Demolition’s Smash Recalls Getting Hustled By Andre The Giant Playing Cribbage

Believe it or not, Andre the Giant was very good at cribbage, and Demolition’s Smash can attest to that.

Demolition Smash was a recent guest on Wrestling Then and Now to discuss a wide variety of subjects. When the topic of WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant was brought up, Smash shared a hilarious story about Andre’s love for cribbage.

“Yeah, I got a good one. You know, Andre played cribbage all the time. And I played; I was okay. But he was really good. And we used to play in the dressing room all the time,” Smash revealed. “Well, we started betting each other like $5 a game. He’d win five games; I’d win five. So we’re kind of even. Well, then it got to the point where he was about $20 ahead of me, and I said, ‘Andre, I’m gonna win that money back and more.’ He starts laughing.

“So, he ends up working the deal where we’re going to Japan. We get two seats next to each other. We played cribbage the whole way. Everybody else is sleeping, and I want to go to bed, and he’s, ‘No, we play!’ And I’m like $250 up on him. And I don’t want to laugh or anything because I’m working with him when I get to Japan. I want him to be in a good mood. So anyways, it ended up being where I think I was about $300 up. So that’s a lot of games to win when you’re playing $5 a game.

“So we get to Japan, and I said, ‘Okay, pay up, big man.’ And he says, ‘Oh, no. We gotta go home yet.’ So now I knew he was gonna get me. So we were there, and we played in the rooms that night and everything, and I still kept that $300 I had. On the way home, I ended up owing him $100 when we got home. That son of a gun got me. But I’m glad he did beat me because I don’t know what would have happened in the ring after that if I would have been ahead of him. What a great guy.”