WWE News: The Big Show reveals which storyline he found 'awkward' during his run
What's the story?
WWE Superstar The Big Show was a guest on The Steve Austin Show recently and spoke about a variety of topics, including his reluctance to play the kayfabe son of Andre the Giant, when he started his pro wrestling career.
In case you didn’t know…
Big Show kicked off his pro wrestling career back in 1995 on WCW, where he was introduced as the son of legendary Superstar Andre the Giant. He was given the ring name of The Giant, and made a huge impact in the promotion in a short time.
He later jumped ship to WWE in 1999 as a member of The Corporation and was immediately inserted into various high impact feuds which propelled his career in WWE well. Currently, he wrestles part-time, making sporadic appearances for the promotion.
The heart of the matter
On Stone Cold's podcast, Show revealed that though being billed as Andre's son gave him a lot of credibility, he still was not a big fan of the angle, describing it as being awkward. (Thanks to Wrestling Inc. for the transcript.)
"It was awkward. It was very awkward because [Hulk] Hogan and [Eric] Bischoff came up with this idea and that's why Hogan latched onto me right away. That's why I got a career and opportunity. I'm thankful that he noticed me because, [Austin] know[s], back then, just going to a wrestling school or signing up on the internet wasn't an option. You had to know somebody to get trained! It was a very select business to get into back then and it wasn't quite as 'open door policy' as it is now."
Indeed, he went on to say that it was a cruel trick to play on the fans as Andre had enjoyed great popularity with the fans.
"To go as the son of André, yeah, it gave me credibility with the fans. It was kind of a real crappy trick to play on the fans because everybody loved André so much and it cornered me into a position because I still have fans that come up to me to this day that tell me how much they loved my dad."
The World's Largest Athlete then went on to reveal that he actually wanted to play a character along the line of his idol, The Enforcer, Arn Anderson, but had to play a Giant's gimmick as Hulk Hogan felt that that gimmick would find more popularity with the fans.
"I think Hulk wanted me to have that attraction gimmick. That's where Hogan saw money with me, it was as an attraction, but with my enthusiasm and athleticism, I never wanted to be André The Giant. For lack of better words, I wanted to be Arn Anderson. I wanted to be a great worker. I wanted to be able to bump and feed babyfaces. Do you know what I mean? But it is completely asinine for someone who is 7-feet-tall to want to be Arn Anderson!"
What's next?
For those of you who might not know, Show was indeed an amazing ring worker for his size back in his WCW days. So, he is thoroughly justified in saying that he wanted to be known for his in-ring athleticism, and not just for his size.
Show is currently recovering from a recent hip surgery and recently revealed that he was back in the gym and training again.
Do you think Big Show would have found the same level of success with a different gimmick? Sound off in the comments section.