6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE WrestleMania 21

By Michael Hamflett / March 22, 2019

3. Su-WHOA

WWE.com

Great patter, wasn't it, seeing The Big Show fat-shamed by his employers by being made to dress even more like a sumo star than Yokozuna had done when it was his actual gimmick. Great f*cking patter.

Opponent Akebono had a brighter future in professional wrestling after legitimate success in MMA and Sumo ahead of this bizarre spectacle, but why bother talking about his worked and worthless waste of time when the big joke of it all was covered in the opening sentence?

Outside of a bizarre battle royal interaction, The Big Show never got his giant clash with Shaquille O'Neal. It might have erased memories of this sh*tty showpiece, but as evidenced by his feud with Cody Rhodes years later, he was destined to be stuck with story.

Authored by Michael Hamflett

Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett

First Posted On: 21st Mar 2019

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WrestleMania 21 Ups And Downs