The Big Show Paul Wight’s performance in the 1996 Christmas classic Jingle All The Way as a Huge Santa is small but impactful. We take a look at the greatest of all wrestling movie cameos and weigh up if The Big Show was the real star of the film.
Let’s get something straight, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character Howard Langston is the baddie in Jingle All The Way. He starts the movie by telling a long line of clients to his mattress company that they’re his favorite customer. Sycophant. He forgets to buy his son the Turbo Man doll he’s desperate to get for Christmas. Bad dad. He throws a full-on temper tantrum when his neighbor eats one of his Christmas cookies. Baby. Sure, his neighbor was trying to hook up with his wife but – come on, Arnie, we all know you could take him. You’re making Walter Hobbs look like Dad Of The Year here.
The movie Should’ve Ended With A Big Show Win
With this in mind, the moment in Jingle All The Way when sycophantic, bad dad, baby Howard gets into a fight with Huge Santa should have seen Huge Santa win. The ultimate muscle Santa giving a naughty man a beatdown in place of a piece of coal. Lesson learned. Remember to buy your kid what he wants. Magic of Christmas reinstalled in all. Roll credits. The happiest of endings. Audiences would cheerfully head out into their neighborhoods singing carols.
But no. Howard, we are led to believe, is a good guy. He unforgivably defeats Huge Santa as one of a series of obstacles he has to overcome to learn why he needs to stop being such a trash dad and bag the Turbo Man for his son. Howard overcomes Huge Santa with the ultimate heel tactic. Huge Santa accidentally punches his ‘little buddy’ Mini Santa – played by Verne Troyer – in the face when Howard pulls him into the path of his fist. Howard uses the distraction of Huge Santa’s remorse to knock him out with one punch. We see Huge Santa hanging from his suspenders in the background as the scene ends.
Wight As The Huge Santa
The role of Huge Santa was played by Paul Wight AKA The Big Show AKA The Giant. Decked out in Santa trousers and suspenders. Topless to show off his beautiful mid-90s physique. His face was partly masked by a fake beard but his cartoony menacing eyes were enough to give him away. Oh, that and the fact that he is 7ft tall. Almost a whopping foot taller than Schwarzenegger.
Wight told WWE’s The Bump that a scene was cut in which we saw Howard clip the Huge Santa up by his suspenders on a hook. He also revealed that as they were waiting to shoot the scene, Schwarzenegger punched him in the nuts in a bid to get him to lighten up.
The Real Winner of Jingle All The Way
Schwarzenegger was served a hit in the nuts of his own when he was nominated for Worst Actor at the 1996 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards. Wight made another movie cameo in 1998 as Captain Insano in The Waterboy. He then went on to win 23 major titles across WCW, WWE, and ECW. He also starred in The Big Show Show on Netflix. Wight is now a member of the AEW announce team and part-time wrestler.
You only have 17 days to watch Jingle All The Way pic.twitter.com/WyFs8I19Et
— Vanessinator 🤖 T-80085 (@ilovejohnkimble) December 8, 2021
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