6 WWE Superstars who were told to lose weight
Superstars of all shapes and sizes have appeared on WWE television over the years, from cruiserweights like Rey Mysterio and Kalisto to super heavyweights like Yokozuna and The Big Show.
Although WWE was once viewed as “The Land of the Giants”, where only the largest Superstars would succeed and contend for the company’s top title, that mindset has changed drastically over the last two decades.
Vince McMahon has encouraged several Superstars to improve their lifestyles by losing weight, while one former NXT performer was even asked if he could stop weight training to avoid looking too similar to a character that he previously portrayed.
In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who were told to lose weight to improve their health, as well as one who lost weight to debut a new gimmick.
#6 WWE veteran The Big Show
The Big Show revealed on WWE Network special Rebuilding Big Show that his weight loss in recent years came about after John Cena inadvertently challenged him to grow abs.
“I was making a joke about, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to go out and get me some abs and be a bodybuilder.' I said, 'Who would want to see a giant with abs?' John just looked at me deadpan and goes, 'Yeah, a giant with abs, who would want to see that?'”
The seven-foot Superstar said that comment “lit a fire” and prompted him to change his lifestyle, which is something that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wanted from him back in the year 2000.
Speaking on his Something to Wrestle With podcast, WWE director Bruce Prichard recalled that Big Show was sent to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) developmental territory earlier in his career because he needed to lose weight and get in ring shape.
“Vince had just had it [with Big Show] and it wasn’t one match, one night or anything like that. It was a culmination of Show not being able to perform at the level we were looking at him to perform at.” [H/T Still Real To Us]
Prichard said it was not uncommon for Big Show to have four burgers, 40 chicken nuggets and a milkshake in the same meal during that period of his WWE career.