10 Wrestlers Whose Weight Problems Became Gimmicks

Or, in the case of Mickie James, wrestlers without weight problems who were body-shamed anyway.

By Scott Fried /

Wrestling, as a business, is all about perception. Since the whole sport is built upon the twin lies that the competition is legitimate and the athletes don't really like each other, wrestling promoters have had no problems taking further liberties with the truth. Heights and weights are routinely exaggerated, with announcers feeding fudged facts to audiences so passionately that they soon become accepted as gospel. Unfortunately, those in charge of wrestling promoters don't have complete control over their own narratives. Wrestling is about perception in another sense, too - wrestlers are exposed to the world, with their physical shortcomings (both athletic and superficial) visible to fans. No matter how much WWE tries to downplay it, for instance, people watching the broadcast can easily tell that Cesaro is more technically talented than Roman Reigns, and that The Big Show doesn't have the same physique he did when he arrived in the company. Sometimes, frustration - or even inspiration - takes over. For the sake of vindictiveness - or simply because there's no better choice - sometimes, some wrestlers' shortcomings are actually incorporated into their characters. Some are considered too small, too plain, or in many cases, too heavy. Here are ten wrestlers whose weight problems - real or imagined - became gimmicks for them: