Big Show... Biggest Wrestlemania Loser?

Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes
to Big Show, SmackDown, Feb. 10, 2012

“Apparently, giants can win the Super Bowl, but not matches at WrestleMania. You’re like ‘The Reverse Undertaker’. Who are you going to lose to this year? The boxer or the sumo wrestler?

Throughout his decorated WWE career – which includes reigns as WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, United States Champion, Hardcore Champion and many more –  Big Show has accomplished nearly everything there is to accomplish in the squared circle. Nearly.

With an uninspiring WrestleMania record of 3-8, the giant is tied for the second most losses at The Show of Shows in WWE history. In a career full of incredible and triumphant moments, he has depressingly few on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

This fact has been made abundantly clear the past several weeks by a budding rival, volatile Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes. After vengefully eliminating Big Show from a Battle Royal on Raw SuperShow Monday night, Rhodes appeared on Tuesday’s SuperSmackDown LIVE with a special presentation to remind the big man of one of his most embarrassing WrestleMania recollections: a super-sized sumo showdown with Akebono.

Although Rhodes may have had a point about Big Show’s regrettable wardrobe in that match and his meager 3-8 record, he overlooked several important details. The son of the son of a plumber neglected to acknowledge the tremendous quality of Big Show’s competition at WrestleMania, the magnitude of those matches and the precious value of experience. A perusal of The World’s Largest Athlete’s 11 matches at The Granddaddy of Them All reveals a story far more complex than simple W’s and L’s.

Big Show's "big show" debut came at WrestleMania XV, March 28, 1999, at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. Facing Mankind to decide who would be the special guest referee for the main event between The Rock and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, the behemoth dominated his opponent before his aggressive chair usage cost him the match via disqualification. Salvaging something from the disappointing night, the giant knocked out Mr. McMahon after the match, demonstrating to the WWE Universe that, win or lose, he was a Superstar to keep an eye on.

The following year, at WrestleMania 2000 in Anaheim, Calif.'s Arrowhead Pond, The World's Largest Athlete returned to The Grandest Stage of Them All to face legendary Superstars Triple H, The Rock and Mick Foley in a WWE Championship Fatal 4-Way Match. In what would become a recurring theme in many of Show’s WrestleMania matches, his opponents teamed up against him to eliminate their largest competition.

WrestleMania X-Seven and Houston's Reliant Astrodome were no more hospitable to Big Show, in which he lost a Triple Threat Hardcore Match to Kane for Raven's Hardcore Championship. Two years later, Kane’s fellow Brother of Destruction also bested Show, this time at WrestleMania XIX in Seattle's Safeco Field in a Handicap Match.

At this point 0-4, The World’s Largest Athlete entered Madison Square Garden for the blockbuster WrestleMania XX event and suffered a stinging defeat, losing his United States Championship to a young upstart named John Cena. The Sumo Match against Akebono at WrestleMania XXI at Staples Center in Los Angeles was an admitted low point for the goliath, one that the derisive Rhodes was all too happy to commemorate on live television.

Big Show finally picked up his elusive first win on the biggest stage on April 2, 2006. At WrestleMania XXII, from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, he and Kane successfully defended their World Tag Team Titles against Carlito & Chris Masters. Seven years after his WrestleMania debut, Show finally had the biggest of wins and an “improved” record of 1-6.

Stalling that positive momentum, WrestleMania XXIV at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando was the site of one of Big Show’s most shocking and scandalous losses when flyweight boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. – with the help of a pair of brass knuckles – defeated the big man by knockout. Shaking off that brutal defeat and returning to Reliant Stadium in Houston for WrestleMania XXV in 2009, Big Show faced John Cena and Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship. Again, The Giant was bested by the leader of the Cenation.

In the two most recent Show of Shows, The World’s Largest Athlete was able to pick up long overdue wins. At WrestleMania XXVI at the University of Phoenix Stadium, ShoMiz (The Miz and The Big Show) successfully defended the Unified Tag Team Titles against John Morrison and R-Truth. And then last year, at WrestleMania XXVII at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, a team of Show, Kane, Santino Marella and Kofi Kingston defeated The Corre.

Did Cody Rhodes actually have a point when he called Big Show “The Reverse Undertaker”? Is 3-8 always just 3-8? Not when one looks at Show’s whole body of work. Not when one iconic WrestleMania match or moment could totally alter the perception of the WWE Universe.

All it takes is that one immortal moment, a Hulk Hogan scoop slam on Andre the Giant, an Edge Spear off the ladder, a Shawn Michaels kick-out. With his extensive WrestleMania experience against iconic Superstars, WWE’s new blood and athletes from other sports in Singles, Handicap and Tag Team Matches, Big Show has the necessary physical tools and knowledge to add his name to that list.

What do this year’s Road to WrestleMania and Showcase of the Immortals hold for The World’s Largest Athlete? Only WrestleMania XXVIII at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Florida on April 1 can answer that question.