It was June 12th, 2003, and Brock Lesnar was in the midst of an important WWE Championship run. He was essentially the face of SmackDown, only 14 months into his WWE debut. That night's main event saw Lesnar defend the WWE title against Big Show.
In one of the most iconic moments in SmackDown history, Brock Lesnar suplexed Big Show and the entire ring collapsed. But was it real?
The answer is yes and no. The ring did collapse for real, but it was a spot pre-planned by stunt co-ordinator Ellis Edwards. Big Show lied about it for years by saying that the spot wasn't pre-planned. He admitted on an episode of Talk is Jericho in 2015 for the first time that the ring was, in fact, rigged that night.
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Big Show explained that right before the stunt, the camera team shot a close-up of him and Lesnar selling. During that time, Edwards had under the ring filled with airbags.
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Big Show admitted that no one knew how it would look, but once Brock Lesnar suplexed him, it was all timed perfectly:
"Of course now I’ve got my fat a** up in the air, 500 pounds on a not very stable surface … So then the ring broke. I just remember when it happened because … you don’t know how the stunt is going to look. But man, it was so perfectly timed the way we did it and Ellis [Edwards] did a great job of setting up. That thing collapsed and everybody they bought it so long."
The match on SmackDown ended without a finish, but it didn't matter. Brock Lesnar and Big Show, thanks to Ellis Edwards, had one of SmackDown's most legendary moments.
The Brock Lesnar-Big Show suplex from Mike Chioda's perspective
When looking back at the spot, the focus is often on Brock Lesnar or Big Show. But perhaps one of the most underappreciated parts about the moment that made it even better was referee Mike Chioda's reaction.
Mike Chioda knew beforehand that the Brock Lesnar-Big Show suplex spot would be a big moment and he was told to sell it to make the moment bigger. Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, the veteran referee said:
“Oh, that [Big Show vs Brock Lesnar] was cool. Michael Hayes, everybody, Pat Patterson, the thing on that match they wanted me to do was to sell the collapse of the ring. And the way I did it, which I don’t know what I did, I just did what I had to do because it was actually pretty freakin’ cool. I’ve never been in the ring which is collapsing before. It’s just like, when they take the bump out of the corner, the ring collapses." (H/T ITR Wrestling)
Mike Chioda's reaction translated well to television, but the crowd's reaction is what ultimately made the moment as iconic as it is. Chioda admitted that the pop wasn't as big as The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania X8, but it was "up there".
