Best Superheavyweight Opponents of All Time

[IrishCanadian25]

It's a relatively simple question with very many answers. Superheavyweights are the men who weigh 325+ lbs. The question is, who, in wrestling history, has done the best job at working with these behemoths?

Here's a short list of a couple I think are relevant:

1. Bret Hart. Bret has worked with all of the best in history, it seems. He made waves at Wrestlemania 2 by being the final man in the ring with Andre the Giant. He worked consecutive Wrestlemanias (9 and 10) with Yokozuna. He put together terrific matches with Diesel. He worked with Vader in '95-'96. Bret Hart may well be the best seller in wrestling history, or at least one of, and he never seemed at a loss for psychology when he was in the ring with an SHW.

2. Sting. The man called Sting worked an amazing feud with Vader in the early 90's. He and Flair carried two tomato cans, The Awesome Kongs, through an awful feud on their strength alone. He possessed the strength to match power with the bigger men, and the speed to work around them. I never saw Sting wrestle an SHW where he felt out of place.

I have plenty more, but I don't want to steal all of the good ones. Who are YOUR choices for the men who've worked the best all time with the SHW's, and why?

 

[Wolf Pac]

Shawn Michaels is another who has put on some of the best feuds & matches with big men. In fact his entire 96 WWF Title reign saw him defend the belt against only big guys (Diesel, Bulldog, Vader, Sid) on PPV with the exception of Mankind and if you don't count Bulldog as a super heavyweight but I kinda do tbh. This is what made him a credible champion and made his reign & 96 top favourites of mine even if that year did bad in the ratings. Shawn against the big guys made that year for me. I wish Lesnar had feuded with Shawn when both men were active, that would've been another great big man feud for Shawn.

 

[jmt225]

For me it comes down to Shawn Michaels and Sting.

Shawn Michaels work with Sid Vicious alone shows you the kind of talent he is. Sid was a great presence and had an unbelievable aura about him, but he was absolute shit in the ring. I mean, he was just god awful... I don't care what anyone says. Regardless of that, HBK got two great matches out of him, and they were both worthy of being for the WWF Championship in the main event on two out of the four biggest shows of the year.

HBK also had the tremendous No Holds Barred match with Diesel at the In Your House following 'Mania 12 that still ranks to this day as one of my all time favorite matches. I also loved HBK's little work with Yokozuna and I wished they could have had a real program against one another instead of just a couple of Raw matches. And while HBK's match with Vader is more remembered for HBK being an asshole, I still loved every second of it.

Now, Sting is unique because he could pull off the power moves against the Super Heavyweights. Sting wasn't the most muscular guy, but he was still extremely powerful and his character made you believe he could measure off the strength to overcome anything, including absolute monsters like Vader, Avalanche, The Giant, Abyss, etc.

His matches with Vader, for instance, I mean wow... perhaps my favorite program of matches between two wrestlers ever. Who could throw Vader around like Sting could? Even Hogan could only muster up a powerslam; he couldn't do suplexes and shit like that, but Sting could. And what made Sting also so special was that he could pull of the high spots as well to go along with the power moves. The guy was really one of the greatest talents we'll ever have the pleasure of seeing in this business.

Moreover, I was at Slamboree 1996 when he faced The Giant for the WCW Championship. The Big Show is a very good worker these days, but back then he was still very green and he got pushed way too soon. But the guy who could get a great match out of him was of course the Stinger. That is easily still to this day the most exciting pro wrestling match I've ever seen in person. I wanted Sting to win so bad, and he had everyone there at the edge of their seats, actually believing he was about to beat this unbeaten Giant. He fell short because of Luger/Jimmy Hart, but it was still an awesome, awesome match to witness live. Those two would go on to have another terrific match a couple of years later at The Great American Bash 1998 when Sting was doing his Wolfpac gimmick.

As far as Bret Hart goes... I'm not seeing it. His matches with Yokozuna were good, but not great. And he did have a FANTASTIC match with Diesel at Survivor Series 1995, but that's about it. His other work with Diesel was underwhelming, and I hated his matches against Sid and Vader.

So, yeah... it comes down to Shawn Michaels and Sting, and maybe it's out of biasedness since he's my all time favorite wrestler, but I think I'm going to go with Sting, strictly because he could pull off the power moves against those guys while also providing high spots and absolutely tremendous selling. He was the perfect opponent for a Super Heavyweight.

To end this, I want to give an honorable mention to Rob Van Dam. I think Big Show's greatest match ever is without a doubt the one he had with RVD on ECW when Show defeated him for the ECW Championship. That match was absolutely phenomenal, and those two would go on to have a couple of more great matches. Also, let us not forget that it was RVD's match against Bam Bam Bigelow that really put him on the map to begin with. Rob didn't get a lot of opportunities to work with the Super Heavies like Sting and Shawn, but he made the most of it when he did.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I would agree that Bret Hart might just be the best, but I don't want to talk too much on a point you already brought up. I guess I'll be the guy to throw "he who must not be named" into the hat:

John Cena: He may not be the guy to go out there and surprise the world by putting on a technical contest with a super heavyweight, but he has made at least a large portion of his career by making MOMENTS with some of wrestling's best big men. Whether it's a solid technical contest, a bloody hardcore war, a cruiserweight circus or just a straight-up match between a giant and a super hero, at the end of the day it's all working towards the same mosaic that is professional wrestling. If I remember correctly the first "FU" Cena ever hit was on a super heavyweight in Rikishi! The first few times he worked with Big Show and hoisted it up people went bat-shit crazy, because they'd just really never seen it before. I mean, Hogan slammed Andre, but...to lift Big Show on your shoulders? I remember a lot of younger kids in school, that's all they would talk about. He was also one of the few rookies to be able to work a match with the Undertaker, on account of his pure strength; not many guys his size can hang with the Phenom. Cena has drawn out some of Kane's best matches, put on at least one classic I can recall with Umaga, and I guarantee if a future match with Undertaker happens, it'll be one of the all time greats. I'm not his biggest fan certainly, but I would certainly stand behind John Cena in an argument of best superheavyweight opponents.

Brock Lesnar: He certainly doesn't have as long a career to draw from, but in his short time he probably drew all of Big Show's best matches out of him. I'm not sure if we're including the Undertaker; at only 300 pounds he doesn't really qualify, but his near seven-foot stature has to count for something. And Lesnar manhandled him more than anybody, including Triple H, likely ever will.

 

[HBsam31]

I have to go with Shawn Michaels. Another poster already mentioned this, but his firs ttiel run was made up of most big opponents. Loved his match with Foley at IN Your House mind games, and another one with Vader. His No holds barred match with Diesel was probably my favorite match of his title run. He worked with Sid to. The list of good matches Shawn had with Superheavyweights just goes on and on. Bret Hart would be a close second for me.