10 Wrestling Matches Booked Out Of Spite

9. The Big Show Vs Akebono (WWE WrestleMania 21)

Goldberg The Fiend
WWE.com

For almost all of his time in WWE, The Big Show was considered overweight by his employers.

A quick revisit of the Ross Report archives from shortly after his 1999 signing paint the picture that reflected most of his time before a 2006 sabbatical. The big man was too big in the eyes of his bosses, and no relegation trips to OVW or injury layoffs seemed to be addressing that.

It's fair to say Paul Wight was packing more tonnage than he had during his breakout years in WCW, but wholly unfair to suggest he was the sort of size in keeping with sumo wrestling.

Alas, this was his lot at 2005's WrestleMania 21 when he took two-sports star Akebono in an exhibition that made him look multifariously daft. Long zooms on his dimpled and mostly-exposed a*se were done for the benefit of those guffawing in the Gorilla position rather than any kind of artistic expression, and the match itself failed to illicit anything from an otherwise molten audience.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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