Big Show’s UNTOLD Frustrations On Constant Heel Turns
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 เม.ย. 2023
- Paul Wight spoke to Kenny McIntosh in 2021 about his huge amount of heel and face turns in his WWE run. Subscribe to the channel for more clips of our live shows and interviews, and don't forget to like and comment too!
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#bigshow #wwe #aew - บันเทิง
Do you think Big Show was booked poorly in WWE? Let us know in the comments.
Yes
I mean, I think it's a shame he wasn't made a more MONSTROUS presence
Big Show works as both a heel and a face but with the amount of times he flipped between heel and face he couldn’t solidify any turn he had. Poorly booked is an understatement
He was 10 times better than Andre but his booking was 10 times worse
He won all the titles there and defeated many great legends and stars, but Al-Ittihad abused it in its last years very much.
It always felt they treated Big Show as a "Who could lift The Big Show!" to give his opponents a Hogan-Andre moment; forgetting that Andre was a dominant force for a long time. He deserved more.
And the ones who couldn’t would,”chop down the giant,” with some weak leg kicks.😂
Especially considering Paul Wight is easy to understand and is significantly more mobile than Andre was. That's nothing against Andre, but when you have a legit giant on your roster that nearly parallels Andre and can do that gimmick better, why not push that giant to the moon? WCW seemed like they were going that route, but then they did nothing with him. Then Paul went to WWF/E only to be fed the same lackluster gimmick. I'm glad he's held world championships, but being a transitional champ and a strong champ are two different positions. Had Paul Wight been booked as a strong, giant heel champion and went on a tear, he could have been one of the scariest and most dominant villains since Andre. Instead, we got a joke of a character that flipped face and heel more times than than the Yankees won the World Series. haha.
I'm glad he's in AEW, though. He seems like he's having fun again, and the roster really looks up to him (Literally and figuratively). I know Marko Stunt is not there anymore, but when they met each other, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen!
Same with Stacy Keibler. I always felt like Mr McMahon treated her as a pretty face or somebody girlfriend But never considered as champion material.
Yeah, especially since the "who can lift André" was at a time when A) Not many did, B) Most of those times weren't televised and C) The times who were were either in a different era or in a different territory.
@@Krypton853 I saw her in WCW. She had a very similar moveset to HBK with the flip from the mat to her feet and a superkick finish. I think they stripped it away to stop HBK feeling diluted but they could have just done a short mixed gender rivalry where they teamed up and he taught her the moves and BOOM credible champion.
Paul absolutely got mis-managed his entire career, not just by Vince & friends. He’s easily one of the most athletic, entertaining big men of the last half century. The big fella deserves more respect.
I think that will be his legacy, even in WCW he was going back abd fourth. Its sad really
I would have loved to see show get managed by Vandenberg/James Mitchell back in the day
He was constantly out of shape that’s why they he had the issues he had throughout his career. If he wasn’t the size he was he would have been cut sometime after the monday night wars
@@MossB87 That part is true, when the Undertaker made it clear how dissapointed he was in the Big Show, especially when it pointed out the large (No pun intended) potential he had. Just that he wasn't putting the effort to be in ring shape. A friend of mine saw Big Show after an event, and he was smoking cigarettes, which probably contributed to the issue.
I send unto thee my most steadfast regards Obi-Wan Shāāk Ti Kenobī.
I think the turns are part of what originally kept him from being capitalized on when he came into the WWE. He debuted heel and turned face in like 6 weeks. He turned three times in his first year with the company!
They were trying to figure out his role and fans wasnt responding so they had to keep changing his identity. The rock went through that phase too but he had the gift of gab and once he started talking, it did more for his career than his actual talent. The rock wasnt doing well at first and he said that in an interview
Heels sold tickets and Baby faces sold Merch.. never thought of it like that but very true
A lot of faces like ric flair used to give heels a cut of the merchandise profits because heels didn't sell merc
A lot of faces like Flair? Lmao. Flair was heel 90% of the time throughout his career
@@user-dq6se6er8j when he was a face. Why have a pissy attitude?
Unless your Roman Reigns, a heel with cool merch who people pay to eventually see lose
Except if you're Hulk Hogan in the 80s or Steve Austin in the Attitude Era.. They sold both.
I had a Big Show T-Shirt.
Don't get why giant strong men are always mocked in wrestling, they play an important role.
Fans care more about the gimmick and sh!t talking. CM Punk wouldn't have any fans at all if they just cared about matches. Even the fans that really enjoy the matches are looking for crazy athletes like fast luchadors, or muscle freaks like Brock or old-school Kane...... The classic big man, like Big Show, Vader, Bam Bam Bigelow. These guys are just used as obstacles. They are the challenge that our made up heroes have to overcome.
@@Danielson1818 But is being an obstacle a bad role in wrestling storytelling? I don't think so, it's the classic David versus Goliath.
Nothing against those who have a preferred 'type' of wrestler. I like all styles and builds, just never understood why big strong men get so much hate, and usually frowned upon by wrestling 'critics'.
@@bobbymaycry9748 That's actually a good comparison to use, because nobody identifies with Goliath in that example. He's universally seen as the bad guy. It's one of the oldest tales of people rooting against the big man. Remember this is all designed by Vince McMahon, and he tends to break things down to people's most simplistic emotions. Some of his material has been straight up racist, sexist, homophobic, etc... However, he gets away with it, because wrestling fans go along with dumb stuff.
There's a reason why no one wants a giant anywhere near the world titles 😅😅😅😅
@@Danielson1818 it's normal to be homophobic, and Vince was never that much racist, look at how asian, black and Mexicans are thriving in WWE now
The big show who choke slammed Kurt angle off the 30ft ledge thing was his strongest heel era. The messy longer thinning hair gave his character this shiftiness he never had as a heel. I remember that return being particularly epic too with a zillion chokeslams.
I remember seeing him in WCW and being blown away by a guy his size doing a dropkick!
It wasn't just a WWE thing. The Giant turned face/heel several times in WCW too.
In 1998 he just rejoined the nWo out of nowhere! He was so anti-nWo, then suddenly he walks out on Nitro with an nWo shirt 🤣🤣🤣
@@iDeathMaximuMII WCW bookers did that with everyone 😆
@@TheOldSchoolGamer93 Very unfortunate lol
Um no he didn't !! He only turned when he went to the NWO !! He didn't have a bunch of heel turns
@iDeathMaximuMII they did have a reason, not saying it's great. Nash formed the red and black with Savage, and Giant's hate for Nash took him back to Hogan in the black and white. It was out of nowhere but made a bit of sense at the time.
Honestly I’m shocked they didn’t use his heel turn every two seconds as an advantage like imagine him coming into the ring and everyone is scared to even get near him because they don’t know what he’s gonna do the big show does what he wants he’s big and strong enough to do anything
So a chaotic neutral like Seth Rollins
They kindaaaa did that when he was feuding with the shield and no one was sure if they could trust him , and yes wish they did that stuff longer
Shoot when he started doing the spear and the one hit KO they made him look like nobody could stop him.
It’s crazy to think how long he’s done this for too. He was definitely always seen as the attraction from WCW and WWE, but now you’ve got dudes his size and bigger. Seeing him in person is a whole different story!
He could turn mid-match, using the ropes for leverage but then confess to the ref and say he's sorry, only to choke an opponent with his singlet right after. They could play it like he has lost his mind and can't remember who he likes or hates from one moment to the next.
Fun fact: During the interview, he turned heel 4 times
The big show is like "the dad" of the WWE. He took care of things, puts people over and is universally loved but not physically/literally shown appreciation (in the form of merchandise sales). I'm guilty of it too, never bought one toy or shirt of his but he's one of my favorites
A very underrated talent during the Attitude era and Ruthless Aggression era, how different would both eras be without the Big Show. Thank you for entertaining us all these years, made my childhood.
Paul Wight is just the sweetest, most good-natured guy. It's fun when he occasionally steps into the ring in AEW just for a short, crowd-popping exhibition squash, but I still think it'd be nice if he could get involved as an active wrestler in a story just for one last run- not even as a main character, just brought in as an ally of one of the factions in a big group feud, like when Death Triangle brought in Erick Redbeard to help them against the House of Black while PAC was unavailable. I'm sure he could do a few multi-man matches at least, Sting is still going strong.
He's definitely grown both as a wrestler and as a person from when he started. A big problem he had starting out was that he won the championship so early - and he admitted he had too big an ego and a mediocre work ethic.
He's very intelligent and articulate too, always enjoy listening to him
Unfortunately I don't think his body would allow for a full program like that. I'd hate to see him push himself too much, looks like he's still having trouble with the hip injury as he seems to have a hard time moving. I'm happy to see him come out and chokeslam a few jobbers if that's what he's able to so without hurting himself.
I think the only time Big Show was properly booked was in his 2002-2003 feud with Brock Lesnar.
That's when you didn't doubt he was the most dominant wrestler on the roster.
I did enjoy his feud with Sheamus.
I think his 2006 heel turn was really good, it’s just he was on WWECW, and he really shouldn’t of been on that show.
One glimmer of that dominant vibe definitely was on the episode Big Show came back in '04 after Kurt and his crew tried to take him out, whenever he destroyed TWENTY lumberjacks as well as Eddie, Kurt Angle, and Luther Reigns!
I get the humanization of Big Show the more mature I've grown to realize it, but I always loved how frightening and intimidating Show appeared in those moments through his WWE run.
Other than those two times, the only closest appreciation of his ferocious side was also his tag team run with Kane the next year.
Big Show could make a lot of money making a comedy skit about his face/heel turns. Like do a sketch where someone pressed a button and he is kind and cuddly, and then press another button and he throws them through a wall. I would pay to watch.
10,000 shirts in one night? We sometimes forget just how big Austin and Rock were.
Who forgets that? i thought everyone knew they were the two most over wrestlers in history
Now I wanna know the average merch sales for Cena and Punk in their prime. Gotta be similar numbers, if not higher. Cena was basically hand crafted to move merch after a certain point.
I think because WWE had a handful of consistent big guys like Taker and Kane that they took Big Show for granted, not realising what a unique treasure he is.
Especially when he was younger. He was crazy athletic before he let himself go. Legit great physique and could move
They took Kane for granted as well
@@juliandavidhoffer2022 Yeah true but at least wwe took kane more seriously than big show
@@j86485 yeah Kane wasn’t treated a bad but they both deserved a lot better.
@@juliandavidhoffer2022 Yeah I agree
Big Show: Shows up, turns heel, doesn't elaborate, leaves.
I met Big Show at the airport when I was a kid. Really nice guy.
Big Show should have been booked as an unstoppable force just like Andre the Giant. Let his size and strength speak for themselves in the ring and don't ever let him look weak.
Big Show’s constant turns should have become an angle onto itself about how he has an identity crisis about not knowing if he’s a Good or Evil
That would technically break kayfabe
Remember how easy he chokeslammed Kane most weeks on Raw. Even held him up there awhile. Fair do’s
Aye and Kane held him like it was nothing
@@doctordave12 Big Show said Kane was one of three strongest guys he faced - the other two were Mark Henry and John Cena.
Rumor has it, he turned heel after the interview
Any "giant" character should be booked as unbeatable for a long stretch run. Only other giants or the top babyface should be able to go over with a maximal effort, and even that very rarely. Big Show should've been booked as much more dominant for the majority of his career... not jobbing for mid-carders.
I think at one point they should have just kept Paul Wight/ Big Show as a face like other veterans. The Big Show had more personality as a face and had more depth compared to his one dimensional heel persona that was made to put over whoever was the top face at the time. As a face he felt more like a person, and it helps that his real life persona was very likeable. The Big Show should have been displayed as the modern day Andre the Giant where he could have reached a celebrity status that goes beyond wrestling.
I'll say this...
Nobody would ever go through that many phases and turns again... Paul made that happen. We could tell how hard it was to find a place for him especially in the late 2010s I just hope he enjoyed his time being a part of the locker room
Honestly I think guys like Big Show and Mark Henry should've got more ring time and championship opportunities because they're incredible!! They should've been pushed just like they've pushed guys like John cena, randy orton, brock lesnar, Roman reigns, edge, etc.
Henry wasn't the greatest wrestler - and his promos left a lot to be desired. I think WWE thought he was going to be this huge force that drew, but the fans seemed rather ambivalent towards Henry. In some ways Brawn Strohman reminds me of Henry - outside of his time in the Wyatt Family he just doesn't get the heat a guy his size and strength should.
Does anyone bring up how awesome big shows theme song is? I Get Hype every time
"WEEEELLLL..."
They could have sell a ton of merch: big hand (actual size of Big Show) printed sideways on the chest, a "SHHHHHH" on the back to re-create his iconic corner chop. Boom, that's it. Sold. I feel like they never put any efforts on Big Show's merch.
Of all his heel turns his smackdown heel run from 2002 to 2004 was epic!!
Even watching him as a heel I still rooted for him simply due to the respect I had for his history in the company. They did big show almost as dirty as they did Kane with not giving them a real title run.
for how long Big Show was in WWE you wouldve thought he would've flexed some sort of creative control or have a little more say in his storylines or turns. just sounds like he was just the yes man of the company
Paul Wight is definitely 1 of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots for a Giant, he added alot of athleticism to that role, when he did the nip up those few times was super impressive for his size. He made u hate him during his fued with The Rock back in 2000 n his Royal Rumble performance back in the 2004 Royal Rumble, he elevated alot of talent including The Rock
Remember him returning at No way Out 08 to a good pop (face i guess) Attached Rey Mysterio 5 minutes later (Heel turn) Gets punched in the nose by Floyd Mayweather, Next night on RAW when the Wrestlemania match was being made he was face again. Three turns in 24 hours. However i do believe that Show went the whole of 05 without a turn. That's incredible for him.
The way I look at it is whether Big Show was in the upper card or a jobber, the fact is I couldn’t imagine him not being in the WWE in the 2000s. Even if he wasn’t as a big of a “superstar” as The Rock or Stone Cold, he was every bit as vital to the roster. Everyone wants to be World Champion of course; I mean, I for instance would have all of my CAWs immediately go for the world championship in the Smackdown games lol. That’s just my own ego, but in reality, I’m a more reserved type of person who simply wouldn’t be a fit to be in that position. Doesn’t mean I’m any less valuable, even if I was just a janitor. Someone’s gotta do it 🤷🏻♂️
Not to mention the skits that Big Show and Eddie Guerrero did were among my favorite content 🤣
Big Show was always a good constant for me, him and Kane can’t ever be replaced.
Wish Kenny had asked Show what his favourite turn was.
maybe it’s just me but when i watch him wrestling for wcw it’s like he cared more??? … i know undertaker has said he tried to get him to tighten up his movement and selling better… but he was MOVING in wcw … i can feel him on this matter ..he’s a fckn legend my son knows him my mom knows him my grandma all know the big show
Big Show was always treated as a sideshow attraction rather than the main eventer that he should have been
Ngl when I was younger I just thought he kept switching because he was big enough to do whatever he wants. Then I got older and started comprehending storylines more and saw the errors. Still, always been a fan!
I remember being in Lakeland, FL for a WCW show and the Giant came out and cleared the ring. I always preferred him as a Baby Face.
It’s kinda sad that we all used to clown on this dude because of his heel turns, when he had no input in it at all, he was simply following orders and I bet if he had it his way, there’d be no constant heel turns
I remember when he visited the Bahamas. He was a cool guy taking pictures wih everyone at the restaurant.
Honestly, the constant heel/face turns imo was just a smaller part of the problem of him just being used for his size to boost whoever his opponents were. Like, “OMG *enter name here* PICKED UP/SLAMMED THE BIG SHOW!” After so many years of that, he loses credibility as a believable threat outside of omg moments. It’s a shame that to most people, all he’ll be memorable for is the constant turns.
Always been one of my favorite wrestlers since I first started watching and out of all the veterans in the business, gets the most respect out of me for putting up with it and sticking around for this long.
"Heels sold tickets, babyfaces sold merch" i like that
this is a good point. saw his face consistently for years and i couldn’t tell you what the big show’s character is
So glad he feels good about it. He made tons of money. Was the only man to hold the WWE, WCW, and ECW titles. Great career.
It was amazing to see the Big Show / Giant do a (freakin') dropkick ! Wight is definitely a legend: like Mark Henry, Dean Malenko, Jerry Lynn, Prince Nana (ROH) or a Sonjay Dutt.
Both he and Dustin Rhodes played utility infielder.. They're not the top, but are just good enough at everything to keep them from ever getting a single position.
Show still had long hair when the face/heel turns started back in 99. He turned 3-4 times just that year.
Royal Rumble 2001 when he came back...wild!
there was a period where anytime a wrestler needed a mystery partner, it would be the Big Show. I would have liked to have seen him become a "Partner for hire" gimmick sort of like the APA.
Big Show Paul White should be back in the ring soon 🔥
I remember in Kansas City, he just randomly came out with the nWo again and joined them again... I was there to see that one... I was like..what!?!?!
Lex Luger gotta be up there too. Constant Heel/face turns throughout the 80s 90s and 00s.
I wanted that Big Show shirt with the Sky blue letters when I was a kid.
Paul Wight was pulled back & forward during his WCW & WWF/E runs. His WCW run was OK
Heel Run: September 1995 - December 1996
Face Run: January 1997 - May 1998
(Stupid & unexplained Heel turn to the nWo again)
Heel Run: May 1998 - January 1999
WWF
In 1999 alone
February - March
Heel
March - July
Face
July - September
Heel
September 1999 - January 2000
Face
Royal Rumble
Heel Turn
🙉
The thing is, 600 shirts in a night is damn impressive! Granted the Rock and Stone Cold sold a lot more but there was still a few grand spend supporting Show 💪
Growing up watching the Monday night wars I feel like Paul was both better used and more over in WCW than he was in WWE
Big Show had more turns than a formula one driver
Got to love Big Show. Such a cool guy.
Didn't he once turn heel than Babyface and back to heel, all in one night😅😅😅😅
I've always been a Big Show fan. They totally dropped the ball with him.
I've watched wwf since the 90s and I've never had the urge to buy merch.
Taker and Show were a good tag team. I think the prime of Paul Wight's career.
I liked the Kane/Show era too. They held the Raw tag team championships for a while I think Vince could've done a lot more with both tag teams rather it was Kane or Taker 2 unstoppable forces like that, they could've had a major run with the tag championships and boosted those belts to as big as the heavyweight and WWE championships imo 💯
I'm not a fan of excessive face/heel turns. It makes the business look more fake when someone completely changes overnight. It's also pretty hard to hate a heel who's already won you over as a babyface, or to like a babyface who you've already hated as a heel. It's one thing if it's really authentic and believable, like Hogan's heel turn as Hollywood (easy to super hate a guy who just turned his back on a 15-year run as the greatest babyface of all-time). It's another thing if super-likeable Paul Wight turned heel for the sixth time, like "Oh, you're supposed to hate him now." Bullsh*t, we still love him.
IMO, 20-30% of the roster should switch alignment one time in their career, and the rest never should.
Similar concept with changing gimmicks. Makes the business look faker. You're telling me that you used to speak English, and now you're a savage islander who doesn't speak any English? You used to be a demon and now you're a baseball player? You used to be a surfer bro and now you're a brilliant cyberpunk hacker savior of humanity? I don't buy it, and it exposes the business as being transparently fake.
Everyone talks about Big Show's face/heel turns, but Natalya was another one. And sometimes hers came out of absolutely nowhere for no reason.
When big show imitated booker t i literally pissed myself laughing
I understand that interviewers have a job to do. But im guessing theres a chance that big show had these conversations with vince about the constant heel turns over the years. Its that, at the same time how many years has it been since hes been a full time wrestler in the wwe. Let alone being employed by the wwe. True his a legend and a future hall of famer. Bringing up something that happened along time ago. Doesnt change that it happened. Also, didnt he have constant heel changes in wcw before he went to wwe?
One of my biggest what ifs with Shows career was if WWE could have got him pre WCW when Vince could have given him more attention and his stock could have risen enough to not get lost in the shuffle during the invasion angle and relegated to hardcore and ECW and multiple baffling persona changes
The biggest mistake was having Big Show cry so many times. Would have been great once in the right story. But man, PG era really did him dirty.
He came in and immediately became a whipping boy to Austin. Vince didnt know what to do with him and neither did wcw for the time they had him and he was most fit in wcw.
They could have capitalised on the merch thing by doing a FACE BIG SHOW and HEEL BIG SHOW reversible hoodie.
I feel like he'd be a great developmental coach for future wrestlers
I want big show vs omos so bad 😩
Paul and Eddie had some great skits on SD back in the day though!
He’s was never going to get rock numbers, but could have sold tshirt in the thousands.
He was poorly used though.
I hate to talk this way about him, but heel or babyface. WWE or WCW. Who was getting Big Show merch? NWO, DX, Hogan, Rock, Austin, Taker, Triple H, Angle, Jericho. Masked Kane. Hardyz, Dudleyz, Edge & Christian. Eddie, Mysterio, RVD, Cena, Punk, Orton. Who said "Nah bro, I need that Big Show T-Shirt!"
Big show in his prime had unbelievable athleticism for a man his size a legend enjoy your retirement big show you deserve it
He had too many stretches where he got out of shape and didn't seem to care. You're never going to be the marquee guy like Rock or Austin if you only act motivated about half the time. In his early years he had a good build and even did a top rope dropkick. He needed a better gimmick than "Grrr, I'm a giant!" He's clearly a funny guy, but it was only allowed to come out in ways that made him look overly silly (hello, New Year's Baby).
I still have a blanket with The Giant from WCW on it. Big show should have been unstoppable in my opinion.
Take care of it that's a treasure for real
@@alliejones4518 I got it for my 12th bday. I'm 36 now. Quite nostalgic!!
I absolutely despised Big Show after 2012 because i felt he was just holding some guy's back with the way he was booked over them ( Rumble 2015 for example) but looking back I respect what he did and making it work with whatever they gave him
well I do have something to complain about. big show was something to see. I remember watching him in wcw and then i grew on wwf. when he showed up i was geeked. or when he made returns and wreck the entire roster. it piss me off when I saw guys like Bron get more than big show. where big show was in weird angles. I felt he should have been more in wwe and a title run like roman is on now. idk that's my take. Big Show was and is one of a kind.
Breathes in, turns heel
Breathes out, turns face
I don't know why that thumbnail made me laugh
U can still Kick Ass so go out and do it. Go AEW AND THE GIANT!!!
New shoes, new room, new view, same friends, stay true.
I hope he always remains a face while with AEW. Then, as soon as he decides to make his WWE return, he does an immediate heel turn.
It'd be funny if he kept The Big Show and "No BS" Paul Wight as different characters.
I never liked how he was always portrayed as this big unstoppable monster (which i get), yet he lost a bunch of times. As a kid it got to the point when he came out or was in a feud i knew the other guy was gonna win. Can't portray a "omg... this monster, who can beat him" when he always loses.
Nice 90s hair bud!
His size makes him perfect for both. Cuz he can dominate either way. But sticking to a single direction would be better.
Paul is the best, he deserved so much more from WWE
Vince has made it clear that there is only allowed to be be one Andre. Nobody is allowed to be as tall and nobody is allowed to have his "aura." Big Show should have been that guy. As soon as they sent him down to OVW after they signed him I knew he was going to get "Vince McMahon'd" and sure enough, he was.
Even Big Show hated the "Big Show Turn". Interesting. I'd have thought he liked "mixing it up", being cheered one week, booed the next, and treated like a returning hero at the PPV.
My Big show figure is always changing sides
Im a simple man.
If the video is short and has ads its an auto THUMBS DOWN
Sheesh.. I can see how Austin made those million dollar quarterly checks selling 10,000 shirts a night.
He should’ve stayed more as Baby Face because his best arcs were him being a good guy. Invasion storyline especially. Same for Taker. And even Kane. It was better to me.
Stone Cold could be heel and still be loved same for Triple H
Big show got tired of being embarrassed I don’t blame him for leaving