My Take III: Big Show

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Hailed as the largest athlete in the world at 7 feet tall and 440 pounds, The Big Show started out in WCW as "The Giant". He won the WCW Championship twice before moving to the WWE in 1999 where he would become a three-time world champion which includes the ECW Championship won in 2006. Some say he's the best big man ever but when I look at him, I think of two words: wasted potential.

It's been known that Vince likes big and tall wrestlers. When wrestlers like Umaga, The Great Khali, etc. first debuted in the WWE, they were made to look dominant. I don't know why but Big Show never seemed to get that monster push. He reminds me of a bigger version of Chris Jericho. Big Show can work with anybody in the ring, agile and quick for somebody his size, and is tremendous in putting people over such as Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio.

However, in his WWE carrer he never seemed to be dominant and hold the championship title for very long. He defeated Triple H and the Rock at Survivor Series in 1999 for the WWF Championship, which he subsequently lost to Triple H in January 3, 2000 on RAW. He won the WWE Championship at Survivor Series in 2002 from Brock Lesnar, and then lost it at Armageddon to Kurt Angle. His last world title reign was in 2006 in which he defeated Rob Van Dam fof the ECW Championship, which he held it for five months until losing to Bobby Lashley at December to Dismember. Other title reigns include tag team championships with the Undertaker and a U.S. Title reign in which he lost to John Cena at Wrestlemania 20.


How will Big Show go down in WWE history? Will he be remembered as one of the best big men ever or will he go down as merely a transitional champion? Also, why did it seem that he never got that monster push and be made to look dominant other then his ECW Title reign?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Unfortunately He will probably a trasistional wrestler which is a shame because I personally like the Big Show. He's a good big wrestler, has good marketability due to his sheer size, and he's not bad either when it comes to the mic/promo's/ect. In my opinion he could of been the next Andre the Giant if he ever got that monster that he deserved (he did get some pushes but every time those pushes were made so he could put over other wrestlers and not for himself). Frankly, a man the size of the Big Show should have a handfull of losses to his name and be known as a guy who can dominate anyone in the world (including Cena and Hardy), instead he has jobbed to every person on the roster, which should never have happened (He lost his first WWE match for christ sake). I think the WWE majorly underutilized this guys talent and potential because he could of and should of been so much more then just a random big guy.

 

[Henry Hill]

We can speculate all we want about why Show was never booked the way he could've been, but there are two circumstances that always would've hindered him no matter what. 1. He is not a creation of Vince McMahon.

2. He is too human. It would be hard to book him as a monster because of the storylines he already lived through in WCW.

 

[Yrrab]

I love Show, man. He's one of the best faces I've ever seen. He was dominant, has a great sense of humor, and is just great to watch. I couldn't really get into him as a heel, because I always see him and can't help but think of the comedy stuff he's done. He was so over when he came back after losing all that weight, it was great to see. He's one of the guys that I genuinely am interested in hearing about.

But I do think that he was underused in the main event. As over as that guy is, he could easily be in fueds with anyone in the main event. A Jericho/Show fued would be incredible, given their promo work.

 

[Zeitgeist]

I agree 100%, definitely "wasted potential". I also agree that perhaps part of the issue is the wide variety of roles he has played in the past. It might be difficult to start selling him as a monster again, but then again WWE has never shied away from repackaging someone and expecting the fans not to remember their past gimmicks.

Face/heel, moster or not, I feel he could definitely be put to better use. Then again, put him in the ring for 3 minutes and ignorant people will be chanting "you can't wrestle".

I feel much the same way about Kane, trapped in Raw's mid-card with terrible storylines, he's an agile big-man who should be a real competitor at the top of the card.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

When I first seen this guy in W.C.W., and listened to the storyline about him.. I believed it. Shit, up until they revealed his name in W.W.F., I thought for years he was literally Andre's Son.

Ultimately, when he retires he'll retire as nothing more than a form of what Andre the Giant was. Sadly, the Big Show in many aspects have far surpassed Andre the Giant. Both in talent as well in accomplishments. He's one of the only individuals to have ever won the W.W.F., W.C.W. & E.C.W. Heavyweight Championships. While dispite E.C.W.'s title being under the W.W.E. name, it still happened. That's a huge, historial breakthrough and ultimately noone will let that slip through more so than "Wow, he's just big."

In the end, the Big Show still has a couple years left in him of very quality wrestling. Right now he's being used mainly to help get others over, as well as continuing to be a dominate force due to his size. I in good faith and honesty believe he'll one day be World Champion again, but unfortunately I don't see his run being very long at all.

The thing about the Big Show that's hard to deal with is how tough it is to put people over him. While guys like Rey Mysterio and Spike Dudley hold victories over him, the fact is it's hard to keep Show with any type of credibility (if he's even got any left, that is) while allowing someone so much "beneath" him, to go over him.

In complete honesty, I would venture out to say only someone like Triple H., The Undertaker and maybe Edge should have the right to go over him on Smackdown. When in real life, guy's like M.V.P., and even Jeff Hardy are going over him cleanly. And that's not exactly working to help keep the Big Show as a viable threat to anything.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Unfortunately, since joining WWE, Big Show was given a gimmick that has always held him back imo, and that's the gimmick of being dumb muscle.

Think about it, Show has repeatedly been portrayed as a guy who manages to cause real problems for his opponents, but he is easily swayed by managers who eventually betray him, or the other guys wait for him to get angry and lose focus, and then they take him out first. Here's a few examples:

Big Show debuts in WWE at St Valentine's Day Massacre, Feb 1999 by coming up through the ring during Austin/Vince cgae match. He grabs Austin and launches him so hard into the cage wall that it swings open and Austin just plops down and wins the match (that he'd been dominating anyway). So basically, Show made a collossal cock up within 3 minutes of debuting.

A month later at WM15, Big Show, still a corporate player, wrestlers Mankind, with the winner being named the special guest ref in the Austin/Rock title match later that night. Big Show loses his cool and gets disqualified for chokeslamming Foley on 2 open steel chairs, and now Vince has no one to sway the odds in Rock's favour for the title match.

Then, through the rest of 99, Show has a mini fued here or there, he teams with Taker for a while until Taker gets hurt and that angle never finishes, and Show goes back to doing nothing, until a) he starts fueding with the Big Bossman, and b) they decide to do the whole 'who ran down Austin' angle, letting Big Show swoop in and take Austin's spot in the title match and win the title, only to lose it just over a month later to HHH thanks to run ins by DX (well this was the beginning of the McMahon-Helmsley Era, what did you expect?)

He teams up with Shane McMahon during early 2000, he won the RR match, except history records that the Rock won, was the first eliminated from the 4 way title match at WM that year and continued to do nothing of real importance that year.

The next year he's beating on Shane because Vince hates him, and still loses more than once. Then the Alliance angle breaks and Show goes back to doing nothing of importance

The next year, he is the first man to beat Brock Lesnar, AND also wins the WWE title again in what i recall was a pretty short match. It's revealed that Paul Heyman is has ditched Lesnar in favour of Show, and the very next month, Kurt Angle beats Show after convincing Lesnar that that was the best time to strike and get revenge. Angle wins the title, and THEN reveals that the whole thing was in fact..... Heyman's idea.

After that, Show becomes nothing but muscle again, fueding with a few big names until about 2006 where he won the ECW title. Why was he so dominant? Of all the guys on ECW at that time, who the fuck is going to beat a 500lb man who's 7 feet, when there are no rules? Well, only a genetic freak like Bobby Lashley coul do it imo, and that's what happened.

Then Show left, and he's been back almost a year now and by September, he'd reverted back to being dumb muscle for the boss, and right now he's doing nothing.

Despite his weight and size, Show has had some awesome matches in his time. He's even had some awesome moments in WWE history, like the superplex that destroyed the ring, or chokeslamming Taker through it. However, his character has never been given the opportunity for any further development past thhe whole 'angry, giant moron' that he's always played, and that's what i think has always been Show's problem.

 

[Joker ' Ferreira]

I really tought that Big Show would be built as the huge man he is when he came back to the WWE last year.

But then, he lost to Mayweather, a guy half his size, ok, he was "the best fighter in the World", but it sucks.

He then, started a feud with Khali, nothing special and one year after he came back he is wasted talent again, so, I do think he has all the natural talent to make him someone big in this industry but he never made it, and Vince is responsible for that.

Vince McMahon doesn't like pushing guys that weren't made by him, and Paul Wight is one of them, so he never got the push as a dominant champion as he deserved, pretty much like Kane he likes also to put other wrestlers over so that isn't a problem, but it should, he deserves a lot more than he gets.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

Big Show has had a successful career in the WWE, but there is always room for improvement. Big Show is a multiple time World Champion, but never had that long dominant title reign (during his E.C.W. Championship reign, he was dominant, but defended rarely). I expect Big Show to get the title sometime within the next couple years (maybe even as early as this year), but I have to admit that he needs a lot of changes to make an effective champion. The reason that he does not get those monster pushes is because when he gets caught up into something, he begins to get stale. His arsenal is good, but a few newer moves couldn't hurt and the ability to cut a promo without leaving a puddle on the ground can get you a long way. As for how I think he will go down in history, I think he will be praised because of his size, but as for his athletic ability, it will go down as ''just could have been a little better''.

 

[ztwhite]

Several people have stated that Show has not received a major extended push because he isn't the masterminds creation -- but several wrestlers disprove that theory over the years.

Chris Jericho was the first undisputed champ and has been pushed over and over for several years and he wasn't a McMahon creation.

The Dudley's were pushed repeatedly with WWF / WWE... Guerrero and Benoit ruled an entire Wrestlemania !!

I agree Vince can be a stubborn prick when it comes to his way or no way -- but maybe Show has never received a big push because in reality, no one could beat a 7 foot, 500 pound genetic freak with his skill set. While I may still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, wrestling isn't reality !!

 

[Tenta]

I'm going to start this off by saying that I think The Giant can be a wonderful worker.... When he wants to be. I remember watching him in 1996, and thinking to myself, "This guy has talent". He was intimidating, he was strong, athletic, and he actually kind of understood ring psychology. Promos? Eh, they weren't his strong suit. But the man could work. And he does show flickers of dominance.

But to say that Paul Wight was the hardest worker out there is like saying RVD's clean. Here's a picture of the Giant in 1996:

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/377012/4123328

Looks very different, doesn't he? Much stronger, leaner? This is not the Big Show you see now. Here's a picture of present day Big Show:

http://sport.wslaat.maktoob.com/wrestling/wp-content/gallery/bigshow/big_show_wallpaper.jpg

Doesn't he look quite a bit.... Well, fatter? That's not all. If you look at the pacing of his matches in WCW compared to WWE, his WWE matches don't even compare, for the most part. The fact is, Paul Wight doesn't seem to have that extra bit of work effort to become that monster heel. He picked up smoking in WCW, which flat out killed his cardio, although he's said to have quit in his sabbitical from the WWE. notice he looks a little bit better than he did in, say 2005? Here's a picture of Big Show, circa 2005:

http://catch65.c.a.pic.centerblog.net/urd6gnx4.jpg

Granted, these aren't great pics, but I think we can all agree he looked at his best (and performed at his best) in WCW in 1996. For the Big Show to get that monster push, he'll have to prove he can work very hard for a long period of time. He did it in ECW, and look what it got him? He had a dominant reign, was put into a main event feud with Vince and DX. He has it in him. He just needs to let it all out.

 

[Jane]

I like Big Show, but he won't be remembered as an all time great. He will most likely be in the Hall of Fame, but alot of guys are, so it isn't that big a deal. The thing with the Big Show is they can never seem to find him a fued to stick with, and he's always switching around from one short lived fued to the next. He's done well and I was super excited when he returned last year, but... that turned out to be a bust. He just isn't as exciting as he once was, and I don't know how much longer he will be kept in the main event. He will just be a upper mid carder who is occasionaly called up, like Khali or Henry, but maybe with a little more prestige.