A Little Bigger

[TUFFY54]

For decades pro wrestling was a big man's game. A wrestler seemed destined for success as long as he was bigger, stronger, and larger than life. Many fans came to matches to see the tallest or heaviest wrestlers, and didn't worry too much about in ring ability. Things started to change for little guys around the new millinium. For the first time, guys of completely average size, or smaller, were wrestling for world titles. Unfortunatly, this change in ideology came too late for many talented, but smaller, wrestlers. I always wondered how certain old school wrestlers careers would have turned out if they had been a little bit bigger.

WHAT WRESTLER DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE HAD GREATER SUCCESS IF THEY HAD BEEN A LITTLE BIGGER?

My pick here is easy:
TAZ

A lot of you might think of Taz as an anouncer, but in the 90's he was the human suplex machine. He was a hell of a wrestler, and dominated the ECW championship with his take no prisoners attitude. Taz eventually got popular enought to be signed by WWE in 1999. Unfortunatly, he never had much success in the big leagues. Taz was just too small to wrestle in the WWE.

Taz was a power guy. His whole arsonal revolved around throwing guys around the ring with a variety of suplexes. This worked great against the smaller ECW wrestlers, but he physically couldn't wrestle his old style in the WWE.

Taz is about 5'7"-5'8" on a good day. He is probably the smallest heavyweight in the history of the company. He wasn't a big guy in ECW, but he was TINY in WWE. With the exception of a few guys in the light heavyweight division, I believe Taz might have been the shortest guy in the company. Physically, Taz just couldn't suplex guys like Kane, Undertaker, or even Triple H or The Rock. Triple H was pretty average size for the jacked up Attitude Era, and Taz didn't even look like he came up to his shoulders in their match on Smackdown. He looked like he was struggeling with every move. He would have to jump up to hit HHH across the chest with a simple clothesline. When he was in the ring with Kane he couldn't even get in postition to try and lift him. Other than Kurt Angle, who was smaller than most of the wrestlers, there just wasn't really any top wrestlers that Taz could work with during his time as an in ring competitor.

I think that Taz would have been a WWE world champion if he was 6 feet tall. 6ft isn't that tall for a wrestler, but it would have been a 4 or 5 inch increase for Taz. Being a few inches taller would have given Taz the size he needed to work his style with anyone in the WWE lockerroom. I believe he could have been the WWE's answer to Scott Steiner, or an early version of Brock Lesnar. Taz was great, he was just to small to wrestle with the giants in the Attitude Era. A few more inches would have made a huge difference in his career.

 

[Disturbed]

I agree with you on Taz. One that I'll bring up is Lance Storm. He was a very good technical wrestler and played a good heel on the mic. He was only 5 foot 11 and 230 pounds so that held him back a lot. I think he would have made for a good world champion if he was just a little bigger. He worked in all three major companies, the WWE, WCW, and ECW winning championship gold in all three of them. I don't think Storm was ever given enough credit as he could put on a good match with anyone. He started his career with Chris Jericho and that may of held him back as many see Jericho as a top star and forget about Lance Storm. I think if given the time then Lance Storm could of became a solid main event heel. His size just held him back the most.

 

[mqa86]

I totally agree on Taz, the guy was totally built in ECW to be a monster in the ring, the guy you don't want to mess with and when he jumped to WWE he was booked like a joke of a wrestler, obviouslty his image wasn't easy to sell considering he can't scare someone who is one feet taller than him.

 

[mrbrownstone]

I agree with your choice of Taz, another one I would throw out there is Dean Malenko. Add four or five to Dean and he is at worst an upper mid-carder. Seriously, that man could go in the ring like few others, the only thing holding him back was his lack of height, we all know the feelings of Bischoff, Hogan and Vince on smaller guys being main event stars and that is what held him back from that.

Sure his mic work was pretty poor, but so was Benoit's and he got a title run. If you really need to slap a manager on him to do the talking, his abilities to go in the ring would make up for it.

 

[8thwotwATG]

i have read the posts on this thread about Taz as a good example of a guy who could have gotten further than he did if he were taller, and it got me to thinking that the man who trained Taz for the pro wresting business, Johnny Rodz, also fits into the same category. Johnny Rodz was a long time pro in the wrestling business that could always deliver credible offense, could sell, and was a sure hand inside the ropes. although he was nearly always used as "enhancement talent" to further the career of younger, up and comng/and or existing higher talent in the WWF. Rodz ALWAYS came across as a dangerous and bona fide tough guy inside the ring, and I believe if he had been a bit bigger, he could have recieved a push to challenge a face champ. Maybe not enough of a push to challenge for a world title, but a high mid card title could have been a definite possibility, al the intercontinentil title, as Rodz was a loyal, and consumate professional inside the ring.

 

[The Crock]

Well, Taz would be a great choice, but he nearly was a WWE Champion. To this day Vince regrets not pushing him to the title, not letting him pick up the win over Triple H which may have catapulted him into stardom. With Taz his style made up for his size, he was aggressive, like a little pit bull. Relentless. Taz worked around his size, so for him it just wasn't a problem. There is one guy who comes to mind for me: Marty Jannetty. I'm serious here. Jannetty was only 5' 11", which isn't all that small, but what would have been had he been 6' 2" or so? I know Marty had his problems outside of the ring, but he was talented. Had he had a bit more size on him I truly think he would have been a successful midcarder. He obviously would have never reached Shawn Michaels' level of success, but he wouldn't be such a laughing stock. Another guy that comes to mind is the British Bulldog, Davey Boy Smith. He was not a big guy, but he was so damn good in the ring. He had it all, but he was lacking in size. Had he been a little taller, who knows... he could have been one of the biggest stars in the WWE(F). Davey was very good, but in my eyes, he was always lacking that size that Vince McMahon looks for. He was 5' 11", which again, isn't all that small, but what if he had had just an extra few inches? He would have had it all.

 

[byrnside]

I like Taz as a choice, but I don't think it was his size that kept him down in the WWE so much as it was just the fact that his career was on the decline, he retired not long after he signed with the WWE.

I'm going to go with Owen Hart. Now undoubtedly we'll never know if he would've gone on to win the WWE title, I like to think he would, but if he was just a little bit bigger, maybe he would've won it sooner. Owen was 5'10 and weighed 227, and in the span of almost 10 years, he won every title the WWE had to offer minus the big one. In comparison, his brother Bret did win every title the WWE had, and he was 2 inches taller and about 7 pounds heavier. It only took Bret 6 years to win the WWE title.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I have to go with everyone else and say Taz.

He was booked perfectly in ECW, where his size was overlooked and he was packaged as a wrecking machine who would just beat the shit out of you. He was definitely limited in the WWE by his size though, as all the big stars towered over him and made him look even smaller than he was. Definitely a guy who would have done big things in the 'E had he been a few inches taller, maybe 6 foot or so, because he had the style and ability to be a force to be reckoned with.

I think that if Taz was around now, and with less emphasis placed on size in the WWE, with regular sized guys like Miz, Kingston, Morrison etc in high-profile spots, I think Taz would be better used. It is a shame that he arrived in the WWE at the wrong time and they didnt make the most of his talent.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

A guy that would have undoubtedly made it big had he been a bit bigger is Christian. I am not saying that he had to be 6'5" or something but I think he would have been quite successful had he been closer to even Edge's build. He has always looked too thin, almost malnourished I would say. He wrestles primarily as a technical brawler but his physique resembles that of a high flyer. A bit more body mass and who knows, he could have been multiple time World Champion by now.

Another guy who would have benefitted by being taller is Rhyno. He was always big and quite a good wrestler as well but he was just too short to be taken seriously as a monster heel. He was certainly a lot better than guys like Hiedenrich and Snitsky who got pushed while he got ignored.