FULL MATCH – Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show – No Disqualification Match: WrestleMania XXIV
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A boxing champion with zero pro-wrestling experience stepped into a ring built to end his unbeaten streak, and walked out with brass knuckles instead.
WrestleMania XXIV closed its show on March 30, 2008, with a spectacle nobody in either sport had really seen before: undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. against WWE’s Big Show, billed at 7 feet and over 400 pounds, in a No Disqualification match at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando. A record crowd of 74,635 packed the outdoor stadium to watch a boxer who’d never taken a wrestling bump try to survive a man roughly twice his size. What played out was part grudge match, part street fight, and it ended with steel chairs, a chokeslam, and a low blow.
- The feud began at the February 2008 No Way Out pay-per-view, where Mayweather threw legitimate punches defending Rey Mysterio, breaking Big Show’s nose and drawing blood.
- The WrestleMania XXIV crowd of 74,635 at the Citrus Bowl stood as a record attendance for the event.
- Mayweather won by knockout after landing steel chair shots and a brass-knuckle right hook, with Big Show failing referee Scott Armstrong’s 10-count.
An Undefeated Champion Walks Into a Different Kind of Ring
By the spring of 2008, Mayweather was already boxing’s biggest crossover name, and WWE had spent weeks building toward a fight that had legitimate roots. The bad blood traced back to that February confrontation with Rey Mysterio, where Mayweather’s punches weren’t scripted — Big Show left with a broken nose and blood on his face. That real damage gave the WrestleMania XXIV booking an edge that most celebrity-guest matches never have.
Inside the ring, Mayweather leaned on what actually worked for him in a boxing ring: head movement, footwork, and body shots to try to wear down a much bigger man. It didn’t hold. Big Show’s size advantage eventually took over, and he began working Mayweather down with chops, body strikes, and stomps that a 160-pound frame simply isn’t built to absorb.
The Entourage, the Chase, and the Chokeslam
Mayweather’s corner tried to pull him out of the match entirely, hauling him up the entrance ramp in what looked like a retreat. Big Show wasn’t having it — he chased the group down and physically dragged Mayweather back to the ring, killing any hope of an easy exit. When one of Mayweather’s entourage members grabbed a steel chair and went after Big Show, the giant answered with a chokeslam.
That was the moment Big Show looked like he’d finish it. He turned back toward Mayweather with a chokeslam lined up, only for Mayweather to land a low blow that stopped the momentum cold.
Big Show failed to beat referee Scott Armstrong’s 10-count, giving Mayweather a knockout victory to a chorus of boos.
Chairs, Brass Knuckles, and the Finish
With Big Show staggered from the low blow, Mayweather went to work with the same ruthlessness he’d shown in a real ring. He hit Big Show with multiple steel chair shots to the head, then discarded his right glove and slipped on brass knuckles pulled from an entourage member’s chain. The right hook that followed caught Big Show flush on the jaw and put him down for good, with Scott Armstrong counting him out. That finish belonged on a WWE card, not a sanctioned boxing scorecard — the kind of chairs-and-brass-knuckles chaos you see in worked combat spectacles, which is exactly what made it work as a WrestleMania main event.
Mayweather wasn’t the first big-name athlete to cross over into a WWE ring — plenty of outside stars had done it before him, including the kind of run Dennis Rodman had with WCW years earlier — but few arrived with as much real unfinished business as Mayweather did with Big Show.
A Boxer’s Streak Stayed Intact
The win didn’t count on Mayweather’s official boxing record, but it kept his “undefeated” brand untouched heading into what would become one of the busiest stretches of his career. The Citrus Bowl crowd booed the brass-knuckle finish on their way out, which was exactly the reaction WWE was chasing — a heel win from a guy who’d spent the night getting dismantled by a 7-footer before finding the one shortcut that mattered.
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