Ranking Every Major Monday Night Wars Jump From WORST To BEST

9. The Big Show

X Pac WWE Debut
WWE

The Big Show’s WWF debut was as confusing as his subsequent presentation.

Heel, babyface, ‘overgrown 500 pound bag of monkey crap’, WWF Champion: Vince’s love of the mass and his loathing of the performer’s motivation were locked in constant battle in 1999, and the first shot of this internal war was fired on the very first night: the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, February 14, 1999.

In the sort of wrestling visual that is awesome, provided you don’t think about it at all, Paul Wight/No Gimmicks Needed/Big Nasty/The Big Show burst through the ring canvas and smashed Steve Austin into the black bars of the steel cage.

And then he smashed him through it, handing Austin the match at the expense of his new master. He has superhuman strength, you see, but Wight is also as dumb as a brick.

A dance as old as time itself.

Typically dumbsh*t late-Russo booking that didn’t much matter, because the stars were so hot, this was also insufferable on account of Michael Cole’s pipsqueak ’99 voice.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!