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In 2020, WWE Superstars are in better shape than ever before. The days of WWE being “The Land of the Giants” are long gone, with today’s sports entertainers focusing more on athletic ability and in-ring skills than putting on size to get as big as possible.
In previous decades, particularly the 1980s and early 1990s, it was a very different story. WWE’s main-event scene was occupied by larger Superstars like Hulk Hogan (300+ lbs) and Andre The Giant (520+ lbs), while the likes of King Kong Bundy (450+ lbs) and Yokozuna (580+ lbs) were involved in WrestleMania main events during that time.
On some occasions, WWE Superstars have gained so much weight that, for the benefit of their own health, they are left with little choice but to alter their lifestyle and food choices.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who lost 100+ lbs.
#5 WWE veteran The Big Show
The Big Show is the most famous example of a current WWE Superstar who has lost weight in recent years.
Having weighed 500 lbs at one stage in his career, “The World’s Largest Athlete” decided to change his lifestyle in the mid-2010s following a conversation that he had with John Cena backstage at a WWE event.
Speaking to CBS, The Big Show recalled how Cena inadvertently challenged him to become a giant with abs.
“I made the comment about a giant with abs, 'Who’d want to see that?' And John Cena looked me square in the eye and said, 'Yeah, a giant with abs. Who would want to see that?' And he walked off. But the way he said it, he challenged me that I couldn’t do it.”
The Big Show said Cena’s comment left him “really upset” but it also motivated him to start losing weight.
Later that week, the seven-foot WWE Superstar began his weight loss journey and he ended up losing 90 lbs in the space of a year.
WWE’s website now claims that The Big Show weighs 383 lbs, meaning he has dropped over 100 lbs from earlier in his career.
#4 WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley
While The Big Show used John Cena as motivation to lose weight, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley was inspired to maintain his weight loss efforts after a conversation that he had with Vince McMahon.
Writing on Facebook in December 2016, Foley thanked the WWE Chairman for providing him with the inspiration to lose even more weight than he initially intended.
“Thanks also to Mr. McMahon. Last January, I had my first phone call with Vince in quite a while. I told him I was down about 25 pounds, to 315, and planned to be down a total of 80 by Christmas. I heard that Mr McMahon voice say, ‘I'm going to hold you to that,’ and I said, 'Alright, 258 by Christmas.’”
Foley said he lost weight thanks to DDP Yoga and healthier eating choices, but he felt that his enthusiasm might have died out after WWE WrestleMania 32 – around four months into his 12-month weight loss – if he did not have that talk with McMahon.
The WWE legend added that it is probably better to lose 100 lbs by dropping 20 lbs every year for five years, but “the weight just kind of kept falling off”.
#3 WWE NXT Superstar Damian Priest
Damian Priest was rejected by WWE on two occasions in the five years leading up to him signing with the company in 2018.
Speaking in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2020, the WWE NXT Superstar said he was frustrated at not getting opportunities earlier in his career, so he decided to make big changes to his lifestyle.
“I’ve worked very hard to become something special. Early on in my career, I was frustrated when I didn’t have the right to be frustrated. What I needed was to work harder. And I changed my life, shed 100 pounds, and developed a positive work ethic.”
As of the time of writing, Priest’s only WWE main-roster match came in November 2019 when he was part of Team NXT in the 5-on-5-on-5 elimination match against Team RAW and Team SmackDown at the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view.
Priest only lasted 10 minutes in the 29-minute encounter, which was won by Team SmackDown’s Roman Reigns, after he was eliminated by Team RAW’s Randy Orton.
#2 WWE Hall of Famer Yokozuna
Widely considered to be one of the best WWE big men of all time, Yokozuna held the WWE Championship twice and headlined WrestleMania on two occasions in the 1990s.
Unfortunately, just four years after he signed with WWE in 1992, Yokozuna’s run with the company came to an end after the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November 1996.
WWE had already sent the 580+ lbs Superstar away to lose weight in April 1996 but, as WWE director Bruce Prichard said on his Something to Wrestle With podcast, Yokozuna’s 100 lbs weight loss was not enough to satisfy Vince McMahon and the New York State Athletic Commission.
“It was a heart-to-heart conversation, saying, ‘Rodney [Yokozuna], we want to help you. We want to get you in shape, and we want to fix you. But you know, we’ve been down this road. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to get it done.'” [H/T 411mania.com]
Yokozuna teamed with Flash Funk, Jimmy Snuka and Savio Vega against Farooq, Fake Diesel, Fake Razor Ramon and Vader at Survivor Series 1996.
According to Prichard, Vince McMahon had “blind faith” that Yokozuna could perform at the level he used to, but the WWE Chairman knew after that match that he could no longer allow his Superstar to risk his health by stepping into the ring.
Yokozuna died at the age of 34 in October 2000 from pulmonary edema – a condition caused by excess fluid in the lungs.
#1 Former WWE Superstar Viscera
In February 2014, former WWE Superstar Viscera – also known as Mabel and Big Daddy V – died at the age of 43.
Speaking to TMZ shortly after his death, Viscera’s wife Cassandra said the 6ft 9in Superstar had lost around 100 lbs after being told by doctors that his blood pressure was too high.
Although Viscera drastically changed his lifestyle by removing salt and sugar from his diet, he died after suffering a major heart attack just four days after his birthday.
Viscera was a well-respected member of the WWE locker room, as you can see from these tributes from John Bradshaw Layfield and William Regal.
Viscera spent nine years in WWE over three different spells between 1993 and 2008, with his biggest highlight coming in 1995 when he won the WWE King of the Ring tournament during his run as the Mabel character.
The former WWE Tag Team Champion was billed at 487 lbs for the majority of his WWE career, making him one of the heaviest Superstars in the company’s history.
