Big Show fondly remembers the day he earned The Undertaker's respect.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Show spoke about working with Undertaker for years in WWE and learning from him. Big Show said he worked hard for years to try and earn Undertaker's seal of approval and the day he finally did so. Show said it came on a European tour while working a main event in France and recalled a moment where neither of them told referee Mike Chioda the finish of the match.
?I wrestled ?Taker that night and we probably went close to 40 minutes, maybe 43, 44 minutes. Mike Chioda was the referee and he nearly had a heart attack that night because ?Taker and I wouldn?t tell him the finish. We were getting dressed in the locker room and Chioda comes in ?OK guys, OK, OK, OK, OK! What?s the finish?? and Taker goes ?I don?t know, Show, what?s the finish?? and I said ?I don?t know, boss. You?re in charge, whatever you say.? Taker said ?Well, Mike, we?ll just see what happens out there,? and Chioda?s face was just a picture. Ya know, the ref kind of needs to know the finish [laughs] but it was one of those things where if someone taps out, that?s the match. If someone?s shoulders get pinned, that?s the match," Show said.
Show remembered how the crowd that night were chanting for Undertaker and the energy they brought to the match. It was after the match where Undertaker told Show 'You made it.'
"That?s as much planning as ?Taker and I put into it going into that match that night. The way the acoustics were made in that stadium, even though it was an outdoor with no roof on it, when they chanted ?Under-Taker!? it?s almost like when you?re in the ocean and you feel the waves push up against you. You could feel that in the ring from that energy and it was just one of those magical moments for me in my career that I?ll never, ever forget. At the end of the night, after the match when everything was done ? I think I ended up tapping out to the Gogoplata [Hell?s Gate] after Chokeslams and all kinds of crazy stuff that we did that night ? we toasted. And he said ?good job, kid. You made it.? And that was, for me, my crowning [moment]. I made journeyman that night. I was no longer an apprentice, I became a journeyman," Show said.
The full interview can be read at this link.