Seriously this is like someone whose a complete idiot that's never watched wrestling wouldn't even say because they'd know about Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan & The Rock at least.
Up until very recently smaller guys couldn't even break into wrestling. Back in the 80s guys like the Rock n' Roll Express were considered "small" and they're both (billed anyways) at 5'11 & ~225 lbs.
Wrestling giants can throw off a person's perspective. Edge is 6'5" and around 240 pounds, he'd be the biggest and most jacked guy in 9 bars out of 10 on a Saturday night, but he looks normal when he's around gigantic walls of muscle like John Cena.
Yeah, that's standard journalistic ignorance. The writer probably watched part of a single episode for some context on what he was writing, saw some spot monkeys flipping around, and assumed that was standard. Meanwhile in the real world, Shawn Michaels was an extreme outlier and everyone else his size would be very lucky to be booked for an occasional short IC title run.
Next time you see a journalist writing about something you don't know about, be sure to remember how laughably wrong they were when writing about something you do know about. You can never trust those losers to properly research a topic before writing and publishing about it.
Right, because both Taker [4 times WWF/E champion, 3 times heavyweight champion, 1 time Hardcore champion, 6 times Tag champion], and Big Show [23 championships in his career across WWF/E and WCE], were just sideshow bits during the Attitude era of 97-02. 🙄
I hate when they just lump every wrestling fan together as if we are a hivemind. Not every fan likes the high flying moves, some call it flippy shit. Some don't like the big men slapping meat in the middle of the ring.
But anyone who watched WWE under Vince McMahon Jr. knows he has a type. And that type was huge muscular dudes. The supporting players weren't the supporting cast in the federation that was known as "The Land of the Giants."
I guess the lady was trying to give Sid the rub by saying he overcame deficits but Sid never lacked for crowd reactions or for a spot near the top of the card.
Even NWA territories had big guys often in major positions. With freakishly big guys who couldn't really work they would often build them up so they could challenge the champ and "steal a house" by getting a main event title match out of them before they got exposed.
And their top stars like Flair, Sting, etc weren't "big men" but weren't small. I don't think Dusty Rhodes was doing a lot of high flying moves.
Seriously, I remember how much Kevin Nash’s “vanilla midgets” comment triggered the internet wrestling community because it shit on the small, technically gifted guys who the Internet forums desperately wanted to get a push (but never would). That was in the late ‘90s, after Sid’s heyday. Being a big guy wasn’t a career hindrance back then - if anything it was a shortcut to stardom.
Anyway, I can’t think of Sid without immediately thinking about how hard he continued to sell the Shockmaster bit, even after it had gone to shit and the other guys on camera were openly shitting on it (Flair muttering “oh god” and Davey Boy saying “He fell on his fookin’ arse” on a hot mic.) All-time classic moment
Watching that round table show on the wwe network from like 2010 where Dusty Rhodes explains how the shock master debut became disastrous will have you in tears laughing
Being a big guy wasn’t a career hindrance back then - if anything it was a shortcut to stardom.
Sid was legit a terrible wrestler, and I say this as a Sid fan. But he was huge and had this charisma and you were legit afraid of him because he was big and crazy.
Also look at Giant Gonzales, Great Khali, Haystacks Calhoun, Uncle Elmer, Mabel/Viscera, etc...all really shitty wrestlers but had major matches- Mabel was King of the Ring & Khali was even world champion. No average sized person with the same in-ring ability would make it on the worst indie show.
I stopped watching pro wrestling a while ago, and I'm having trouble remembering main eventers' signature moves where they even jumped off the top rope, I think most had at least one, and rarely was it their finisher. I remember when Brock Lesner tried a shooting star press on Kurt Angle and he fucked it up so bad I believe he gave himself a concussion for real.
Brock Lesner tried a shooting star press on Kurt Angle and he fucked it up so bad I believe he gave himself a concussion for real.
I remember watching that live and the botch was horrifying. He's lucky he didn't paralyse himself or worse. He gave interviews later that he couldn't remember the last few minutes of the match because of the self inflicted concussion.
In OVW Brock's finishing move was the SSP. That viking ape used to do the SSP on the regular. I cringe everytime I see that botch, dude lands right on his head. Gets up and does a second SSP. Of course Sid's injury is a way bigger cringe watch. That leg flopping around yuck.
I can think of a few old-ish examples, but the level of stardom is a little questionable. Eddie Guerrero had a frog splash. Rob van Dam did too. Chris Benoit infamously had a flying headbutt that, theoretically, could have contributed to his eventual murder-suicide. I see Jeff Hardy had a flying finisher. Shawn Michaels sometimes did a flying elbow drop.
Randy Savage elbow drop but he was only maybe 5'10-11, then the ones Froze mentions. Most main eventers did ground impact moves- leg drop brother, Stone Cold Stunner, chokeslam, powerbomb, etc. Undertaker would tightrope walk the ropes while holding onto a guy but it wasn't his finisher.
Seriously this is like someone whose a complete idiot that's never watched wrestling wouldn't even say because they'd know about Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan & The Rock at least.
Up until very recently smaller guys couldn't even break into wrestling. Back in the 80s guys like the Rock n' Roll Express were considered "small" and they're both (billed anyways) at 5'11 & ~225 lbs.
Wrestling giants can throw off a person's perspective. Edge is 6'5" and around 240 pounds, he'd be the biggest and most jacked guy in 9 bars out of 10 on a Saturday night, but he looks normal when he's around gigantic walls of muscle like John Cena.
Yeah, that's standard journalistic ignorance. The writer probably watched part of a single episode for some context on what he was writing, saw some spot monkeys flipping around, and assumed that was standard. Meanwhile in the real world, Shawn Michaels was an extreme outlier and everyone else his size would be very lucky to be booked for an occasional short IC title run.
Next time you see a journalist writing about something you don't know about, be sure to remember how laughably wrong they were when writing about something you do know about. You can never trust those losers to properly research a topic before writing and publishing about it.
Scott D'Amore talked about the evolution of wrestling so succintly.
Right, because both Taker [4 times WWF/E champion, 3 times heavyweight champion, 1 time Hardcore champion, 6 times Tag champion], and Big Show [23 championships in his career across WWF/E and WCE], were just sideshow bits during the Attitude era of 97-02. 🙄
I hate when they just lump every wrestling fan together as if we are a hivemind. Not every fan likes the high flying moves, some call it flippy shit. Some don't like the big men slapping meat in the middle of the ring.
But anyone who watched WWE under Vince McMahon Jr. knows he has a type. And that type was huge muscular dudes. The supporting players weren't the supporting cast in the federation that was known as "The Land of the Giants."
I guess the lady was trying to give Sid the rub by saying he overcame deficits but Sid never lacked for crowd reactions or for a spot near the top of the card.
Even NWA territories had big guys often in major positions. With freakishly big guys who couldn't really work they would often build them up so they could challenge the champ and "steal a house" by getting a main event title match out of them before they got exposed.
And their top stars like Flair, Sting, etc weren't "big men" but weren't small. I don't think Dusty Rhodes was doing a lot of high flying moves.
Yep. Especially in the 80s the He-man type.
Seriously, I remember how much Kevin Nash’s “vanilla midgets” comment triggered the internet wrestling community because it shit on the small, technically gifted guys who the Internet forums desperately wanted to get a push (but never would). That was in the late ‘90s, after Sid’s heyday. Being a big guy wasn’t a career hindrance back then - if anything it was a shortcut to stardom.
Anyway, I can’t think of Sid without immediately thinking about how hard he continued to sell the Shockmaster bit, even after it had gone to shit and the other guys on camera were openly shitting on it (Flair muttering “oh god” and Davey Boy saying “He fell on his fookin’ arse” on a hot mic.) All-time classic moment
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fahljd_0xjA
Watching that round table show on the wwe network from like 2010 where Dusty Rhodes explains how the shock master debut became disastrous will have you in tears laughing
Sid was legit a terrible wrestler, and I say this as a Sid fan. But he was huge and had this charisma and you were legit afraid of him because he was big and crazy.
Also look at Giant Gonzales, Great Khali, Haystacks Calhoun, Uncle Elmer, Mabel/Viscera, etc...all really shitty wrestlers but had major matches- Mabel was King of the Ring & Khali was even world champion. No average sized person with the same in-ring ability would make it on the worst indie show.
I stopped watching pro wrestling a while ago, and I'm having trouble remembering main eventers' signature moves where they even jumped off the top rope, I think most had at least one, and rarely was it their finisher. I remember when Brock Lesner tried a shooting star press on Kurt Angle and he fucked it up so bad I believe he gave himself a concussion for real.
I remember watching that live and the botch was horrifying. He's lucky he didn't paralyse himself or worse. He gave interviews later that he couldn't remember the last few minutes of the match because of the self inflicted concussion.
In OVW Brock's finishing move was the SSP. That viking ape used to do the SSP on the regular. I cringe everytime I see that botch, dude lands right on his head. Gets up and does a second SSP. Of course Sid's injury is a way bigger cringe watch. That leg flopping around yuck.
I can think of a few old-ish examples, but the level of stardom is a little questionable. Eddie Guerrero had a frog splash. Rob van Dam did too. Chris Benoit infamously had a flying headbutt that, theoretically, could have contributed to his eventual murder-suicide. I see Jeff Hardy had a flying finisher. Shawn Michaels sometimes did a flying elbow drop.
Forget Randy Savage's elbow drop? That's madness!
Randy Savage elbow drop but he was only maybe 5'10-11, then the ones Froze mentions. Most main eventers did ground impact moves- leg drop brother, Stone Cold Stunner, chokeslam, powerbomb, etc. Undertaker would tightrope walk the ropes while holding onto a guy but it wasn't his finisher.
Written by Claire Moses, huh? Yes, I bet Claire Moses knows a lot about wrestlers and wrestling