As long as there has been pro wrestling, there has been constant debate about who is and is not getting their due. Especially now, when the WWE is, despite up-and-coming promotions like TNA and Ring of Honor, the only game in town and packed with all most too much talent to use any of it to its fullest potential, there is much talk about which wrestlers are being underused, overused, or out-and-out buried. However, there is one wrestler who I feel is not just being underused...he is being simply overlooked, and taken for granted. He is a man who most people forget about completely when he's not out there in the ring, and a man no one ever mentions when discussing the best in the business today. However, he is a versatile, talented performer who brings more things to the table than anyone stops to think about. This man is none other than Paul Wight, better known to wrestling fans as the Big Show.

Paul Wight came to pro wrestling after playing basketball at Wichita State--we'll assume he played center. And, like Robert Horry of the current NBA World Champion San Antonio Spurs, he can be looked upon as a role player who brings all sorts of things to the table that don't show up on stat sheets or scorecards. And, like Robert Horry, he has attained multiple world championships in his long career, and yet no one ever mentions him as one of the great ones in the business today.

It is a very subtle art to be a talented and memorable "big man" in the world of professional wrestling. I am always the first to point out that Vince tends to go overboard with his "big invincible crazy guy" characters, and that he should probably cut back on those kinds of wrestlers. But it is for exactly that reason that Big Show should be appreciated as the great talent that he truly is. When his career is over, his name should be right up there with the likes of Andre the Giant, Big John Studd, Vader, and Yokozuna as the most talented big men in the history of the business, if not more so--for Big Show has something that none of those men ever had--versatility. He has the ability to be any different character you can imagine, and can be used in any number of situations. He can be the big scary psychotic heel, as he was when he was managed by Paul Heyman when Big Show feuded with Brock Lesnar for the WWE title. He can be the big, lovable hero saving the damsel in distress as he was when he saved Michelle McCool from Rene Dupree and Dawn Marie. He can be a man of honor, which was the angle WWE used to build up his "sumo match" with the legendary sumo champion Akebono at WrestleMania 21--the list goes on, from comedy to drama, Big Show has the most range of any big man in the history of professional wrestling, and yet he is not only sorely underused, but completely taken for granted.

Wight's first exposure in the wrestling business came in WCW , where he wrestled under the name of "The Giant." Almost immediately upon entering the promotion, Wight defeated Hulk Hogan to win the World Heavyweight Championship. WCW can be counted among the people who had no concept of Wight's talent, using him solely as "muscle," or as a "big scary villain."

However, Vince McMahon must have seen some sort of potential in Wight, signing him away to the WWE in 1999, where he has remained ever since, wrestling under the new name of The Big Show and winning every title WWE has to offer (including the now-retired Hardcore Belt) save for the Intercontinental and Women's Titles. Still, more often than not, Big Show finds himself in long stretches where the creative department doesn't seem to know what to do with him. At one point in 2000, he went through a stretch where he was trying to prove he was a "nice guy," so every week he came out in a different goofy gimmick, parodying some other wrestler. Another angle had him partnering with Billy Gunn, where Big Show would annoy Billy by saying things like, "We can call ourselves Showgunn!! You know, cause I'm the Big SHOW, and you're Billy GUNN!" Billy Gunn found more success as the homoerotic tag team partner of Chuck Palumbo.

And now, Big Show finds himself traded over to the RAW roster from Smackdown! as of last month, and as of this writing, appears to be starting up a feud with Chris Masters. In fact, the segment on a recent RAW where Big Show came out to challenge Masters is a perfect example of what Show brings to the table; he actually got the crowd to cheer during a Chris Masters segment. Big Show is always good for a big pop from the crowd; Masters was blathering on about how "it doesn't matter how big you are, NOBODY can break the Master-lock!!" and all it took was the familiar "WEEEEEEeeellllll..." that starts off the Big Show's bluesy entrance music to get the crowd roaring to see Masters get squashed by the seven foot tall, nearly five hundred pound Big Show. That's what's great about him. Anytime someone is billed as having a "mystery tag team partner," or a "mystery opponent," or if some babyface is stuck without a partner, more often and not it means that Big Show is coming, because all it takes is that first note of Big Show's entrance music to get the crowd roaring, and put fear onto the faces of the bad guys.

I will give credit where credit is due-WWE tapped into far more of Big Show's talent than WCW did...but the fact remains that every time I see him on-screen, I still feel that there is so much more that he could be doing. Of course, what can the WWE do" They bought out every other major wrestling company, so all the talent is stuck under one roof, all needing TV time. The list of underused or misused wrestlers is quite long-Chris Benoit, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, Tajiri, to name a few others-so until another major promotion comes along with a large wallet and promises of better opportunities, it looks like Big Show and the other poor misused talents are stuck where they are for the time being. But for now, Big Show should know he has at least one fan who recognizes all the things he brings to the table.

by Dave Hanson ..