Only a few wrestlers in the industry can boast of their ability to portray any character given to them to perfection. Big E is one of those wrestlers who gave his best to play any character, be it a powerhouse bodyguard to a goofy personality spreading the power of positivity.
The former WWE Champion has the perfect mix of in-ring ability and charisma, which helped him gain many fans for himself over the course of his career. He might be currently out of action due to injury, but the love he receives from his co-workers and fans proves the level of respect he gained from the wrestling community.
With that said, let's look into Big E's pro wrestling career through pictures taken over the years.
9 Training & Debut
Big E's first choice for a career was to become a professional footballer, but after injuries deprived him of his dreams, Big E tried out for professional wrestling at the suggestion of a person who knew WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross.
He received a tryout from WWE, which led to him signing a developmental contract with the promotion in 2009. He got assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he trained and performed until 2012 before WWE rebranded it to NXT.
During his time in FCW, Big E would go on to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship alongside Calvin Raines and held the titles for 70 days.
8 NXT Champion
Big E made his televised debut for NXT on the August 1, 2012, episode where he defeated a wrestler named Adam Mercer. From there, Big E started a winning streak and won multiple squash matches in which he demanded the referees count to five rather than three.
After a brief program with Vickie Guerrero, Big E then started a rivalry with The Shield, which resulted in him defeating Seth Rollins to win the NXT Championship.
Big E held the NXT Championship for an impressive 168 days and defended it against the likes of Brad Maddox and Conor O'Brian before dropping it to Bo Dallas in May 2013.
7 Main Roster Debut & Alliance With AJ Lee & Dolph Ziggler
Big E made his main roster debut on the December 17, 2012, episode of Raw, where he attacked John Cena and aligned himself with AJ Lee, becoming an enforcer for the latter and her boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler.
Big E stood by Ziggler and AJ Lee's side and was in their corner when Ziggler cashed in his MITB contract on Alberto Del Rio to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
He then feuded against Dolph Ziggler after the latter dumped AJ Lee, and it culminated at SummerSlam 2013 when Lee and Big E lost to Ziggler and Kaitlyn in a mixed tag team match.
6 Intercontinental Champion (First Reign)
Following his alliance with AJ Lee, Big E turned face by aiding CM Punk in fending off Ryback and Curtis Axel. It led to Punk and Big E defeating Axel and Ryback in a tag team match, with Big E pinning Axel to pick up the win.
Since Curtis Axel was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, Big E received a shot at the title, but the planned match didn't take place at Hell in a Cell 2013 after Axel sustained a legitimate injury. Big E challenged Dean Ambrose for the United States Title at the event but only won by countout. He received another opportunity the following night on Raw but couldn't win the title after Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins interfered.
Big E received his postponed opportunity at Curtis Axel's Intercontinental Championship on the November 18, 2013, episode of Raw, where he finally won the title. He held the title for 167 days before dropping it to Bad News Barrett at Extreme Rules 2014.
5 Formation Of The New Day
By mid-2014, Big E started teaming with Kofi Kingston in several tag team matches but ended up on the losing side on all occasions. They continued their losing streak until Xavier Woods convinced them to turn against the fans and join forces to form The New Day.
The new alliance would turn out to be successful for Big E as the trio would go on to win the gold at Extreme Rules 2015, where they defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to capture the WWE Tag Team Championships. They held the titles for 49 days before losing to The Prime Time Players at Money in the Bank 2015.
4 Longest Reigning Tag Team Champion
After the end of The New Day's first tag team title reign, the trio was quick to recapture the title as they won a fatal four-way tag team match at SummerSlam 2015 to win back the WWE Tag Team Championships.
The New Day would go on to hold the title for a long time, and it resulted in them breaking Demolition's 28-year-old record to become the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history when they crossed the 478-day mark. They lost the titles to Sheamus and Cesaro at Roadblock 2016 to end their reign at a record 483-days.
3 Helping Kofi Kingston Win The WWE Championship
The New Day continued to dominate the tag team division and won three more tag team titles between July 2017 and October 2018. However, Big E had to keep his interests aside as he and Xavier Woods became a vital part of the KofiMania storyline to help their New Day brother Kofi Kingston win the WWE Championship.
Big E stood beside Kingston in the latter's quest to defeat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship and in the process, competed in a series of matches to get Kingston to his destination.
After overcoming all the obstacles, Big E and Xavier Woods were in Kofi Kingston's corner as he went on to make history by defeating Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 to win the WWE Championship.
2 Singles Run & Intercontinental Champion
Alongside his New Day brothers, Big E continued to win more tag team championships until the 2020 draft, in which the trio split up after Big E got drafted to SmackDown while Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods got drafted to Raw.
Big E then started his singles journey and set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship. He defeated Sami Zayn on the December 22, 2020, episode of SmackDown to win the title for the second time in his career and defended it on multiple occasions against Apollo Crews before dropping it to him in a Nigerian Drum Fight at WrestleMania 37.
1 Mr. MITB, WWE Champion & Injury
Following the end of his Intercontinental Championship reign, Big E qualified for the 2021 men's Money in the Bank ladder match. He defeated Drew McIntyre, John Morrison, Kevin Owens, Shinsuke Nakamura, Ricochet, Seth Rollins, and Riddle at the namesake PPV to win the MITB contract.
He successfully cashed in the contract on Bobby Lashley on the September 13, 2021, episode of Raw to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career. He defended it against the likes of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Theory before he dropped it to Brock Lesnar at the Day 1 PPV in January 2022, ending his reign at 110 days.
Big E then reunited with Kofi Kingston on SmackDown and feuded with Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss. He also competed in the 2022 men's Royal Rumble match in an unsuccessful attempt, but his momentum got completely halted after he sustained a serious neck injury after taking a botched overhead belly-to-belly suplex at ringside, which took him out of action indefinitely.