Summary

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sparked an unexpected round of wrestling discourse on May 7 when he responded to a nearly two-year-old ranking of the top 20 WWE stars of all time.

The list, which was published by Sports Illustrated in September 2024 and written by SP3, drew DeSantis back in because of where Andre the Giant landed. Andre was ranked No. 16, behind names that included Roddy Piper, Edge, and Randy Orton.

SP3 later addressed DeSantis' reaction during Friday's episode of *In The Weeds*.

Andre the Giant's placement drove the reaction

This was not a new WWE development, but it did reopen a familiar fan argument about how Andre the Giant should be placed in all-time rankings.

Andre's No. 16 spot was clearly the sticking point. For longtime WWE fans, that kind of reaction shows how protected Andre's legacy still is whenever all-time lists come up, especially because his influence reaches far beyond a simple ranking debate.

It also gave fresh attention to an older piece of wrestling media. DeSantis did not change the list itself, but his post was enough to push the Andre discussion back into circulation and create another response segment around it.

Sources

Ron DeSantis via X