The Big Show recently spoke with WWE.com to discuss his upcoming hip surgery that he is set to undergo on Friday, September 29th. Storyline has it that Show is in need of the surgery due to his Steel Cage match with Braun Strowman from last week’s RAW, however, the surgery was scheduled before the match even happened. During the interview, Show got the opportunity to react to the ongoing feud between Strowman and WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. Here’s the highlights:
What he thinks of Braun Strowman as an opponent:
“I’m not going to take anything away from Braun Strowman. You could say I’m 100 pounds lighter, but I’m going to give credit where credit is due. I’ve wrestled some of the strongest, most athletic guys this business has ever seen. Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Mark Henry, Kane. These guys are phenomenal, phenomenal athletes and powerhouses. You can feel the power when they grab you, and I’m a big dude, so believe me: When someone makes me feel that power, I’m telling you they’re a strong guy. Braun Strowman has a great combination of all those put together. He has some of Brock Lesnar’s crazy athleticism, he’s got a lot of John Cena’s crazy power with that powerlifting background. He’s got a lot of my size and weight, which comes into play.
“So, Braun is a super-hybrid of Brock Lesnar, Big Show and John Cena. He’s a newer evolution of what the big man of the future is. The big man of the ’70s and ’80s was Andre. Andre was athletic for his time; Andre could do a lot of things, but Andre always kept his feet on the ground because he didn’t have to move, and he made a very successful, wonderful career out of that. I came along, and modeled myself a lot after guys like The Undertaker and some of the smaller bigger guys that I thought were amazing. Bam Bam Bigelow was an amazing athlete for his size. These were all guys that were big guys that you weren’t used to seeing being as athletic as they were. And I thought to myself when I started my career, “Hey, you know what? I can be athletic too.” And then fast-forward 23 years, you’ve got this new athlete like Braun Strowman who is a powerhouse, who is fast, who is strong, and who is cunning. Braun Strowman is not a stupid competitor. Is he young and a tad bit aggressive? Sure. But he’s also a very cunning, malicious big guy, which is something that you can’t really pull off if you’re not that way.
“A lot of big guys in our business haven’t been successful because they’re just not mean enough. You’ve got to have a mean streak to be a successful big man. Brock is a successful big man because he’s got a mean streak. Kane has a mean streak. Mark Henry has a mean streak. I have a mean streak. Braun Strowman definitely has a mean streak. So, to see the future of the big-man role and how it’s evolved in our industry, our fans are much more demanding than they were 10, 15, 20 years ago. Our fans don’t want to see lockup, wristlock, turn into a hammerlock, float over to a headlock, shoot up, double down, grab me again, or whatever. They don’t want to see that now. They want to see competition. They’ve been influenced by outside influences like martial arts that have been introduced into our sport and submission holds and stuff like that. The modern big man going forward is going to have to be a chameleon of a lot of different things. Braun is definitely on that track.”
If Strowman has a chance at defeating Lesnar for the title:
“I think out of our entire roster, if anybody has a chance of beating Brock Lesnar it’s Braun Strowman. Because no offense to Roman Reigns and no offense to John Cena or any other competitors who’ve stepped up against Brock like Dean Ambrose — I’m talking about what’s going on in a guy’s head right now. What’s going on in Braun Strowman’s head right now is he’s hungry. It’s palpable. It’s coming off of him. He’s hungry for that championship; he’s hungry to establish himself. He’s going to establish his legacy as the next big man in WWE, and you can feel that hunger with Braun. I was the same way in 1995, ’96. I was hungry the same way. Is it hard to keep that focus all the time? Sure. But now, Brock better flips some tires and swing a sledgehammer and do those crazy farm workouts that make him the beast that he is, because I got a feeling that Braun Strowman’s going to bring it to him. I look forward to seeing those two compete. I think they’re gonna blow the roof off the joint.”
