The Big Show Once Told Kofi Kingston Not To Form The New Day "With A Couple Of NXT Idiots"
WWE Hall Of Famer Steve Austin recently spoke with WWE Superstar The Big Show on the award-winning podcast that hasn't won any awards, The Steve Austin Show. Among other things, The Big Show talked about why big men do not make good world champs, Braun Strowman, his other favorite WWE performers, and trying to dissuade Kofi Kingston from forming The New Day.
During the podcast, The Big Show explained that performers like himself and Braun Strowman do not make good world champions because the top spot is all about elevating others.
"Somebody like me or somebody like Braun doesn't make a great champion." Big Show professed, "sure, is it fun when they win the championship? Absolutely, but [Austin] know[s] as well as I do, when you win that championship it's not about getting yourself over. It's about getting other people up to your level. You need somebody that's a carpenter, somebody that can do it all, bump, feed, sell, get heat, shine, comeback. It's A-to-Z. There can't be any holes in their game. If they're going to be somebody that carries that title and brings people up around him. That's why John [Cena] for so long, held that title, because John had the ability to work and bring people up around him. People got better by stepping in the ring with him. People got better by stepping in the ring with [Austin]. People get better by stepping in the ring with Triple H. Those are signs of what a true champion should be."
With respect to Strowman's character, Big Show stressed the importance of striking a balance between comedic and serious.
"I think with Braun, he [has] got the unique ability to do some things that are entertaining and fun, but let's not overdo it. That happened a lot with me in WWE in the beginning that because I can do impersonations, because I had comedic timing, we would do too much of it and by the time we were done, 'okay, we've lost The Giant gimmick. Okay, let's turn him heel, he'll kill everybody, and we'll start over again, so we now can start drawing money with him.' Because we know there's entertainment and then there's drawing money, it depends on how Braun goes further whether or not he's be one of those guys that everybody loves to see or one of the guys whose name's on the billboard like Brock Lesnar's drawing money. I don't have the answer for that. In my heart-of-hearts, I hope that he finds a happy medium between being entertaining as a face, having some positive interaction with fans, but if at all possible, keep the mystique of 'The Monster Among Men', so he is a constant viable threat." The Big Show added, "personally, I'd like to see him a little more protected, being used a little more judiciously as far as what they do with him."
Also during the conversation, Big Show named Strowman, Finn Bálor, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows are his favorite performers on WWE TV right now. Additionally, 'The Giant' put over The New Day for being an entertaining act.
"Braun's probably one of my favorite performers. Braun Strowman, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, and Finn Bálor are probably my four favorite guys on TV right now. I love those four guys. They're tremendous. Finn Bálor, I just think he's one hell of a good guy and one hell of a performer. And Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, because they're the only two old school guys left that are young, they understand tag team wrestling. Do you know what I mean? I think a lot of that tag team division has turned into crap on some things. Like, 'you do you're crap, I'll do my crap; here's the finish; oh, here's the save.'" Big Show mentioned, "I like Luke and Karl because they can make any tag team look good. As far as entertaining, you've got to go with Big E, Kofi, and Xavier [Woods]."
Interestingly, Big Show admitted that he tried to discourage Kingston from forming The New Day.
"When Kofi told me he was doing that New Day gimmick, I pulled Kofi to the side about four feet from Xavier Woods and Big E and asked him, 'what the hell are you doing?'" Big Show recalled, "because [Austin] know[s] how [he] would talk to me about business and Taker would talk to me about business. I've learned and I've passed that along to guys that I help. And I'm not polite about it. I'm blunt, direct, and to-the-point. When it comes to business, it's serious. Do you know what I mean? So I pull Kofi about four feet to the side and [ask], 'so what are you doing with these two numb nuts' and he goes, 'yeah, it's a thing' and I said, 'damn, Kofi, you were Intercontinental Champion [and] you're on your way to having a run with the big strap. You don't need to drag yourself down with a couple of NXT idiots right now. You're really probably going to hurt yourself. You're pulling yourself out of that world title run. The Intercontinental Championship is a pretty big deal. You keep yourself in that loop and you'll get a shot at the big one.' He goes, 'naw, I appreciate it, Show, but we've got a good thing going here.' I said, 'alright, man. I'm just telling you that running around with these two idiots isn't going to help you get over.'"
A few weeks later, Big Show saw the trio in action and found himself admitting that he was wrong about New Day being career suicide for Kingston.
"I said, 'forget every damn thing I said. What you guy's've got is absolute friggin magic. I love it. Forget every damn thing I said.'" Big Show shared, "Woods loves that story. I call Woods my son now. I've adopted him as one of my wrestling sons, so he's one of my sons now."
Get these hands on The Steve Austin Show here. If you use any of the quotes from this article, be sure to credit The Steve Austin Show with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Steve Austin Show