A question that sends the male population crazy. The bigger the better right? Wrong. How very wrong. Vince McMahon and some of the female population need to get a clear sense of reality. Sometimes, the biggest doesn’t necessarily mean the best in the world. It’s the smaller guys who tend to show up the big men.

Enough with the innuendo’s already and let’s get serious. WWE has always, and I believe will always, be the land of the giants. It’s a shame but that’s the way it is. The likes of The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Yokozuna and Kevin Nash dominated the WWE at some stage during their careers.

Now, as much as I resented putting The Undertaker in that group, I did so because he has been in such a high profile position for so long. The other three guys were massive (Hogan had his pythons, Nash with his height and Yokozuna with his weight) and between them, they had a repertoire of moves that didn’t even reach double figures.

Pathetic isn’t it? So, why were they pushed to the top? Simple. They had the WWE look.

The WWE look. A six foot five, three hundred pound ball of muscle. Add at least one move and bingo, you are a WWE legend in waiting.

Let’s take a look at Hulk Hogan. For me, the biggest star in wrestling history. He had a repertoire of around fives moves, and three of those were his signature punches. So why was he so over?

Well, Hogan was exactly what WWE wanted their wrestlers to be. That’s why he got the biggest push of all time. If Hogan had been given any other gimmick, he would’ve failed miserably. In fact, I would love to have seen how he would’ve faired had he come through today’s developments or if he had been given a completely different gimmick.

Would Hogan have been given a foot fetish gimmick similar to Snitsky? How about a similar stuttering gimmick to Matt Morgan? Let’s be honest a minute, Hogan is a poor worker. With an awful gimmick, he would’ve failed miserably.

So why do the WWE continue to push these huge wrestlers who simply haven’t got the talent?

I think it’s simply down to what McMahon sees as the more dominating body. Of course, a heavyweight would always beat a cruiserweight in a fight and that’s the way it is. Yes, a cruiserweight can flip around the ring and put on a wonderful match, but would they really win in a fight? I wouldn’t think so.

That’s what McMahon looks at, and so, we see the likes of Snitsky, Matt Morgan, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak and more coming through the developmentals quicker than what Paul London, Colt Cabana, Spanky and Jamie Noble did.

It’s a shame really and it certainly wouldn’t be my way of looking at things.

Take a look at TNA and the likes of AJ Styles. Good main event matches, with heavyweight wrestlers and certainly looks like he could be the future of this business. Styles has it all set for him TNA without having to worry about the company de-railing his push and putting all their effort behind a seven foot monster with no talent.

Maybe I’m being harsh on the WWE. Certainly over the last ten years, they have tried their hardest to make smaller guys main event the company.

Take a look at the likes of Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. Four very good wrestlers, who at one time or another, had the opportunity to main event the company with the WWE Heavyweight title. WWE certainly got behind these smaller wrestlers.

I completely understand that these wrestlers got their break and they managed to step up and main event the company. However, WWE has completely destroyed its cruiserweight division, making the likes of Jamie Noble, Paul London, Spanky, Nunzio and more almost pointless talent on television. These cruiserweights can have some fantastic matches on Raw, Smackdown or ECW, but they simply don’t have a belt to go for because WWE destroyed any credibility it had.

For every smaller wrestler like Chris Jericho given a push to the top, there has been a dozen or so Billy Kidman’s, Tajiri’s, Scotty 2 Hotty’s, or Jimmy Wang Yang’s that have struggled to even break onto a television show.

Compare this to the likes of Matt Morgan, Gene Snitsky, Mike Knox, Luther Reigns, Nathan Jones and more who have been pushed too quickly into high profile feuds with the likes of Kane and The Undertaker. These big guys embarrassed the rookies’ shortcomings, with many only having a handful of wrestling moves to display.

The land of giants is a term that has been given to the WWE for a very long time. It’s always been a common perception that smaller guys will not progress past the mid-cards in this company. The likes of Benoit, Guerrero and Mysterio have proved this wrong. They have progressed to World Heavyweight gold.

Part of me wishes WWE would change their view on things. The likes of Jamie Noble, Paul London and more can have fantastic matches in the main event. They just need the opportunity to do so.

Should they decide to follow TNA’s lead, WWE will have to re-invent their Cruiserweight title and make it mean something. Right now, it means nothing. Should they make that title mean something, maybe then we will see less Hulk Hogan musclemen coming through the developmentals and more high flyers such as Billy Kidman.

WWE could do with re-inventing their approach to breeding new stars. Don’t expect it anytime soon but they should. The business needs more guys who will put on different matches every week. That will once and for all prove that despite all the debating, when it comes to the WWE, size really does matter.

Martin Smith
martin@wwepreview.com