History Main / TheGiant

* Just try to stop Wrestling/{{WWE}} from using these. In addition to Big Show, everyone else in that picture has been on they're television programming at one time or another. They've currently still got Big Show along with Wrestling/MarkHenry, The Great Khali, Undertaker, and Wrestling/{{Kane}}. Relative to the WWE's size, that number's fairly conservative though. Of course, Wrestling/TheUndertaker is arguably one of the very best big man wrestlers ever, Wrestling/{{Kane}} has always been solid--in his prime he could do hurricanranas, and Wrestling/MarkHenry was pretty mobile in the 90s and worked to improve in 2005.

* Giant Baba of Japan, who was close to 7 feet tall (which is even more unusual in Japan than it is in the West). Unlike many Giants, Baba was actually quite a talented pro wrestler.

* Akebono was a legendary sumo who turned to professional wrestling after he retired. He was built up as being so heavy not even Brock Lesnar could lift him. (He was only 16 pounds heavier than the Big Show, whom Brock could lift, so he ''should'' have been able to do it).

* Happy Humphrey, who weighed a whopping 800 pounds! He was somewhat immobile, especially compared to his quicker moving contemporary rival Wrestling/HaystacksCalhoun, who was still something of an example simply for weighing 600 pounds which still too much for most wrestlers to slam.

If the angle goes on long enough, The Giant might get a HeelFaceTurn, rebelling on the manager who brought him in and going his own way. This usually results in them [[GoodIsDumb no longer being unstoppable]].

An important distinction between The Giant and just being large is that The Giant will have sheer immovability and too often a noticeable lack in the talent department, having a very small repertoire of basic strikes and throws or being slow/not possessing WrestlingPsychology. While some with the Giant gimmick will disprove some of the stereotypes by showing a more diverse range of moves along with decent fitness and mobility, their in ring style and psychology are still built almost entirely around being large and immovable. JimRoss used to refer to these types of wrestlers as 'Hoss'es, after Hoss Cartwright from Bonanza.

* The Great Khali, who at 7'1" is (slightly) taller than the Undertaker, Kane, and the Big Show, and the biggest wrestler currently employed by the WWE. He's also one of the least mobile examples in wrestling today, due to the strain his gigantism puts on his body.

* Bishop Cross, previously known as Giant Magnum, Giant Majin, Giant Titan, Colossus and Gigante Extassis is a proud example of this trope, describing his wrestling style as all around power.

-->-- ''Boston Patriot Jon Morris'', on Ernie Ladd.

** Slightly shorter but even heavier is Prince Swagger, 6'9" and 375 lbs of pure punching power. Management is trying to get him over, but other SPKO wrestlers are afraid to fight him -- his size and strength, coupled with his clumsiness in the ring, makes facing him ''very'' dangerous.

** Manute Bol was literally the tallest man to ever play in the NBA, and while he was a dominant blocker and good three point shooter, he was also dangerously underweight for his size -- 7'7" and just ''200'' lbs.

* Jorge Gonzales, billed as El Gigante in WCW and Giant Gonzalez in WWE. May be more well-known for the "naked" bodysuit he was required to wear as the latter. He feuded with Wrestling/TheUndertaker while "The Deadman" was in his prime. He is a former member of the Argentinean nation basketball team. Gonzales would have competed in the 1988 Olympics, but he was drafted by the Hawks two month before the games.
* The Great Khali, who at 7'1" is (slightly) taller than the Undertaker, Kane, and the Big Show, and the biggest wrestler currently employed by the WWE.

* WCW had Midnight (real name Ann Marie Crooks). She was a face and accompanied Wrestling/BookerT, but was only around for a few months. Website/{{WrestleCrap}} would also like to remind you of one of her opponents, [[DontExplainTheJoke Asya, who was bigger than Chyna]].

* Akebono when he was a professional wrestler, who was built up as being so heavy not even Brock Lesnar could lift him. (He was only 16 pounds heavier than the Big Show so Brock ''should'' have been able to do it).

* ''Super Pro K.O.'' has the Mighty Monolith, a 7 foot tall behemoth weighing in at a frightening 350 lbs. He also exemplifies the "heavily pushed" facet of giant wrestlers; after his first match, he nearly cracks the top ten of SPKO's Power Rankings. His opponent, cruiserweight fellow-rookie Joe Somiano, easily ran rings around him, but couldn't stand up to his physical might.
** Slightly shorter but even heavier is Prince Swagger, 6'9" and 375 lbs of pure punching power. Management is trying to get him over, but other SPKO wrestlers are afraid to fight him -- not because they're intimidated by his size and strength, but because he has extremely poor in-ring ability. He's downright clumsy and moves laughably slow.

* Hong Man Choi has an MMA career almost solely because of this trope in gimmick matches. His opponents have included baseball's Jose Canseco and sumo legend Akebono (3 times).

->''"It was dark. I couldn’t see the linebackers. I couldn’t see the goalposts. It was like being locked in a closet."''
-->-- ''Boston Patriot Jon Morris'', on Ernie Ladd.

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Related to MusclesAreMeaningful (large must be slow and strong). Comparable to SmashMook. For mythical giants, see OurGiantsAreBigger

MusclesAreMeaningful is a related trope. Comparable to SmashMook. For mythical giants, see OurGiantsAreBigger

* Tommy "Tiny" Lister, the actor who played Zeus from NoHoldsBarred, had a short wrestling career almost solely because of this trope.

** Paulo "Giant" Silva was actually bigger than The Big Show, and was actually released to make sure he didn't overshadow the soon-to-arrive Show. Nonetheless, Silva was an awesomely agile giant, and could perform top rope moves, hurricanranas and sunset flips during his later stay in Japan and Mexico.

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* Happy Humphrey, who weighed a whopping 800 pounds! He was somewhat immobile, especially compared to his quicker moving contemporary rival Haystacks Calhoun, who was still something of an example simply for weighing 600 pounds which still too much for most wrestlers to slam.

* British wrestler Giant Haystacks, also known as the Loch Ness Monster in Stampede Wrestling and as just Loch Ness during his brief run in Wrestling/{{WCW}} in February-March 1996. He debuted before the ''WCW [=SuperBrawl=] VI'' [=PPV=] as the newest member of the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom, but left the group in time to lose to the Giant (Big Show) at ''WCW [=Uncensored=] 96'' in March.

* Tenta later joined The Oddities, an entire stable of giant men managed by the much smaller WrestlingLunaVachon, the Music/InsaneClownPosse, and briefly Wrestling/{{Sable}}.

* The late Wrestling/JohnTenta had a good run at a giant archetype as Earthquake in the WWE, feuding with HulkHogan at the height of his career, eventually alongside the similarly gigantic Fred "Typhoon" Ottman. They called themselves the Natural Disasters.
* Tenta later joined The Oddities, an entire stable of giant men managed by the much smaller Luna Vachon, the Music/InsaneClownPosse, and briefly Wrestling/{{Sable}}.

** Paulo "Giant" Silva was actually bigger than The Big Show, and was actually released to make sure he didn't overshadow the soon-to-arrive Show. Nonetheless, Silva was a pretty agile giant, and could perform moves from the top rope and even hurricanranas during his later stay in Japan and Mexico.

* The Great Khali.

* WCW had Midnight (real name Ann Marie Crooks). She was a face and accompanied Wrestling/BookerT, but was only around for a few months. {{WrestleCrap}} would also like to remind you of one of her opponents, [[DontExplainTheJoke Asya, who was bigger than Chyna]].