Mayweather/WWE
By Scott Keith on 9th September 2017
Hey Scott,
I just rewatched WrestleMania 24 and did not remember the Big Show vs. Floyd Mayweather match being as good as it actually is. It was obviously pure spectacle, but it was booked perfectly for what it needed to be, and Mayweather was shockingly great. He's a natural heel so it made sense for them to switch the roles that were originally intended, but he also worked his ass off! His selling was as good as many real pro wrestlers, nothing looked awkward, his facials were awesome, he made everything that Big Show did to him actually matter, and he cheated (a lot) to win, which was the only reasonable finish if he was going to go over. Most impressive of all was that the crowd had little interest — if not outright hostility — to the angle and the match as it started, but the work from both guys and the clever pacing legitimately hooked the audience by the end. A few quick questions: Who trained Mayweather for the match? How do you think the match compares overall with other celebrity matches? Has any celebrity outsider had a better individual performance during a wrestling match than Mayweather? And was there ever any word about how his performance was perceived by everyone backstage?
To be honest, I barely remember much about the match, aside from the promotional aspect changing several times leading up to it because their original direction wasn't working. It had started with Mayweather as a babyface and Vince did interviews talking about how it's such an easy storyline to run, a classic "David v. Goliath" story that they couldn't possibly screw up. And then by the time they got to the show, everyone was booing Mayweather like he was Roman Reigns and they had to run with Show as the babyface instead. For me, it was always a weird dynamic because I really didn't care about the match or the participants.
As for the trainer, I wanna say MVP but I haven't thought about the match in many years so I'm not 100% sure.