Bigger Isn't Always Better

It was at the beginning of April that the WWE unleashed their latest monster upon an unsuspecting wrestling world. Hardly inspiring anyone with his performance, the 7’3” Great Khali attacked the Undertaker, and yours truly immediately began to get flashbacks to WCW and the WWF of the early 90’s.

Back then Ted Turner had a 7’7” Argentinean that couldn’t stand the pace of the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA, so he had to find something else for him to do, and what better place for him to go than his wrestling promotion?

An so El Gigante was inflicted on WCW fans. A lumbering joke, Gigante was matched up against the likes of Ric Flair, Sid Vicious and the One Man Gang, until he vanished from the scene in 1992.

Only to turn up in the WWF in 1993, thanks to Vince McMahon’s love of big men. Now renamed the Giant Gonzales, and with Harvey Whippleman as his manager, the Giant targeted the Undertaker, which led to one of the worst bouts in Wrestlemania history. The Giant again proved that he was useless as a wrestler, before returning to Argentina, fading into obscurity, thankfully.

Which brings us back to 2006. After just three months in the developmental system, Dalip Singh was called up to Smackdown, re-named the Great Khali, given Daivari as his manager, and matched against the Undertaker.

Now, just four months later, confidence in Khali has hit rock bottom, so much so that his Summerslam last man standing match with the Undertaker was moved to Smackdown, because he couldn’t be trusted in front of a live, worldwide, television audience.

And it’s easy to see why his performances so far have been far from inspiring. In fact, they’ve been downright awful, and now the creative team have finally taken notice, and it looks like Khali will either be released from his contract of sent back down for more training.

But the main problem is that whenever Vince McMahon and his team get their hands on a seven foot-plus potential wrestler, they view him as the next coming of Andre the Giant or the Big Show, forgetting that these two were/are actually quite good at what they did/do.

In a small way, I feel sorry for Dalip Singh. The man was put into a situation he wasn’t ready for or could handle. In the end the critical writers and fans will blame Singh for the situation, when it’s really those in power who should shoulder the blame.

But this is something that probably won’t happen, and in another few years another 7’4” man will walk through Vince McMahon’s door wanting to be a wrestler, and Vinny Mac’s eyes will light up, and he’ll forget about the problems he had with Dalip Singh and Jorge Gonzales.