The Big Show revealed on the latest episode of Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show that Vince McMahon asked him to make his recent WWE return just three days before Monday Night RAW.
After five hip surgeries and over a year out of a WWE ring, the 7-footer teamed with Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe to defeat Seth Rollins, Akam and Rezar via disqualification on the January 6 episode of RAW.
One week later, the two teams battled it out in a six-man Fist Fight match, with Rollins’ team picking up the victory following assistance from their newest ally, Murphy.
Speaking to Austin about the planning behind his 2020 in-ring return, Big Show disclosed that McMahon messaged him less than 72 hours before his comeback match.
“I got that call on a Friday night at midnight. Literally I was setting my alarm to go to the gym Saturday morning. Vince text me, 12:02am… No, he doesn’t [send a lot of texts]. I think he’d rather pull his eardrums out and dive on a pitchfork than talk to me, but anyway. I look at the text, it says, ‘Can you go Monday?’ and I was like, ‘Go where and for what?’ He says, ‘I need you in a match Monday.’ ‘Single or tag?’ ‘Tag.’ ‘Yep, I’m good.’
The Big Show’s WWE return
In November 2018, The Big Show’s six-week alliance with The Bar came to a sudden end on an episode of SmackDown when he punched Cesaro in a backstage segment.
However, in reality, the four-time WWE World Champion’s hip resurfacing had shifted position because the bone in his hip had been damaged so severely, so he was forced to undergo more surgeries in December 2018 and February 2019.
He revealed in a ‘Rebuilding Big Show’ documentary in July 2019 that he had been cleared to compete one week before WrestleMania 35, but WWE delayed his return until January 2020.