wrestling / Columns
The Shimmy 08.10.09: World’s Largest Tag Team Whore (Part Two)
Last week we started looking at the long laundry list of tag team partners that current Unified Tag Team Champion Big Show has had since he entered WWE ten years ago. We had ten partners last week, this week we’ll add seven more. How did they stack up? Let’s take a look.
X-Pac
Most Important Match: Raw (7/8/02): Ten Man Tag Team Match: Kevin Nash, Big Show, X-Pac, Chris Benoit, & Eddie Guerrero vs. Booker T, Goldust, Rob Van Dam, Bubba Ray Dudley, & Spike Dudley
When the New World Order was brought into WWE as Mr. McMahon’s “poison” at the beginning of 2002 they were met with problems right off the bat. First was the fact that Hulk Hogan was still beloved by the WWE fans which made his stint in the heel faction much shorter than WWE probably anticipated. This left the Outsiders by themselves and needing to pick up some new members. They first turned to former nWo member and Kliq stalwart X-Pac to fill their ranks, but shortly thereafter Scott Hall was released for, well, being Scott Hall, hurting their numbers again. That’s where Big Show came in. Big Show had languished in the WWE midcard for over a year and greatly needed the change of scenery, and attire, that joining the nWo would allow.
The nWo’s bad luck continued as Kevin Nash suffered an injury, leaving Show and X-Pac as they only members of the nWo that could actually compete. This actually worked pretty well as they had the “big man, little man” dynamic going on. The nWo would grow by two more as Booker T was “given” to the group by Raw GM Ric Flair and a still retired Shawn Michaels was brought in by Kevin Nash to become the group’s spokesperson. HBK would take on a leadership role, kicking Booker T back out of the group (literally) and attempting to recruit Triple H. The last hurrah for the nWo came during the aforementioned Ten Man Tag Team Match where Kevin Nash, making his return to the ring, injured himself again almost immediately. One week later Mr. McMahon disbanded the New World Order, with Shawn Michaels reforming his relationship with Triple H on his own and X-Pac sitting out the remainder of his contract. Big Show would continue the nWo’s feud with Booker T but then would drop into obscurity on Raw. It wouldn’t be until he was traded to SmackDown later that year that he would once again become a dominating force.
A-Train
Most Important Match: WrestleMania XXIX: Big Show & A-Train vs. Undertaker & Nathan Jones
Once Big Show ended up on the SmackDown brand he was once again a force to be reckoned with. His first month on the job he won the WWE Championship from an undefeated Brock Lesnar, largely due to Lesnar’s turncoat agent Paul Heyman. With Heyman in his pocket it looked like Big Show would just dominate the blue show…that us until he ran into Kurt Angle (who had some help from a pissed off Lesnar). It turned out that Heyman also had Kurt Angle’s back so as to make sure he had control of the WWE Title no matter who won. While this burned Big Show for a bit, he quickly moved on to dealing with Undertaker, a superstar he had immediately targeted, and taken out, when he arrived on SmackDown. Show gained some help in that battle in the form of A-Train, yet another one of Heyman’s clients. The two even took on Undertaker and his prodigy the “Colossus of Boggo Road” Nathan Jones at WrestleMania XIX. They almost got one over on the Deadman too, as they took out Nathan Jones earlier in the night making the match a Handicap contest for most of the time. Jones would arrive by the end of the match, however, and Undertaker’s WrestleMania undefeated streak lived on. Big Show and A-Train would continue to team off and on over the course of the year, specifically making life miserable for the short lived tag team of Rey Mysterio & Tajiri.
Brock Lesnar
Most Important Match: Survivor Series 2003: Survivor Series Elimination Match: Brock Lesnar, Big Show, A-Train, Matt Morgan, & Nathan Jones vs. Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit, John Cena, Hardcore Holly, & JBL
During the period that Heyman managed the likes of Big Show, Kurt Angle, and A-Train (not to mention the future World’s Greatest Tag Team) he had an unfortunate run in with Brock Lesnar inside of a steel cage shortly before WrestleMania XIX. He was not seen again until he replaced Stephanie McMahon as General Manager of SmackDown in the fall of 2003. By then Mr. McMahon had helped us all see “The Real” Brock Lesnar and he and Heyman patched things up, with Heyman going out of his way to make sure things went Brock’s way. This included providing him with a massive entourage, the biggest member being his old friend Big Show. During their relatively short stint together Brock and Show did not exactly have the best track record. They lost two key matches to Undertaker, one a Handicap Match and one a Triple Threat Match where they worked together. In both instances something big was on the line, either a title match for the Deadman against Lesnar or the stipulation for the Mr. McMahon-Taker match at Survivor Series. They teamed together again during the Team Angle vs. Team Lesnar Elimination Match at Survivor Series and once again they were foiled as Team Angle was left with two survivors, taking out both Lesnar and Big Show as the final two eliminations. While the two continued to be Paul Heyman’s favorites on SmackDown they did not team together much after that as Lesnar began to rely more on A-Train and Big Show went on to feud with John Cena for four months.
Kane
Most Important Match: WrestleMania 22: World Tag Team Title Match: Big Show & Kane© vs. Carlito & Chris Masters
You might remember I mentioned Big Show & Kane briefly forming an alliance at the end of 2001. Following the InVasion the two goliaths teamed up to try and get the titles back from the Dudley Boyz, but their relationship did not last long. They began a friendly rivalry of sorts, taking each other on in the 2002 Royal Rumble Match and then concluding in a Battle of the Bulls Match right here in Richmond, Virginia (cheap pop)!
Four years later they found themselves as partners again, but really not by choice. The two losers of the voting for the WWE Title shot were put together against the World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch, and since they also had Shawn Michaels on the ballot they lost. While Kane & Big Show really had no reason to get along they were still two big, nasty individuals and they dominated C&M rather easily. They beat them so soundly in a rematch on Raw that they duo spent many months apart before finally reforming their team. In fact over the next few months they dominated the Raw tag team division fairly easily, crushing almost the entire division in one Triple Threat Match in early 2006. They even dominated SmackDown’s tag team division as they beat two different sets of WWE Tag Team Champions during their reign, MNM and Batista & Rey Mysterio. In fact they were largely responsible for Batista, then the World Heavyweight Champion, having to relinquish his title and get surgery. Big Show & Kane rolled right into WrestleMania 22 with the World Tag Team Titles and successfully defended them against the bickering team of Carlito & Chris Masters. This win remains Big Show’s only WrestleMania victory to date.
It was the night after WrestleMania 22 that things started to fall apart. They lost to the duo of Kenny & Mikey, representing the bubbly Spirit Squad and securing the championships for all five members. With May 19 and a movie premiere approaching as well as the arrival of his childhood nemesis, Kane became increasingly unstable and the team broke up when Kane tried to remove Big Show’s eye. In a few weeks the chaos ended but they never did reform their team. In an interesting note, and possible future column idea, it could be said that Kane is an even bigger tag team whore than Big Show.
Paul Heyman & Co.
Most Important Match: ECW (10/31/06): Big Show & Test vs. Rob Van Dam & Hardcore Holly
ECW (10/31/06): Big Show & Paul Heyman vs. Rob Van Dam & Hardcore Holly
In the summer of 2006 Big Show switched from the Raw brand to the newly reorganized ECW brand, realigning himself with Paul Heyman. In events reminiscent of Big Show’s WWE Title win over Brock Lesnar four years prior, Heyman turned on his prized ECW Original Rob Van Dam to help Big Show win the ECW Championship. And like Heyman’s dedication to Brock Lesnar as SmackDown GM, as ECW Representative he made sure that his new champion had an entourage to help protect the gold. This entourage included Test, Hardcore Holly, and former WWE Tag Team Champions the Basham Brothers serving as security. While the group did a good job of keeping men like RVD, Sabu, Kurt Angle, and The Sandman away from the ECW Title, they were no match for Bobby Lashley. All three men participated in the Extreme Elimination Chamber Match at December to Dismember (with Sabu even suffering an “accident” so that Holly could take his place), but that was not enough to stop the current “God of War” from winning Big Show’s title. Following the debacle that was D2D Paul Heyman left ECW, booking Big Show’s rematch for the title before he left. Lashley won the rematch and Big Show followed Paul Heyman out of WWE for a little more than a year.
Edge
Most Important Match: SmackDown (2/6/09): Triple H & Undertaker vs. Big Show & Edge
Big Show returned to WWE in February 2008. For the first few months of his return he stayed away from most everyone else. Occasionally he’d be booked into the odd tag team match or two, but as his pre-WrestleMania 24 match and his Tribute to the Troops match indicated he did not play well with others. It didn’t take long for his career to find itself in the rut that would frequently typify his WWE tenure. In order to escape from that rut he aligned himself with SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero and promised to rid her of Undertaker. Big Show had a series of brutal battles with Undertaker, all under the assumption that he’d be skyrocketed to the title for all his hard work. That may have happened if it were not for the return of Guerrero’s husband Edge. Given their relationship with Vickie, one a personal relationship and one a business relationship, they were forced to work together, albeit begrudgingly. Big Show frequently walked out on his partner or would even “accidentally” hurt him in the match. This volatile team came to a head when it was revealed that Big Show and Vickie’s relationship had grown to more than just a business one. With Edge off his game Big Show staked his claim to Edge’s World Heavyweight Title, but John Cena would take advantage of the two’s squabbles and walk away with the belt in their WrestleMania XXV Triple Threat Match. Big Show did in fact do one last favor for Vickie Guerrero, now his boss on Raw following the draft, as he helped Edge regain the title from Cena one month later at Backlash.
Chris Jericho
Most Important Match: Raw (7/27/09): Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme; Special Enforcer: Shaquille O’Neal
Ironically enough Big Show’s most recent tag team alliance came about as a means to replace Edge. Edge and Chris Jericho, a talented but egotistical team, looked like they could have been a team for the ages following their Unified Tag Team Championship victory over the Colons and Legacy at The Bash. An injury suffered to Edge however forced Jericho to go in search of a new partner. What better partner could there be than the “World’s Largest Athlete?” While on the surface it almost seemed like a disappointment to go from the workhorse duo of Jericho & Edge to Jericho & Big Show, it has actually proved to be a smart strategy. As good as both Jericho and Edge are they were very similar individuals. Now Jericho can bring the cunning and technical prowess to the team while Big Show can bring a dominating strength and size to the team. Jericho has seemingly refocused Big Show and helped him find his monster tendencies, even changing his ring attire for the first time in ages. While I doubt that this will the last tag team of Big Show’s career it may prove to be the most dangerous.
The Shimmy Likes it Raw!
What’s on tap for tonight’s show?
Well that does it for this week’s column. Until next time, don’t die. Clark…out.
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