As his WWF career wound down after WrestleMania VI in 1990, Roussimoff wrestled primarily for All Japan Pro-Wrestling, usually alongside Giant Baba, until his sudden death.

At birth, André weighed 13 pounds (6 kg); as a child, he displayed symptoms of gigantism, and was noted as "a good head taller than other kids", with abnormally long hands.

He also began billing Roussimoff as "André the Giant" and set up a travel-intensive schedule, lending him to wrestling associations around the world,[35][36] to keep him from becoming overexposed in any area.

According to the storyline, Khan snapped Roussimoff's ankle during a match on 2 May 1981 in Rochester, New York by leaping off the top rope and crashing down upon it with his knee-drop.

In 1984, Studd took the feud to a new level when he and partner Ken Patera knocked out Roussimoff during a televised tag-team match and proceeded to cut off his hair.

[50] After gaining revenge on Patera, Roussimoff met Studd in a "body slam challenge" at the first WrestleMania, held 31 March 1985, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

[57] At WrestleMania 2 on 7 April 1986, Roussimoff continued to display his dominance by winning a twenty-man battle royal which featured top National Football League stars and wrestlers.

Around this time, Roussimoff requested a leave of absence to tend to his health, since the effects from his acromegaly were beginning to take their toll, as well as to tour Japan.

[64] On the following week's Piper's Pit, Roussimoff was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "the only undefeated wrestler in wrestling history."

[69] Although the battle royal was won by Hercules, Roussimoff claimed to have gained a psychological advantage over Hogan when he threw the WWF World Heavyweight Champion over the top rope.

[70] At WrestleMania III, he was billed at 520 lb (236 kg),[6] and the stress of such immense weight on his bones and joints resulted in constant pain.

During their approximately one minute of battling each other during the match, Hogan dominated Roussimoff and was on the brink of knocking him from the ring, but was tripped up by his partners, Bundy and One Man Gang, and would be counted out.

[60][76] In the meantime, the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase failed to persuade Hogan to sell him the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

The earlier attack and DiBiase's insertion into the feud set up the Hogan-Roussimoff rematch on The Main Event, to air 5 February 1988, on a live broadcast on NBC.

During the next few weeks, Roberts frequently walked to ringside carrying his snake in its bag during Roussimoff's matches, causing the latter to run from the ring in fright.

During the late summer and autumn of 1989, Roussimoff engaged in a brief feud, consisting almost entirely of house shows (non-televised events), and one televised match on 28 October 1989, at Madison Square Garden with then-WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior.

[83][84] In late 1989, Roussimoff was joined with fellow Heenan Family member Haku to form a new tag team called the Colossal Connection, in part to fill a void left by the departure of Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson (the Brain Busters, who were also members of Heenan's stable) from the WWF, and also to continue to keep the aging Roussimoff in the main event spotlight.

[85] The Colossal Connection immediately targeted WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (who had recently won the belts from the Brain Busters).

He wrestled one more time with Haku, teaming up to face Demolition on a house show in Honolulu on 10 April, Roussimoff was knocked out of the ring and The Colossal Connection lost via count-out.

Instead, Roussimoff made an interview appearance for Herb Abrams' fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation on 11 October in Reseda, California.

[92] His on-air return finally took place at the WWF's Super-Stars & Stripes Forever USA Network special on 17 March 1991, when he came out to shake the hand of Big Boss Man after an altercation with Mr.

[94] Roussimoff finally returned to action on 26 April 1991, in a six-man tag-team matchup when he teamed with The Rockers in a winning effort against Mr. Fuji and The Orient Express at a house show in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

His last major WWF storyline following WrestleMania VII had the major heel managers (Bobby Heenan, Sensational Sherri, Slick, and Mr. Fuji) trying to recruit Roussimoff one-by-one, only to be turned down in various humiliating ways (e.g. Heenan had his hand crushed, Sherri received a spanking, Slick got locked in the trunk of the car he was offering to Roussimoff, and Mr. Fuji got a pie in his face).

[100] Roussimoff made a couple of guest appearances for Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, in 1991, feuding with Big John Studd, though he never had a match in the promotion.

In a short interview with Lanny Poffo, he stated that the movie meant so much to André that he made his wrestling pals watch an advanced copy of the VHS with him over and over again while supplying dinner, drinks, and sweetly asking each time, "Did you like my performance?".

[3] In 1989, Roussimoff was arrested and charged with assault after he attacked a KCRG-TV cameraman shooting his match with The Ultimate Warrior at Cedar Rapids, Iowa's Five Seasons Center.

[3] Roussimoff has been dubbed "the greatest drunk on Earth"[111] for once consuming 119 12-US-fluid-ounce (350 mL) beers (in total, over 41 litres [72 imp pt] or 11.16 gallons) in six hours.

On an episode of WWE's Legends of Wrestling, Mike Graham said Roussimoff once drank 156 16-US-fluid-ounce (470 mL) beers (over 73 litres [128 imp pt] or 19.5 gallons) in one sitting, which was confirmed by Dusty Rhodes.

The Fabulous Moolah wrote in her autobiography that Roussimoff drank 127 beers at the bar of the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania and later passed out in the lobby.

[118] An urban legend exists surrounding Roussimoff's 1987 surgery in which his size made it impossible for the anesthesiologist to estimate a dosage via standard methods; consequently, his alcohol tolerance was used as a guideline instead.