10 Next Big Things In Wrestling That Totally Flopped
3. The Big Show
In 1999, Paul Wight arrived in the WWF with virtually every quality necessary to achieve lasting headliner success.
He was an actual giant, checking the box of McMahon's famed macrophilia - only this giant could perform a d*mn moonsault. He could talk, and was naturally funny - a prerequisite to get in on the lowbrow comedy stakes beloved of the Attitude Era. For a man of his frame and minimal experience, he could work, or managed to convince people he could work - which is more or less the same thing.
Paul Wight also arrived with some literal baggage; having piled on the pounds in the miserable, unregulated, prohibitive WCW environment, his lean physique had become bloated. When the time came to remove the flattering black t-shirt and jeans, his switch from the André singlet to high-rise trunks created the unfortunate impression of a sumo wrestler. It was a fatalistic choice of garb; his later WrestleMania 21 sumo match, opposite Akebono, was one of several humiliations to which the man was subjected when it became apparent that he lacked the motivation and talent to hack it at the top.
McMahon's extortionate 10-year investment tanked - and while he forged a fine living for himself, and created many memorable moments, the stigmatised Show has heard "Please retire!" chants for the past few years because his CV became as bloated with desperate filler.