WWE and The Big Show: What's the Big Idea?

I would like to thank Rob Belote for giving me the idea for this article.

The Big Show. "The World's Largest Athlete." The star of the hit movie (sarcasm) "Knucklehead." Show has an impressive history in sports entertainment. Originally hailing as the Giant on WCW, he soon became known as "The Big Show" during his 1999 debut and has stayed that way for the past 11 years. While Big Show may have been WCW champion during his stint in the nWo, Paul Wight's biggest success has come from his time in the WWE. Made out to be a monster, Show has proven to be a challenge for some of the best, including Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, DX and, more recently, CM Punk.

In the past year, Show has been at his most impressive. He may not have won any major titles, but he was part of two different dominate tag teams—Jeri-Show (w/ Chris Jericho) and ShoMiz (w/ The Miz)—and has been in two different World Title matches (Over the Limit against Jack Swagger and Fatal 4 Way against Jack Swagger, Rey Mysterio and CM Punk).

Soon after, he was entered into a feud against the Straight Edge Savior himself, which saw him bury the entire Straight Edge Society in all its former, could-have-been glory. He then led Team Smackdown to victory in the Bragging Rights match, though he wasn't present to accept the Bragging Rights trophy, as he was eliminated early in the match, when he and Sheamus failed to answer the ref's 10 count and got counted out of the match.

Speaking of indecisive finishes, take a look back at the past year. Can you recall one time when the Big Show was pinned? I sure can't. Whenever ShoMiz would lose, it would be because the Miz got pinned. Whenever, he lost to Swagger at Over The Limit, it was via DQ. His loss at Fatal 4 Way didn't hurt him either, as he wasn't pinned. He couldn't even get pinned at Bragging Rights, or more recently, on RAW against the Miz. Show has really been on a roll lately, hasn't he?

So, this leaves us with a few interesting questions: Why is Big Show experiencing this type of push at the moment? Where is the WWE going to take us with this seemingly unbeatable giant? And if Big Show is not going to receive a push, then what is the point of giving him main event style success such as this?

With the kind of momentum Show has been experiencing lately, you'd think he would've gotten a title shot recently. Sure he may have faced Kane at a few house shows, but that doesn't necessarily count. You think one of the biggest titles will change hands in front of a group of people that small and with no cameras around to see it?

Perhaps the WWE is waiting for Edge to fail at defeating Kane at Survivor Series and then TLC, that way, they could add a little variety, instead of four or five straight PPVs of giants squaring off (Kane, Undertaker, and Big Show). Or perhaps Edge WILL defeat Kane, leading to a Royal Rumble match between Edge and Big Show. These scenarios are highly unlikely, as the WWE needs (or wants) a big guy in the Rumble itself, to keep it "interesting."

Perhaps Show will receive his title shot sometime next year, maybe through Money in the Bank. Now that Kane has won it, it doesn't seem too unbelievable that Show can win it either, right? Well, it depends on who wins the other Money in the Bank. It seems unlikely that the WWE will have a MITB at Wrestlemania, as three cash-ins a year seems like an awful lot. Having a Money in the Bank PPV allows the opportunity for two guys to win.

As seen this year, we had a young, up-and-comer in the Miz win for RAW, and we had the well-established, well-deserving Kane win for Smackdown. If the trend continues, we can expect WWE to use one MITB to put over a younger guy and the other to reward a well-deserved veteran who has yet to receive his rewards for his efforts.

So, if a young guy wins the RAW MITB (let's say...Evan Bourne), then it wouldn't be farfetched to believe an established guy like Show could win for Smackdown. Of course, this is all pure speculation. The trend in WWE seems to be to try to build up guys as soon as possible and what better way than through Money in the Bank.

Perhaps I am just looking too far into this. Perhaps Big Show will not receive a title shot for his dominate record this year. Perhaps Show has hit the glass ceiling and continues to push harder and harder despite the glass refusing to break.

One could also argue that this incredible destruction spree is all a ploy to promote the new movie "Knucklehead." While this could cover the past two month's worth of wins, it's not a good alibi for the other 10 months he has been on this roll.

So, let's assume that the WWE has no plans to put a World title on Show. Couldn't his talent be used more effectively than burying younger talent? For a company that's trying to create mega stars out of their younger talent, they sure have a laundry list of misused talent that can all be traced back to Show—Jack Swagger, CM Punk, Kaval.

These are all guys that have been made to look bad by the Big Show this year. Couldn't those guys have gone over against Show? I guess I understand Kaval, since he is being made out to be this reckless rookie, who will eventually prove his worth—but Swagger and Punk? Those guys are former World Champs! It makes their title look bad when former champs are utilized this way.

If WWE refuses to have Big Show lose, then why not let someone else share the glory of victory? The Tag Team Division is in a very sorry state right now. Currently, we have Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater the current champions without opponents! The Hart Dynasty is about five more betrayals away from breaking up, Santino and Kozlov seem "busy" at the moment, the Usos are heels and have lost all relevance at this point.

Why not give Show something to do, by placing him in a tag team with Kofi or better yet, Kaval. Kaval could really use a boost in his credibility and teaming with a seasoned vet like Big Show could do wonders for him. They did the same thing to Cody Rhodes when he first debuted, by putting him in a team with Hardcore Holly. Why can't they do this now?

What if all of these reasons are wrong? Well, then we are left with either one of two choices—The Big Show wins all the time and loses unfairly because he is big, or Big Show and WWE are trying to protect his image by preventing him from losing.

The former can easily be ruled out, as guys like Kane and The Great Khali were stuck playing jobber earlier this year. So that leaves us with the latter. It's not too hard to believe that the WWE would like to protect the image of a lot of their vets. However, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho are proof that you don't need to win to be good. In fact, some of HBK's most memorable matches has seen him on the losing end. The least we could see is a young talent like Kaval or Dolph Ziggler defeating the Big Show because they were lucky.

Also, if they were trying to protect the Big Show's image, then The Big Show himself would be a hypocrite. In "The Rise and Fall of WCW," Big Show is one of many guys who complain about talented guys like Jericho, Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio being held down because they were cruiserweights. That and the fact that he wasn't getting paid as much as Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are the reasons he left WCW in the first place. Perhaps, if our analysis of image protection is true, The Big Show did not leave WCW soon enough.

The Big Show is 38-years-old. He seems to be one of many superstars who are lining up to leave WWE within the next few years. Perhaps he will get one more title run, as a last hurrah to a great performer. (quick fact, did you know Big Show's first Wrestlemania victory occurred this year at Wrestlemania 26?). We will have to wait and see with this one.

Until next time, heed my words WWE:

If you are going to push someone, make sure you are pushing them towards something.