Truth behind famous backstage fight between 7-foot Big Show and 7-foot-1 Great Khali that left Big S

One of the main attractions of professional wrestling down the years has been the larger than life specimens it houses.

Andre the Giant is probably number one in the proverbial big man list; you won't find many people in wrestling or otherwise who don't know the name.

Next on the list? It's probably going to be The Big Show, if we're talking true giants who have worked a long, successful career in the business.

Of course The Undertaker, Kane, Kevin Nash etc are all special attractions and hover in and around the 7ft marker, but there's just something about those giants.

The Great Khali is one of those men. Although 7ft 1in and an impressive sight, he didn't really have the work or coordination to match.

Part of that is down to knee surgery he had before joining WWE, but either way, Khali and Big Show's tenures in the organisation overlapped and they developed what has become known as 'Giant Heat'.

Chris Jericho said the pair had been at odds for years. "They had what the boys called ‘Giant Heat,’ he wrote in his autobiography The Best In The World: At What I Have No Idea.

"Which meant they resented each other because they were both Brobdingnagian (best word in this book). They had spent their lives being the biggest person in the room, astonishing specimens that everybody stared at and instantly feared.

"Now, for the first time, they had to deal with competition for that honour and neither of them liked it. Khali was taller, Show was better in the ring, and each was jealous of the other as a result."

Back in 2009, tensions finally boiled over between the pair following a live event tag team match in Puerto Rico.

Big Show and Jericho teamed up with CM Punk to take on Great Khali, Undertaker and Matt Hardy. Although the tension started over both being the big attraction - literally - it escalated when Khali began stealing Show's moves.

"The match itself was nothing special, highlighted only by Khali stealing one of Show’s spots right in front of his face," Jericho continued.

"Show had this trademark move where he took a guy into the corner, shushed the crowd with his finger, and delivered a BRUTAL overhand chop that sounded (and felt) like it had caved in his opponent’s chest. It hurt like a mutha, but always got a huge reaction, which made it a little more bearable.

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"Khali had stolen it from Show and used it all the time during his matches, even though Show had asked him more than once not to. But who was going to stop him? Khali was seven feet tall and didn’t give a s*** what anybody thought, especially his nemesis, The Big Show. But even still, he had huevos El Gigante to do the chop right in front of Show’s face.

"‘M**********r just stole my move,’ Show mumbled on the apron, and I knew something was gonna go down. He was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore."

Jericho was right, Show wasn't going to take it anymore and thankfully he gave an eye-witness account of the backstage fracas in his book.

"We were in the dressing room after the match, and Show was still fuming, steam practically bellowing out of his ears. When Khali came in a few minutes later, the s*** was on.

"‘Hey, m**********r, why do you keep stealing my spots, huh? That’s total b******t and you need to stop it now!’

"‘Wha’ you talkin’ ’bout, bro?’ Khali retorted, his accent as thick as his upper torso.

"‘Don’t play that innocent b******t with me! I’ve told you before to stop stealing my stuff. You can’t do any of it properly anyway because you’re the f****n’ s***s!’

"Khali stared at him stoically and replied, ‘You’re the s**** too, bro.’"

Forget for a second that the exchange sounds comical more than anything else, Big Show clearly wasn't getting the apology he was after.

That meant it was on. Not a backstage disagreement that gets reported like a fight - this was a fight.

"That pushed Show over the edge and he threw Khali’s bag in the corner, which was the equivalent of slapping him across the face with a glove and challenging him to a duel," Jericho recalled.

"Khali accepted and rose to his feet as quickly as he could (which took about five seconds).

"The two biggest men in WWE history stood face-to-face and I’m not sure either of them knew what to do. Show had spent some time training as a boxer, and Khali had been a police officer in India (can you imagine running through a stop sign and seeing that monster walking up to your window?), but I wasn’t sure how many actual street fights either one of them had been in.

"I mean, they were giants; whoever messed with them in the schoolyard? I guessed that, due to the intimidation factor alone, they had avoided fisticuffs for most of their lives.

"A few seconds later, Show threw the first punch, which connected with a loud smack to Khali’s overdeveloped jaw. It rocked him backward, but he didn’t go down and Khali landed a punch of his own. With the opening shots fired, the floodgates opened and the two titans began swinging like Tiger Williams.

"I counted at least five more smacks and cracks as the blows connected with each other’s faces, shoulders, necks, and chests."
Show had challenged the ever so slightly bigger man to a fight and even fired the first shot, but after he tripped during the fight, he would technically end up the loser and he'd have to apologise for it.

"The battle raged on until finally Show took a wild swing and tripped over a chair, which caused him to crash onto the floor with Khali on top of him," Jericho said.

"The boys waded in at that point to pry them apart and the fight was over. The brawl was fairly even, but Show still insists he lost because Khali landed on top.

"Now, if we were judging by the rules of a hockey fight, then yes, Show lost, but from where I was standing, it was an impressive back-and-forth scrap. Show might not have lost the battle, but he definitely lost the war when Vince made him apologise to Khali for throwing the first punch, during a closed-door meeting a few days later."

Even Jericho has admitted that Show was disappointed with the outcome, but Khali claims Show sat in the corner of the locker room and wept after they finished going at it hammer and tong.

Speaking to an Indian website, Khali insinuated Show didn't like that he was more over with the fans, saying: “The people were with me. Big Show was like – ‘Why? I am the white-skinned American here, so why is this audience with the Great Khali?’”

“[After the fight] He just cried! Looked like a baby, man. Undertaker knows. I'm serious, man! He’s just, ‘F***!’ He said, ‘F***! Idiot! Why! Why he try to hit! Why now he cry! This is f*****.’”

Well, it doesn't sound like the Deadman was impressed either, but Khali's English isn't amazing so that's open to interpretation to be fair.

This had to be quite literally the biggest backstage fight in WWE history and it seems no man gave an inch in the pursuit of being the ultimate big man.

But, for the record books, the Great Khali is generally considered the winner.

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