9 Huge Problems With Big Show Vs Shaquille O'Neal At WWE WrestleMania 33
4. Other Crossover Attempts Have Failed
Does anyone else see the direct link between Big Show and failed crossover matches? It's not like placing Show in this position is a new concept and it's unlikely to succeed where other have failed either.
Back at WrestleMania 21 in 2005, Big Show was billed against a Sumo Grand Champion and nearly 500-pound behemoth Akebono Taro in a predetermined (gotta keep some aspect of pro wrestling) sumo wrestling match. The contest, intended to capture the untapped market of Japanese pay-per-view buyers, featured some unnecessary jiggling, titty slapping and eventually an Akebono atomic-wedgie maneuver known as a koshinage to toss Big Show from the rope-less ring. Total success.
As outlandish as Big Show's match with Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Jr was, it was somewhat entertaining at the very least. The match made some kind of sense since it pitted the tiny (in comparison), undefeated Mayweather against a genuine giant who could not be separated by weight class, as with boxing.
The build-up was fun, with Big Show legitimately getting his nose broken in an altercation with Mayweather, and the match playing out in the best way it could.
That still didn't make the match a success as its intended purpose was not achieved. WrestleMania XXIV achieved 1,058,000 pay-per-view buys, down from 1,188,000 the previous year, while Akebono's appearance generated just 78,000 more buys than the year previous.
Not that those numbers can be attributed to Akebono and Mayweather, of course, but it shows no real improvement either way.
Why would that trend change this time around in an era where fans are more inclined to voice their discontent when wrestling is put on the backburner for pointless theatrics?