How Big Are They

[TUFFY54]

Throughout its history, the WWE has always exaggerated the size of its wrestlers. They certainly aren't the only company to do it, but I figured I would put the thread here because they have been the dominante wrestling company for the past 10 years. As a little kid I was always amazed at how big pro wrestlers were. When I went to matches years ago everyone seemed larger than life. However, that all changed a couple years ago when I went to a WWE show in my mid twenties.

I went to a small WWE ECW house show that was only about the size of the Impact Zone. I was lucky enough to get ringside seats and really had a great time watching my favorite superstars up close. The thing I remember most though was how small they all were. They weren't small by average standards, but their was no way in hell they were as big as they said they were on TV. I'm by no means a huge guy, but I'm about 6'3'' with my boots on and weight about 240. We got to stand right next to a bunch of different wrestlers and see how big they really were.

CM Punk - WWE says he's 6'1'' and weighs 220. I dwarfed him. I'd guess he might be 6 foot and weight around 200.

RVD - WWE says he's 6' and weighs 237. I'd guess 5'10'' and about 215.

Test - WWE says he's 6'8'' and weighs 290. NO WAY IN HELL. Test fought in the crowd and literally stood two feet from me. At best I would say he is 6'4'' or 6'5'' and might weight 260.

Sabu - WWE says he's 6' and weighs 220. Again, NO WAY IN HELL. Sabu is tiny in real life. I would say he was 5'9'' and maybe 185.

I must say that the Big Show is HUGE in real life. However, even he has said in WWE articles that flat footed he's 6'11''. Yet the WWE contiues to bill him as 7'2''.

Lets look at some of the other big names.

Brock Lesnar - WWE said he was 6'5'' and weighed 295. In the UFC he's listed as 6'3'' 265.

Kane has always been the 7ft monster, but when Glen Jacobs played Issac Yankem he was 6'8''.

Angle was billed as 6'2'' and 250 by the WWE. In interviews he has said that he's 5'10'' and has never been above about 230.

The funniest one was Shawn Michaels. In the early 90's muscle days, the WWE said that shawn was 6'3'' and 240. At best Shawn Michaels is maybe about 6ft and has probably never been above 215 or 220. Kevin Nash said in a shoot that he was suprised with how small Shawn was when he first met him.

I want to stress that I'm not trying to bash the WWE for doing this. I completely understand that it helps things seem bigger than life. I believe that the WWE adds at least 2 inches and 20 pounds to almost every superstar on their roster. Do you guys think I'm in the right ballpark here, or do you think the stats are pretty legitament? More importantly, do you think the WWE needs to keep doing this?

 

[Disturbed]

Yes you are correct and WwE does in fact need to keep doing this. It makes each superstar seem larger than life(with the exception of Rey) Chris Jericho is billed as 5'10 I think and he wears something in his boots to make him look taller. Kane used to wear those to when he had his mask and thats why he looks bigger with his mask on because he has since quit wearing them.

 

[JDX]

First off 6'3" is pretty tall (US average is 5'10" for guys) I'm 6'1" myself but I would say anything 6'2" and above can be called tall. There is no way HBK is 6', he's barely half a head bigger than Rey.

Whether WWE should keep doing this I really don't think it matters anymore. Except when they are hyping a guy for his height and weight how often do you even hear about it? Big Show and Khali yeah but cares how tall trips or orton is. Most entrances consist of name hometown and nickname. They'll keep doing but it doesn't that much now.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In most cases, there's definitely a little tinkering going on with stats. It's something that's been pretty common in wrestling throughout history. Pro wrestlers have always been kind of portrayed as these larger than life, physically, guys that are just supposed to be bigger than your "average" guy.

CM Punk is right around 6 feet even and yeah, he weighs about 200 pounds, maybe 210 at the very very most. Kofi Kingston is billed about 221 lbs but he's also around the 210 pound mark at the most I'd guess. Kurt Angle is someone that's really slimmed down over the past few years. I don't know if this is true or not but I read several reports on the net last year that Angle had trimmed himself down to under the 200 pound mark at one point. Right now, I'd put him about 215 at the most. Randy Orton is billed about 245 but I'd be willing to put him about 220. At the same time, however, some wrestlers like Orton might be deceptively heavy. Orton has a long, lanky sort of body. Cena is billed to be about 240 and is a few inches shorter than Orton, but look at how their muscle mass differs.

I would say that the vast majority of the current WWE roster is under the 240 pound mark with a handful exceeding that.

 

[JGlass]

I enjoyed reading this. It was always obvious to me that the WWE made their wrestlers out to be bigger than they really are, but I never really had any idea by how much. It seems like they do it enough so that it's believable, but still questionable.

Two guys I think are both grossly exaggerated are Jericho and Ziggler. Now I could be way off, but neither of them look they are above 6 feet to me, and both are billed as 6 feet even. Furthermore, they're both pretty lean and neither are particularly ripped, and both are billed around as being over 220. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to learn that neither of them are over 200. I'm 6 feet tall and I weigh 180 pounds, and while my body doesn't look like Dolph Ziggler's or Jericho's, I think if I put on 40 pounds of muscle I'd look more like Rob Terry than Ziggler or Jericho.

 

[mikevenom00]

ive seen orton hhh big show cena at a show in australia they all seemed pretty fuckin big to me hahaha... did anyone get to see or meet goldberg in the flesh when he first came on nitro i couldn't beleive it i hadn't seen traps like that since physco sid justice hahaha.....

 

[Prince Punk]

Now you do have to take into consideration here that Muscle weighs a lot more than fat. I myself currently sit at 225 and I'm starting to look a little chunky (it's winter and I sure as hell won't be working out in the cold) but over the summer I was 200 until I worked on a friends farm got leaner than before but weighed 225 afterwords because of the muscle mass put on.

These guys are in REALLY good shape so while I agree they go over a few inches on height (size does matter after all *wink,wink*) though how much they are really rounding on weight could be a coin toss just due to muscle mass, real height, fat content.

Great thread btw

 

[Matisyahu]

Yeah for example they always bill The Big Show as the largest athelete at 7 foot 500 pounds when he has said in interviews that he is closer to 425. Now this was nearly 7 years ago when he was considerably fatter. Even when he came back to face Money Mayweather at his leanest since his WCW days I know for certain he couldn't have weighed over 380 to 400 at the most!

Also when he stood face to face with The Great Khali once I noticed that Khali is actually a few inches taller if not half a foot.

But they have always done this like someone before noted they used to bill Kane as a 7 foot monster and still do on occasion and used to do it with The Undertaker but now they say he is nearly 7 foot

 

[kazfan401]

Totally agree, I think WWE actually does this pretty often to try and make the character seem a more dominant or some other reason, does anyone else remember when I think it was Vladimir kozlov and William regal were backstage, and Regal is suposed to be 6 ft 2 while Kozlov is 6ft 8 and the two were standing next to each other and kozlov was just a little taller the Regal!

 

[wrestling god]

the undertaker never really looked to me as 6.10ft, also sheamus does not look 6.6ft.......as basically everyone said it is just done for the audience to take the wrestler more seriously

 

[m6usin786]

WWE do this so they look scary and better than other smaller wrestlers that do not look as scary or dominant as they are. This works better with heels but they usually change the statistics for them if they turn face.

 

[merce07]

I was standing close enough to Orton and Cena to touch them. I would say Cenas around 6'1 and Ortons about 6'3 or so.

One guy I was suprised with was Jeff Hardy. I always thought he was a short and skinny guy. The guy is over 6 foot and he actually looks really big.