The Big Show stopped by on SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio during the week of Survivor Series, looking back at his career. During the interview, he discussed how learning the business when he started is completely different to how it is today, how talent today are “too nice” to weave through the wrestling politics, and different facets of wrestling psychology.
Here are a few highlights from the interview, which can be viewed below (h/t WrestleZone’s Christopher McManus for the tanscription):
Big Show on how he can get confused by the current talent of WWE:
“I’m old, I mean. I haven’t been around in a while, you know, I’ve been away for half of the year. We got some talent that look like they can be the writers and some of the writers are in better shape than the talent and I’m all confused. I don’t know what to do [laughs]. And I’m not ragging on anybody, the business is different and all these guys are working hard and taking advantage of opportunities and I don’t give anybody discredit for taking advantage of the opportunity…If they’re taking advantage of opportunities, good for them, but please don’t expect me to know your entire history and what you have done. I’m really lucky if I remember your name and we worked together, you know? Then that way we can bond together…but to remember all those people backstage, I don’t have a clue who’s who. I’m just nice to everybody.”
How politics of the WWE has changed over the years:
“It was a different time back then, you know what I mean? You gotta figure…I think that our business was more competitivee back then because where you were on the card had a direct relation to how much money you were making. So it was a shoot in that respect of if you were the champion, tag team champion, working after intermission on the card, you made more money. Those that saw that were pissed at them making money…back then you an opportunity and you had an angle over on TV to work live events and to get a better position on live events to make more money. I think the biggest thing that bothers me with our younger guys is that they’re all way too nice with each other. They’re all ‘chummy chummy’ now.”
Big Show on how the increased exposure of social media has given pro wrestling more opportunities:
“I think the buisness has completely changed and in a lot of ways it is for the better and others, it is just..diferent. And I can’t put my finger on it just yet. It’s never been a better time to be a professional wrestler or sports entertainer… I remember being a WCW World Champion and then going to a show in Germany when I first came [to WWE] and no one knew who I was. Now, because of social media, because of websites, because of this [Busted Open Radio], people are getting so more exposure and learning about the new superstars…with all this opportunity, I’m begging some of these younger guys to distinguished themselves different from everybody else.”
RELATED: Big Show Quiets Retirement Talk, Teases Future Showdown With Shaq
