Big Show recently hailed Brock Lesnar for saving his WWE career by changing Vince McMahon’s opinion of him back in 2002.
By the dawn of the new millennium, the Big Show was already a very popular name in WWE through his exploits in WCW and the WWE as well. However, with time, he learned the difference between both the companies in how they dealt with his weaknesses.
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While WCW was more forgiving of him, the WWE almost decided to pull the plug on him for failing to meet their expectations. In Big Show’s own words, he was well taken after by the top guys in WCW. In the WWE however, many just saw him as another challenger to what they believed was their spot.
‘I was taking a spot that somebody else wanted’
“Everybody was on a different thing, everybody was on guaranteed money, it really wasn’t as competitive,” Big Show told talkSport. “When I got to New York – or the WWF – it was a completely different shark tank.”
Big Show was placed in a number of high-profile angles. However, in time he got sent down to developmental to work on himself.
“I noticed I was lacking in a lot of areas of my career. It had a lot of holes in it. Whereas I was getting help before to fill in, I wasn’t getting any help when I moved to WWE because I was taking a spot that somebody else wanted.
“It was extremely competitive. And when I made mistake after mistake after mistake, I didn’t know what else to do with myself and I was pretty frustrated.
“I remember I had been in the WrestleMania main event wrestling The Rock, Triple H and Mick Foley and five months later I’m signing autographs in a gas station in Kentucky because that was an appearance set up by OVW.”
Big Show credits Brock Lesnar saving his WWE career
During his time at OVW, Show would go on to meet a number of future WWE stars such as Randy Orton, John Cena and Dave Bautista. The one who would make the most impact in his career however, was future youngest WWE Champion Brock Lesnar.
“These are experiences that were good for me to learn, but it was also good for me because I got to meet a lot of guys who were early in their career; Brock, Randy, John Cena and Dave Batista,” Show said.
Show then dwelled deep on his history with Lesnar and how he played a crucial role in resurrecting his career in the WWE.
“Brock is one of those guys, just like Kurt Angle, who really got our business, the nuts and bolts of it, immediately, right off the bat,” Show Continued. “And I owe a resurgence of my career to Brock Lesnar.
“I remember whoever Brock was working with when he came up here – because Brock, right when he first came up, everybody knew he was going to be something right away – whoever it was missed a flight or whatever it was and Brock didn’t have an opponent for the main event that night.
‘so you work pretty well with Brock?’
“So, Jack Lanza put me in the main event that night. He said ‘well, we’ll have Big Show wrestle Brock’. And Brock and I, because we trusted each other, we actually just went out there and tore the house down and had fun.
“And that was one of the first agent reports that went from the live events and went back to Vince.
“Vince said to me ‘so you work pretty well with Brock?’ And I said ‘yeah’. And then it went a long and they asked Brock who he wanted to work with and he said me. He said ‘he’s a giant who can work’. So that kind of endorsement, they were forced to take another look at me and I was able to make the best of that opportunity.”
Vince loved their rivalry so much he would eventually bring it to the WWE as well. In fact, Big Show handed Lesnar his first pin fall defeat on the main roster, when he took the WWE Championship from him. Show would eventually have a tremendous career where he is still one of their longest serving employees.
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