Bringing in a towering man as a wrestler has worked out time and time again in pro-wrestling. It’s almost a given that they will be over with fans. For example, look at the success that big men like Andre the Giant, Big Show, Kevin Nash, Sid Vicious, and the Undertaker have all experienced in their careers. Pretty impressive. However, there is a right way and wrong way to go about it. Giant Gonzalez was one of those big men who debuted in the WWE, and was handled the wrong way, making him yet another miss for pro-wrestling in the 90’s.
Jorge Gonzalez was originally a basketball player from Argentina who was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 3rd round of the 1988 NBA Draft. Unfortunately, Gonzalez was unable to handle the rigors of the game, and had to quit due to some serious issues with his knees, and the fact that he was 7’6”.
Like most athletes who have left pro-sports earlier than expected, Gonzalez felt he could still be active, just not on the basketball court. Enter WCW with a chance for Gonzalez to take on the mantle of pro-wrestler El Gigante.
Gonzalez wrestled in WCW for a few years before being approached by Vince McMahon, and the WWE booking squad with an offer to jump ship.Gonzalez was groomed by the WWE to be a heel and feud with the Undertaker. Gonzalez was also managed by Harvey Wippleman, who honestly looked like a hobbit compared to Gonzalez.
The premiss for Giant Gonzalez was sound, but the execution was just awful. First of all, they took a page out of the George Costanza play-book and ran Gonzalez out to the ring in that Sasquatch body suit. At first it was hairless, and then they added hair to it later, which was just nonsensical. And as much as I enjoyed hearing Harvey Wippleman refer to Paul Bearer as Paul Bear, he was spending most of Gonzalez’s interviews on the mic instead of Gonzalez. Which was a good thing, but as we all know wrestlers have to be good on the mic, and Gonzalez just never seemed comfortable with it.
Giant Gonzalez made his debut at the 1993 Royal Rumble where even though he was not an actual participant, he eliminated the Undertaker. This of course set up their feud and set the stage for their huge match at Wrestlemania IX. 
The Wrestlemania match was actually not terrible(as far as wrestling goes), unless you loved hearing guest commentator Macho-Man Randy Savage making brilliant observations like Gonzalez is taller than the Roman Coliseum,OH YEEEEEEAAH, and Dig it!
Undertaker would go on to win the match vs Gonzalez via DQ, but the two would meet again at SummerSlam, in a match for Undertakers urn.
What was in that urn? Everyone thought it was something creepy, but it was probably just Cool-Ranch Doritos or potpourri.
The fans were not impressed, and kind of weirded out by Gonzalez, even though he was decent wrestler, unlike some other NBA players that have tried their luck at wrestling (Yes, I’m talking about you Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman).
Ultimately after his loss to Undertaker at SummerSlam, the WWE had no other ideas for feuds, or interest in pushing him, and Giant Gonzalez called it quits. If Gonzalez would have debuted a little later in the 90’s for the WWE he might have actually been handled better, given a decent gimmick, gotten a big push, and perhaps would not have been such a miss for the WWE.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @SprayBall 
matthewsprayberry
I am a huge fan of my wife, my wonderful daughter, baseball, old school wrasslin', movies, and friends. Dislikes? The killing off of Quicksilver (Oops…too soon?), People who don't tip, Reality TV, and Daredevils new costume (I'm sorry it just looks stupid).
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