iconic French wrestler, André the Giant. “What a crazy throwback from the 70’s [sic],” Johnson began in the caption. “Here’s the ‘8th Wonder of the World’ André the Giant, using my 315lb grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, as a booster seat and making my granddad look like a little boy.”
The friendship between André, who was born André René Roussimoff and starred as Fezzik in The Princess Bride, and Maivia was strong, Johnson wrote.
“They were the best of friends, wrestled nightly, tough as hell and as you can see by their smiles and open energy – they lived life to the absolute fullest,” he continued. “My grandfather died when I was a boy so I never got to know him as a man. Would’ve loved to have raised a tequila with these men.” Maivia was also a professional wrestler like his friend and grandson. He died in 1982 of cancer before being inducted posthumously into the WWE Hall of Fame by Johnson.
Leave a Reply