The 10 Best & Worst Giants In Wrestling History

WORST: Giant Silva

Ask most fans to name an Olympian who signed with the WWF in 1998 and you’d probably expect the answer to be Kurt Angle. But there is another correct answer – Paulo Silva. Silva, all 7-foot-2 of him, was on the subs’ bench for the Brazil national basketball team at the 1988 Summer Olympics. A decade passed before he was signed up to the bigwigs at Titan Sports, although it’s not clear why they bothered. Silva, as Giant Silva, was placed alongside two fellow giants (Kurrgan and Golga) in a comedy faction known as the Oddities that did little more than dance and look foolish in the handful of appearances they made together. The magic of the Attitude Era, indeed! 

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BEST: Big Show

Paul Wight burst onto the scene in 1995 and was immediately spotted by Hulk Hogan as someone who could revive his tried-and-trusted formula of conquering giants, this time in WCW. Wight went onto win the WCW World title in his first televised match – a pay-per-view main event opposite Hogan, no less – and great things were expected of him. He didn’t quite fulfil his potential in WCW, coasting as the company lurched into extinction. That didn’t stop the WWF signing him in 1999 at great expense and debuting him in dramatic fashion at St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The next few years had their ups and downs, including being sent back to developmental and told to lose weight. Wight persevered and ending up establishing himself as one of the WWE’s most trusted upper mid-carders, with multiple world titles, and a WrestleMania match against Floyd Mayweather to his name.

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WORST: Ron Reese

Ron Reis debuted in WCW shortly after Wight, although he was not quite so lucky in the gimmick/storyline department. Whereas Wight got the generic ‘Giant’ tag and a feud with Hogan, Ron Reis became the Yeti, a gimmick that would go down in wrestling history as one of the worst ever. In addition to the stupid concept, it was not helped by the fact that the Yeti was in fact dressed as a mummy, and showed no idea of how to actually wrestle when attacking Hogan on his arrival. Forgettable spells as Big Ron Studd (in tribute to his mentor Big John Studd) and Reese, a member of Raven’s Flock followed but to no avail.

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BEST: Braun Strowman

It was clear when Braun Strowman debuted on WWE’s main roster in 2015 that the company had big things for him. After a career as a competitive weightlifter, Strowman was signed to the Performance Center two years earlier but competed very little on NXT, as is customary. Instead, Strowman was fast-tracked to Raw, as a new member of the Wyatt Family. This gave WWE the ability to mask Strowman’s shortcomings as a performer and highlight his positives, such as his immense strength and impressive mobility. He never quite got over and connected with fans to the extent the company had hoped, so his release earlier this year was perhaps not the greatest surprise. However, he departed with a number of notable accolades to his name and options to mull over before his inevitable return.

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• BRAUN STROWMAN

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