The Big Show wasn’t always the well-respected veteran that the WWE can count on to help put on a good show, and get younger talents over with the crowd. In fact, when he was a rookie with WCW he got himself into a bit of hot water with a couple of the company’s biggest names.
In an interview with Sports Talk 790AM in Miami, the former World Champion spoke about the time an impression of Hulk Hogan – which he even used as part of a storyline way back in 2000 – got him kicked off the legendary wrestler’s plane.
It was an impression of Hogan and the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage in a “romantic relationship” that Brian Adams of Demolition fame convinced him to on a flight back to Tampa, Florida on Hogan’s plane.
“I do the impersonations and Brian says, ‘oh, you’ve got to do that for Hulk and Randy, man. They’ll love it!’,” Show said. “So I was like, ‘really?’. He goes, ‘dude, just do it on the plane tonight. They’ll like it.’”
Show then proceeded to do the impersonation for the two of them, thinking it would get a rise out of the two stars. But that wasn’t to be the case.
“So we’re sitting on the plane. It’s a small plane, so there’s Hulk, there’s Randy, there’s Brian, there’s me, and we’re sitting real close in front of each other and Brian looks at me and gives me the wink,” he said. “And I’m a dumbass rookie, so what do I do? [In Hogan’s voice] ‘Whatcha gonna do, Macho, when the largest python in the world comes for you, brother?’ [In Savage’s voice] ‘Ooh yeah, Hulkster. Go to infinity and beyond. Give me the beef, Hulkster.’
“And believe me, I’m cleaning it up for radio. The version I did [on the plane] was really, really raunchy. And then, I stopped. I had a big grin on my face, and, I mean, I’m getting a dead stare from Hulk [and] a dead stare from Randy. Brian looks at me and goes, ‘oh, I can’t believe you did that’. Completely through me under the bus! And then, the next week, the pilot, Captain Ron, comes and says ‘hey, Giant, I just want to let you know that there are a lot of turbulence going home this week, so if you don’t mind, can you catch a commercial flight tomorrow because we’re concerned about the weight’ and I’m like, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, no problem’. So it’s like [for] two months, I was kicked off the plane ride home.”
Looking back on the situation, it’s truly one of the funniest “on the road” stories. What makes it better is knowing what The Big Show ultimately became in the industry, and how he’s become known for being a down to earth and funny personality.
