The Big Show: A Giant's World review (DVD) ★★★

Paul Wight, AKA The Big Show, is undoubtedly not only one of the most impressive Superstars on the WWE roster today, but of all time. Making his debut in World Championship Wrestling under the guise of “The Giant”, Wight captured the World Heavyweight Title in his very first match, defeating Hulk Hogan and receiving a monstrous main event push. A few years later he crossed over to the greener pastures of World Wrestling Entertainment and found his feet as The Big Show, the 7 foot tall, 500-pound and larger than life titan with an appetite for destruction, and he's never looked back. Finally, as many will say, this 16-year veteran of the industry and WWE mainstay for over a decade has received his very own DVD set to commemorate his life and times so far, as he continues to make waves in the business today.

The hour-long main feature explores The Big Show's youth, an area that we've never seen touched upon before, and his rise from a very talented basketball player to professional wrestler. Wight himself narrates the documentary throughout and tells an intriguing story, revealing the depression he had to battle through when he lost his father to cancer, and the acromegaly he suffered as a result of a tumour on his pituitary gland, the disease responsible for his size. It's all very interesting stuff – I never knew he was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling to get a change of attitude and work on his wrestling ability for instance – but the film could have been longer and more in-depth. It's good to see the likes of Triple H and William Regal getting a lot of face time to talk about The Big Show in detail, as they often aren't included in such a capacity in other releases in the same vein as A Giant's World, but I feel as though a lot of potentially intriguing stories were skipped in favour of keeping the running time relatively short. Now there's some irony for you.

The documentary is still a solid watch and an enjoyable way to kill an hour (as well as fill you with envy when you're shown Show's luxury tour bus), containing some great never-before-seen photos and footage of Show competing in basketball matches in his teenage years, as well as working down in OVW in adulthood. This is a three-disc set, too, so you get over 20 full matches in addition to the main feature and a selection of bonus material for your money, all revolving around the freakishly-agile giant of the squared circle.

Completing the set is a wide selection of matches that span The Big Show's tenures in WCW and WWE, as well as the 2006-relaunched ECW.

WCW Halloween Havoc '95 – Sumo Monster Truck Competition: vs. Hulk Hogan
WCW Halloween Havoc '95 – World Heavyweight Championship: vs. Hulk Hogan
WCW Nitro – World Heavyweight Championship: vs. Ric Flair
WCW Slamboree '96 – World Heavyweight Championship: vs. Sting
WCW The Great American Bash '96 – World Heavyweight Championship: vs. Lex Luger
WWE RAW: vs. Steve Austin
WWE RAW – WWE Championship: vs. The Undertaker
WWE Survivor Series '99 – WWE Championship Triple Threat Match: vs. The Rock vs. Triple H
WWE Backlash '00: vs. Kurt Angle
WWE Survivor Series '02 – WWE Championship: vs. Brock Lesnar
WWE Backlash '03: vs. Rey Mysterio
WWE No Mercy '03 – United States Championship: vs. Eddie Guerrero
WWE No Mercy '04: vs. Kurt Angle
WWE Taboo Tuesday '05 – World Tag Team Championship: The Big Show & Kane vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch
WWE New Year's Revolution '06: vs. Triple H
ECW – ECW Championship: vs. Rob Van Dam
WWE SummerSlam '06 – ECW Championship: vs. Sabu
WWE WrestleMania XXIV – The Biggest vs. The Best: vs. Floyd Mayweather
WWE SmackDown: vs. Kofi Kingston
WWE RAW: vs. Rey Mysterio
WWE Hell in a Cell '09 – Unified Tag Team Championship: The Big Show & Chris Jericho vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio
WWE RAW – Unified Tag Team Championship Elimination Match: The Big Show & The Miz vs. DX vs. S.E.S.
WWE SummerSlam '10 – 3-on-1 Handicap Match: vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows & Joey Mercury

EXTRAS ??? Deleted scenes include: Meet the Parents; “You're The Big Show”: Show discusses his reaction to being given his wrestling name by Vince McMahon; The Rock is First Class: the World's Largest Athlete reveals the respect he has for the People's Champion for being good to him when he first arrived in the WWE; The Bigfather: Show comments on the genius of Vince McMahon and how he solved a certain problem one night relating to a segment where the giant would be imitating The Godfather; Triple H Roasts Big Show; Kenny in Knucklehead: the wrestler's cousin on how he and his band got involved in the WWE Studios movie, Knucklehead; Lifestyle Change; and Big Show vs. Everyone: Show goes over a number of his greatest opponents, from John Cena and Steve Austin to Mick Foley.

The first and second discs also feature the following memorable moments from The Big Show's WWE career so far: Big Show vs. The Dumpster – SmackDown – 28th October, 1999: Show attacks Prince Albert and The Big Bossman in the arena parking lot, before pushing a dumpster onto their car; Dearly Departed – SmackDown – 11th November, 1999: the hilariously stupid segment where The Big Bossman crashed the kayfabe funeral of the Superstar's father; Big Show the Entertainer – RAW – 3rd April, 2000: the 500-pounder's promo where he tried to express a lighter side to his previously mean personality; Big Show vs. Torrie Wilson's Car – SmackDown – 15th April, 2004: the physical dismantling of Wilson's car during a heated argument, before Show pushes it right over; Big Show vs. The Jeep – SmackDown – 24th March, 2005; Big Show Returns! – SmackDown – 9th September, 2004; and Official Weigh-in for WrestleMania XXIV – RAW – 10th March, 2008.