In this paper we consider the issue of massive gravity from a pure field theoretical point of view, as the massive deformation of the gauge theory for a symmetric rank-2 tensor field. We look for the most general massive theory with well defined propagators, imposing the absence of unphysical poles. We find several possibilities, depending on the choice of the gauge fixing term. Amongst these, two solutions with good massless limit are found. The request of the absence of tachyons, alone, does not isolate the Fierz\u2013Pauli case: several examples of massive theories, which may or may not include the Fierz\u2013Pauli mass term, are given. On the other hand, the Fierz\u2013Pauli theory can be uniquely identified by means of a symmetry: it t...