Big Show lays claim to the title of World s Largest Athlete and anyone who doubts it may be on the receiving end of his devastating knockout punch. The 7-foot giant has been a staple of the Sports Entertainment scene since his WCW debut in the 90s, and has battled some of the all-time greats, including Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, Undertaker, Triple H, John Cena, and more. He's also cast his enormous shadow in the worlds of television and movies with roles on Royal Pains, Saturday Night Live, The Waterboy, MacGruber, and Knucklehead.
Now for the first time ever, Big Show s mammoth career will be highlighted in a DVD set. This 3-disc release will include a never-before-seen documentary on the life and times of Big Show featuring new candid interviews where Show discusses how a giant lives in an average-sized world, his sports entertainment career and more.
I'll start by saying that I personally have always respected and enjoyed The Big Show but was surprised they were going to release a 3-Disc DVD on his career. Well those feelings of surprise were easily erased when I put in Disc 1 and started the main feature that runs at (59min59sec) I was enjoying what was the most refreshingly candid and fast paced documentary that WWE has provided in quite some time. We start as usual from the beginning but this is no usual childhood story. When Paul Wight (The Big Show) was 9 years old he developed a tumor on his Pituitary gland that caused growth hormone to secrete. He was 6' 4" when he hit 12 years old. The first 20 minutes or so are focused on his upbringing that included his hard working but caring Father, Aunts & Uncles, and Cousins. They are all interviewed here except sadly his Father whom passed away when Paul was in college playing Basketball, the pain from the loss and the surgery that removed the tumor but in turn caused his weight to gain more rapidly played into his decision to quit Basketball and school.
He was playing a charity Basketball game for Danny Bonaduce when he was noticed by Hulk Hogan who of course saw dollar signs, the rest as they say is history. The rest of his career is looked at with some great insight from The Big Show himself as well as new interviews from HHH, Edge, Pat Patterson, John Cena, William Regal, and Chavo Guerrero, even Henry Winkler for a brief moment We are for once thankfully spared from having to hear from Matt Striker in any interview segments. HHH has some very funny stories about The Big Show that he shares with us. One of the best parts of the documentary is to see in detail how the man has to travel to keep healthy and keep this going for a few more years. He has a personal driver that picks him up at the airport in his tour bus and then they are driven to the shows fro rest of the week and then flies back home.
The extras on the first disc are well worth taking your time to watch , we even learn how Vince McMahon came up with name "The Big Show". The matches that are included are fun to watch. I especially enjoyed his match from the 2002 Royal Rumble versus Brock Lesnar in MSG. It was a quick paced match and it was great to see what a powerhouse Lesnar was. We also get the official weigh in from RAW and the match at WrestleMania XXVI between Show and Floyd "Money" Mayweather , it was a great spectacle. Overall this is a fun and informative set that should be in every fans collection. 9/10
A Giant's World arrives on DVD with a 480i transfer in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The documentary and recently shot interviews segments are very crisp. Colors are well saturated and I didn't notice any signs of bleeding. Black levels were solid throughout. The many never before seen still photos from his childhood show good detail. There are matches and segments from the WCW era , WWE Attitude era, that were shot in standard definition due to the technology at the time. These segments are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio with a split Big Show logo on the sides where black bars would usually be to fill your HDTV. The older footage is still very good with some spots of softness in 1995-96 WCW stuff. Overall this is a great presentation. 8/10
Audio is provided by both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks. The main documentary is in 5.1 but it is a front heavy presentation with decent stereo separation from music cues. Surround usage was nil. The extras on Disc 1 and all of Disc 2 and Disc 3 are 2 channel presentations. For all 3 discs the dialogue and commentary was crisp and clean. A strong if underwhelming presentation. 7/10
