Why do big men get such a bad rap?

[Joekishi]

I mean they always will play a part in wrestling, but it always seems like when a big guy debuts it is expected that he will "suck".

I don't get it. I mean Earthquake was awesome, Big Show is awesome, Bam Bam, Taker, Kane...blah blah blah

They are used to show that wrestling has goliaths.

Yeah yeah, samoa joe is fat and he sucks..just to get that out of the way.

But I always wonder why big men get hated on so much

[Joe Neglia]

Well, because most of them just aren't that athletic. Sure, you have exceptions like Vader and Bigelow, and even Tenta, but a lot of them were lumbering, slow and couldn't do much in a match except run out of breath three minutes in. Their size also usually relegates them to the punch/kick/rest-hold crowd, as well. There are exceptions, but for every Samoa Joe or Crusher Blackwell, there were 20 Uncle Elmers.

[Mac]

Because the vast majority of them were hired not because they could wrestle, had charisma or could draw, but because they're even big of weigh a lot. A lot of the "smart: fans dont buy into having a guy around because he's technical male eye candy.

[KLRA]

There's always roles for big guys. The problem becomes when there's one too many of them.

[Andrew is Good]

I guess some aren't as athletic. Great Khali for example was only hired by WWE because he was tall. He wrestled a bit in Japan, and well, that's about it.

I think modern day wrestling also hurts big men in some people's eyes. Most fans didn't get to see Andre The Giant in his heyday, when he could legitimately do drop kicks, flying head scissors, and the whole works. Same thing with Giant Baba. Hell, even Big Show when he was younger could do a whole lot of freaky things for someone that big (though it was pretty freaky when he bolted out of the ring against Floyd Mayweather was pretty crazy).

Sometimes it's also not as interesting, and if all you have is big guys who are slower, it hurts your product. The perfect example of that was Mid South in the early 80s. Buisness was down, so Bill Watts asked Jerry Jarrett for some advice on how to bring business up. Jarrett basically said all your guys are too slow, and the action isn't as exciting. So, Jarrett and Watts made a trade. Watts got Bill Dundee, The Midnight Express w/ Jim Cornette and the Rock n' Roll express, and I think maybe some others, but buisness started booming again, because even though Bill now had smaller guys, they could tear the house down every night. So when you think about it, the dislike for big men doesn't just come from net marks.

Some are bad because they're bad. Snitsky was bad. Some are good, but because they're big, are thought of as bad (Mike Knox when he first started out got a lot of crap). I think because wrestling is sometimes like the circus, Vince wants the bigger guys to show them off to wow some of the people, but I think Vince should realize that they need to be good first, because then, they could help potentially draw. Is it Chris Masters' fault he was brought up too soon? Is it Snitsky's fault he was brought up too soon? It certainly wasn't his fault that Lita's baby died, why should it be his fault he was called up too soon.

And on the topic of Samoa Joe as well since he was mentioned, is it just me, or are his promos kinda lacking. Like, he reminds me of the time Peter got nervous about his boss coming over and couldn't control the volume of his voice. Joe goes from quiet to screaming for no reason.

[x]

Because I've been a fan since the Hogan days and after 20 years of bodyslams and strikes it got old for me.

The only heavys that I even watch nowadays are Brodie Lee and Claudio Castagnoli.

[Dean-o]

The Monster Heel gimmick will never go away, and the marks always eat up the storyline involving a babyface who has to fight said monster.

With that said, I have no problem with big guys. Not everybody can do flips or there is no need to work 20-30 minute matches every night. I like a good balance.

[Cap'n Crud]

Dec 27, 2008 19:38:06 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Well, because most of them just aren't that athletic. Sure, you have exceptions like Vader and Bigelow, and even Tenta, but a lot of them were lumbering, slow and couldn't do much in a match except run out of breath three minutes in. Their size also usually relegates them to the punch/kick/rest-hold crowd, as well. There are exceptions, but for every Samoa Joe or Crusher Blackwell, there were 20 Uncle Elmers.

This. Sadly most giants and fat guys pretty much wrestle like they were trained in a lumber camp. Also the whole David vs. Goliath style little man fights big man storyline has just been beaten to death and is just plain predictable as all hell. Even the whole "Giant slayer" thing with Rey Mysterio and Spike Dudley has been done to death and is equally dull now.

Now granted I'm not one of those little ROHbots who touches himself while watching old Chris Benoit tapes but I expect a little more than just punk kick l----------------o-------------n-------------g resthold out of a wrestler..

[x]

Dec 28, 2008 3:47:58 GMT -5 Cap'n Crud said:

Also the whole David vs. Goliath style little man fights big man storyline has just been beaten to death and is just plain predictable as all hell. Even the whole "Giant slayer" thing with Rey Mysterio and Spike Dudley has been done to death and is equally dull now.

I'd honestly rather watch Rey Misterio Jr hit 9034759827492834 Hurracanranas on Psicosis than watch Big Show beat down Rey Mysterio and then have Mysterio hit a hope spot, get caught doing the west coast pop and get chokeslammed for 3.