Real Shooters: Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather, WrestleMania XXIV

Kimberly Schueler
Big Show, Floyd Mayweather (source: WWE)

RondaRousey.com’s Real Shooters feature explores the good, the bad, and the weird of pro wrestling-MMA crossover moments in history.


Though it was promoted as “The Greatest Fighter in the World vs. The Largest Athlete in the World,” the No Disqualification match between Floyd “Money” Mayweather and the Big Show at WrestleMania XXIV wasn’t supposed to look like a legitimate athletic contest. Much like Ronda Rousey’s WWE debut match at WrestleMania 34, it mixed real sports history, established wrestling characters, and over-the-top pro wrestling action to make an entertaining spectacle and memorable moment.

When he got involved with WWE, Floyd Mayweather was unstoppable in the boxing world. Since winning a bronze medal in the 1996 Olympics, he had gone undefeated in 39 professional boxing bouts, with most of his wins via knockout. In addition to his incredible combat prowess, Mayweather’s trash-talking ability and cocky persona had helped make him not just a star, but a larger-than-life star in the exact way that made him a natural pick to cross over to WWE.

Though Big Show in 2008 wasn’t as accomplished or notorious a wrestler as Mayweather was a fighter, he was still very experienced and well-known in the world of sports entertainment. His size (billed at 7′ tall and 441 pounds at the time of this match) was always a huge part of his character. In both WCW and WWF/WWE, he could easily be depicted as a loveable giant or a bruising behemoth—to the point where fans started to joke about the frequency of his personality turns.

It was a “bruising behemoth” Big Show who returned to WWE at No Way Out 2008, after taking time off to recover from injuries. After declaring himself “faster” and “meaner” than ever, he decided to prove his point by attacking Rey Mysterio, a much smaller wrestler that he had previously feuded with over the Smackdown Tag Team Championship. He was stopped by a heroic (Ed. note: Yeah, seriously.) Mayweather, who had been watching the show in the front row. The following night on RAW, Big Show tried to belittle the boxer, challenging him to a match.

Before WrestleMania, Mayweather vs. Show was made a No Disqualification match, so anyone expecting a hyper-realistic boxer vs. wrestler match in the style of Ali vs. Inoki was bound to be disappointed (but also really shouldn’t have had that kind of expectation in the first place). However, while the No DQ match was bound to be more on the entertainment side of “sports entertainment” than the sports side, it was affected by the very real, recurring hang-ups WWE fans have about athletes and other celebrities getting involved in wrestling.

Though Floyd Mayweather and Big Show were presented during the build to their match as a straightforward David and Goliath parallel, longtime WWE fans knew better. Sure, Show would have the height and weight advantage in a legitimate fight, but in WWE, the celebrity advantage does a lot better for one’s odds. While some celebrities show up to take bumps like Michael Che and Colin Jost at WrestleMania 35, others, like Snoop Dogg (also at WrestleMania XXIV) and Flo Rida (on RAW in 2014), tend to appear to attract the valuable eyes of casual fans and people who don’t normally watch wrestling and have the ability to trounce pro wrestlers. With Mayweather, specifically, there seemed like no chance he could lose this—especially when it was established that, at least in the WWE Universe, it could be either the “40” in “40-0” or the first loss of his career.

At WrestleMania, it was quickly clear much of the audience was not on the side of Mayweather, who had been depicted as a plucky underdog but also was 39-0, the undisputed WBC Welterweight Champion, a very famous man, and one who entered with an entourage and money falling from the sky at that. After some dodging and a few punches, Mayweather took a sip of water from a chalice given to him by one of his handlers and Show knocked the lackey off the apron to a delighted crowd reaction. As the straightforward good guy/bad guy dynamic was abandoned, the craziness of a No DQ match was embraced, and Show tore the shirt off of one of Mayweather’s handlers to chop him in the corner, the match became much more entertaining.

After Mayweather made some progress with a choke hold—an arm around Show’s neck while his feet hung down barely to the top of his thighs—the audience enjoyed Show’s offensive streak. Mayweather began to behave more like a traditional heel then, with his entourage protesting as Show stomped on his “golden fist,” and sliding him out of the ring to try and leave the arena to loud boos. When Show dragged Mayweather back to the ring, things escalated further as he fought off members of the entourage.


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Mayweather did win the match but in a way that really didn’t elevate him over Show or boxers over pro wrestlers. While Show fought his handlers, Mayweather grabbed a chair. He hit Show with a low blow to stop a chokeslam, slammed the chair into the giant’s head and upper back, and retrieved brass knuckles from the body of one of his prone handlers to deliver a knockout blow. Show couldn’t get up by the end of a ten-count and commentary called this “literally” the biggest victory of Mayweather’s career.

In WWE history, Mayweather left WrestleMania XXIV 40-0. In the history of crossover events between pro wrestling and combat sports, this was an event that seemed to play perfectly into fans’ expectations of these types of encounters right up until it subverted them.


You can watch this match and the rest of WrestleMania XXIV on the WWE Network.

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