10 Most Unforgettable Exhibition Matches In Wrestling History
8. The Big Show Vs. Floyd Mayweather
That’s two occasions that the vaunted boxer vs. wrestler scenario failed to come off successfully - but what about an example of when the scenario actually did work? Well, that would be WrestleMania XXIV, on March 30th 2008 in Orlando, Florida, in which another pituitary giant working for the WWE, the Big Show, took on WBC Welterweight Champion Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather in a worked pro wrestling match.
And that’s the key - this wasn’t billed as style vs. style, or boxing vs. wrestling. Those things set up a list of expectations that no match can meet. This was a simple no disqualification match, with the man that many said was the greatest boxer in the world against a genuine giant.
Pro wrestling is, at its core, only possible when the two opponents work together, something that clearly isn’t supposed to happen in a legitimate fight of any kind. Here, Mayweather - to his eternal credit - worked the feud and the match exactly as planned out between the two camps.
Big Show was originally supposed to be the heel, with Mayweather the much smaller underdog against the giant - but the WWE crowd never cottoned to Floyd. His attitude and reputation in real life, his entourage, his wealth, his outsider status as a non-wrestler - all these things added up to massive fan disapproval, and at the official ‘weigh-in’ for the fight, it became clear that the two had turned, and that Mayweather was now the heel, and Big Show the babyface.
The angle had realism from the start: Big Show told Mayweather to break his nose in the initial build-up, because otherwise no one would take the angle seriously due to the huge size difference. The punch did more than break Show’s nose - the pain made the big man lose his rag for the rest of the segment, and the anger on his face was real.
When the time came for the big fight, Mayweather’s entourage helped to sell everything beautifully, as the no-disqualification gimmick allowed Show to provide giant-size offence by attacking them instead of his opponent. Because the whole thing was worked, and everyone collaborated so well together, it became a genuine pro wrestling match.
No, it wasn’t a technical classic - but it was never going to be. I don’t know whether WWE sneaked some workers in there, or whether his guys were just that damn good, but the posse helped make Money that night, with a chorus of steel chairs, chokeslams and finally brass knuckles to take down the giant and give Mayweather the win.