Ex-WWE star thinks The Big Show was wrong to legitimately beat him up
Johnny Jeter, a former Spirit Squad member, believes The Big Show went too far by legitimately beating him up during a match on WWE RAW.
The Spirit Squad’s Kenny and Mikey defeated The Big Show and Kane on the April 3, 2006 episode of RAW. Later that week, the five-man group mocked the seven-foot star by encouraging him to pick up a sandwich during a match at a live event.
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Although the prank was not his idea, Jeter said on Rene Dupree’s Cafe de Rene podcast that he apologized to The Big Show post-match. He also recalled how the towering superstar tried to teach The Spirit Squad a lesson by deliberately hurting him in their next encounter:
“I would have handled the situation differently… It’s not like I’m gonna go to f***ing Big Show and go, ‘You son of a b****. How dare you put my career on the line or my job on the line or my health and safety on the line by f***ing legitimately beating me up in the ring like that on live TV.’ I had a lot of feelings about it, but it’s not like you can voice that.” [4:23-4:51]
Nick Dinsmore, formerly known as Eugene in WWE, informed The Big Show that Johnny Jeter did not come up with the sandwich idea. Jeter added that the WWE veteran took him and Umaga out to a steak dinner shortly after the incident, presumably because he felt bad.
Why did The Big Show react so angrily to the WWE live event incident?
4/3/2006
The Spirit Squad defeated The Big Show & Kane to win the Tag Team Championship on RAW from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois
#DolphZiggler #TheShowOff #Showoff #IAmPerfection #MikeMondo #KennyDykstra #SpiritSquad #TagTeamChampions #TagTeamTitles #WWE #WWEHistory https://t.co/kMyhtGzLrT
The Big Show, who now goes by his real name Paul Wight in AEW, weighed in at over 400 pounds for the majority of his WWE career. Before joining the wrestling business in 1994, he had to deal with bullying in high school due to his size.
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Johnny Jeter explained that, because of his experiences in school, the two-time WWE Champion did not find The Spirit Squad’s joke funny:
“He said, ‘When I was younger, I was bullied as a kid because people thought I was overweight, my height, all that stuff.' He goes, ‘So you guys doing that trick brought up a lot of bad memories for me,’ and I was like, ‘F***, I’m so sorry. I respect the s*** out of you. The last thing I would ever want to do is offend you or upset you. I’m so sorry.’” [2:33-2:55]
The Big Show’s treatment of Jeter occurred on the April 10, 2006 episode of RAW. The experienced superstar took out his frustration on the Spirit Squad member by being overly physical with him during a tag team match.
Please credit Cafe de Rene and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.