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Andrew Ravens‎

By Andrew Ravens‎

Contributing Sports Writer

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Big Show has revealed the real reason he scaled back his athleticism throughout his career, and it came down to pressure from two of the biggest names in the business.

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet in a new interview, the 54-year-old former WWE star opened up about the early stages of his career when he regularly showcased a level of athleticism that surprised fans given his size. The short answer for why he stopped is that doing so cost him money and created enemies in the locker room.

The most direct example came from Vince McMahon, who fined him for jumping over the top rope during his WWE tenure.

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"You know I used to jump over the top rope. You know why I stopped doing that? Because Vince fined me 500 bucks for doing it. Because that's not how giants move. He was in a different mindset. That was the thing that I was battling. Vince had Andre. Vince wanted Andre. 'Andre ruled the locker with an iron fist. Andre did this, and Andre did that.' I'm not Andre. I'm not a raging alcoholic and I'm not a mean person."

The comparison to Andre the Giant captures the frustration Big Show carried for years. McMahon had a specific vision of how a giant should carry himself in the ring, shaped entirely by his experience with Andre, and Show found himself constantly measured against a standard that had nothing to do with his own natural abilities.

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A second incident came from Hulk Hogan during a tour of Japan, and the message was delivered with unmistakable clarity. Show hit a dropkick off the top rope during a match against Yasuda and returned to his hotel room to find a message waiting for him.

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"I had Hogan call me in Japan. Rest in peace. I threw a drop kick in Japan off the top rope and hit Yasuda with it. I got to my room, there was a blinking light in my hotel, and the message says, 'Please call Mr. Bollea when you get to your room.' Oh, hell, they didn't even say Hulk. It's Mr. Bollea. I'm in trouble. So I called Terry collect from Japan back then, 'Brother, did you just do a drop kick off the top rope in Japan?' I went, 'Yeah, I did.' He just goes, 'Brother, you ever do that again, I'll never work with you.'"

The two anecdotes together paint a picture of a performer who was naturally capable of far more than he was ever allowed to show. Big Show debuted in WCW in the 1990s as The Giant and immediately stood out for combining extraordinary size with surprisingly fluid movement. By the time he became one of WWE's most prominent figures over the following two decades, the more athletically expressive version of his game had been largely suppressed by the expectations of those around him.

In the same interview, Big Show also reflected on his experiences working with The Rock and Floyd Mayweather, as well as what he considers the highlights of a career that spanned more than two decades at the top level of the business.

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