7 interesting facts about Big Show

On his visit to New Delhi two days ago, Big Show told a fact about himself, he “sold bathroom deodorisers for state manufacturers and even answered phone calls at karaoke companies.” Interesting, isn’t it? But that’s not the only interesting fact about the world’s largest athlete. In light of his visit to India let’s read some interesting ‘Big Show’ facts:

An excellent basketball player in his teens

Many pro wrestlers have excelled in sports during their school/college days and Big Show is no exception. He played basketball in high school (at Wyman King Academy, South Carolina), in junior college (at Northern Oklahoma Junior College, Tonkawa, OK), for Wichita State University and for Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. He was an outstanding player and this can be seen in his high school stats which tell us that he averaged over 32 points, 20 rebounds and 11 blocks per game in his senior season of high school and put up 61 points in a state playoff game. With those stats anyone would like to have him in their team.

Has been arrested and charged

In 1998, Big Show was arrested for ‘show’ing himself to a female hotel clerk in Memphis, Tennessee, but was later released due to lack of evidence. In 1999, he was charged for assault on Robert Sawyer, who accused Show of breaking his jaw during a dispute at Marriott Hotel in New York. Show said that Sawyer abused and threatened him and so he responded by punching him. Show was found “not guilty” few days later.

Has been on nearly 30 television shows

We see Big Show on television every week as part of the WWE shows: Raw and SmackDown, but those are not the only shows which Show has appeared in. He has appeared in several other shows such as MADtv, Are You Smarter than A Fifth Grader?, Saturday Nigh Live, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and Psych. He has also appeared in many movies such as MacGruber and Knucklehead.

Appeared in the video of “Thong Song”

thong song

Show made a cameo appearance in the alternate music video of the 1999 hit song “Thong Song” by Sisqo. As the title suggests, the song is about thongs, and seeing a giant in a music video about tiny innerwear is really funny. Well, this is a side of Big Show which many of you might not have seen.

He had several names prior to ‘Big Show’

Most of the fans have always known Paul Wight as Big Show, but that wasn’t his name when he joined WWF. Wight was called “The Giant” throughout his time in the WCW, and after his WWE debut in 1999 he got the name “Big Nasty” Paul Wight which was shortly changed to “The Big Show” Paul Wight. Soon he dropped his real name and since then he has been called as “The Big Show.”

A great tag-team wrestler…

Despite being a hot head, Big Show has actually formed several successful tag teams throughout his wrestling career. He is a 5 time World Tag Team Champion; with Undertaker (2), Kane, Chris Jericho and The Miz, and 3 time WWE Tag Team Champion; with Kane, Jericho and Miz, and also a 3 time WCW World Tag Team Champion; with Lex Luger, Sting and Scott Hall. Having 11 tag team title reigns is a great achievement for a wrestler who has spent most of his wrestling career contesting singles competitions.

…But he didn’t like Miz and Jericho

In an interview with TheState.com in 2011, Big Show was asked about his favorite tag team partner, to which his answer was Kane. He said: “Gotta be Kane! We were unstoppable together and I like him as a partner….Miz was annoying, Jericho was grumpy….Jericho used to always tell me to put my glasses on as I couldn’t read anything.”

The two big-size men were a team in the WWF/WWE thrice, first was during the WWF Attitude Era when they defeated teams like the Hardy Boyz and Dudley Boyz, second was in 2004-2005 when they won the World Tag Team Championship and became a dominant force in the WWE, and the third and final time in 2011 when they defeated The Corre to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.