Twelve Years Ago Today...

You go, Big Show
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Today is not only Greg Valentine's Day (WHATEVA, TRADITIONAL POP CULTURE, I DO WHAT I WANT), it's also the anniversary of the WWE debut of one of the most recognizable and tenured wrestlers in the company, Paul "The Big Show" Wight. He made his debut bursting through the bottom of the ring during a Steve Austin/Vince McMahon steel cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre, accidentally giving Austin a win in the match by tossing him into the cage, breaking it and sending him to the floor.

Since that debut, his history with the company has been checkered at best. He was turned heel and face so many times within his first few years that... well that it was par for the course of how he was treated in WCW, actually. He won the WWF Championship at Survivor Series 1999 and feuded with the Big Bossman over... ugh, his dead father. The bright spot was that he got to be in the main event of WrestleMania 2000 in a four corners match against The Rock, Triple H and Mick Foley. He then ended up being sent down to the minors for being out of shape.

Of course, since his return to the WWF/E in 2001, he's had a pretty good run. He beat Brock Lesnar for the title, his second reign. He's been in two high-profile WrestleMania special attraction matches against Akebono and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. He was given a run as the top guy in the WWECW brand, and for awhile, he pretty much was the focus of the tag team division before they sorta forgot about said tag team division. They also gave him his own terrible WWE films role to go along with the terrible roles given to John Cena, Triple H and Kane.

Today, he remains an enduring figure in the WWE pantheon. Sure, they totally misused his worth as a giant and a special attraction, but let's be real here; that reputation was ruined before he even considered signing a deal with Titan. He's also legitimately a funny guy and a big man worker who actually got the WWE style better than anyone they tried to push since Andre the Giant. I mean, aside from his laziness which reared its ugly head a few times in his early career, the only fault he had was that he sold too much. I wish some other guys would have that problem *cough*Kurt Angle*cough*. So here's to Big Show. Twelve years in the WWE that may not have been rosy all the time, but hey, to stay with Titan for that long is a feat.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!