The Cahoon Run Down: I’m Enjoying Big Show?! Insanity!

Hey everybody, Geddy Cahoon here with another edition of The Cahoon Run Down for my fans on teh internetz. Today, much like last week, I was at something of a loss for what to write about. We’re currently in that pre-Summer Story lull that WWE always seems to fall into at this time, and accordingly, things are very very boring (For the most part. I still have a massive man-crush on both Damien Sandow and Daniel Bryan) on both RAW and SmackDown. However, in a startling change of pace, I actually have something pseudo-positive to write about this week. It’s something that a lot of the internet is decrying for being predictable and something we’ve seen a million times: Heel Big Show. But repetitiveness aside, if Monday is any indication, I’ll really be enjoying the new direction of the goliath grappler. Read on to find out why, and why my support for Show is so shocking (To me, at least).

I’ll be blunt: I’ve never been a Big Show fan. I’ve always respected him as a person (He’s INSANELY smart) and I do respect his main event status; his feud with D-Bry showed me that he can still be entertaining at a main event level, even as a Face. But I’ve just never… Liked him very much. Maybe because he’s old. Maybe because as a Face, he can be really fucking annoying sometimes. Whatever the case may be, I’ve always kind of rolled my eyes and tolerated him whenever he enters into a prominent angle. I liked him even less at ‘Mania when he was idiotically given the IC title (For some reason wrestling fans have a tendency to project their issues with the storylines and writing on to the wrestlers themselves). I was prepared to loathe him when it became clear he would be involved in the main event angle with Laurinaitis and Cena as well. But as I saw this past Monday… I just couldn’t.

Now, I’ll attest to the fact that Big Show’s heel turn at Over the Limit was one of the most predictable things we’ve seen in a very, very, very long time. And that’s by WWE standards. They’re the masters of predictability. So the fans weren’t exactly excited for a “swerve” that literally EVERYONE saw coming (Except that one dude who clutched his head in disbelief when Show clobbered Cena – It’s still real to him, DAMMIT!)… Now, you guys can complain about the predictability of it all you want… But the predictability doesn’t really affect the fact that we’ve seen some damn fine acting from Show ever since this whole mess started. His scene with Laurinaitis on RAW a few weeks back was actually extremely effective – I didn’t like it, but not because it wasn’t well done. I didn’t like it because it WAS so well done. It really made me uncomfortable. It dragged, but that was because WWE really was trying to punish Big Show as well as the audience. It was super effective. His facial expressions when he attacked Cena were priceless too. He didn’t look evil or malicious like ShoMiz or JeriShow Big Show – He just looked defeated. Broken.

And then of course, there was his promo on Monday. When he came out, mic in hand, I’m sure no one was expecting anything special. Mr. Wight can talk, no one’s disputing that. But his promo work isn’t anything worth making a fuss about. This promo was something different. Something special. Big Show was angry. He was fed up. He was broken. He also showed a cynical, intellectual side that I think is akin to how he behaves in real life. The very articulate and blunt way he stated “Frankly, I don’t owe any of you an explanation for my actions (Or something to that fact),” was awesome. And then there was the yelling. An acquaintance of mine who is a big wrestling fan wasn’t a huge fan of Show’s promo. He just said “He yelled a lot.” Yes, he did. But it was effective! It was passionate. I’m just a big fan of heroes being totally pushed against a wall and turning to the dark side in fiction, especially when the hero is someone who the reader is really connected to. Love him or not, most of the viewing audience loved Show, and the IWC seems at least on decent terms with him. Sure, Big Show alternates characters every few years, but this change was different. It really struck a chord with me. I’m not sure what other internet fans thought of it, but I’m obviously digging it.

If Big Show’s character maintains this degree of a kind of defeated, cynical, logic, I’ll actually be looking forward to seeing this placeholder story unfold. I’ll especially look forward to more promos from Show. Say what you will about the quality of the pre-Summer stories, but this one has made a fan totally ambivalent to Big Show actually care about what the Giant has to say.

That’s it for this week! To talk wrestling, articles, or anything, email me (hahahahawhy@Yahoo.com) and friend me on Facebook (NoDQ Geddy Cahoon)! I want to hear your feedback, so don’t hesitate! Also, make sure to check out the other websites I do shit on: NoDQ, QuickWrestlingNews, and my nerd-related site Nerd World Country! Until next week, thanks for reading!