Paul Wight was known as The Big Show for over two decades during his WWE career. However unusual the name is, it still gets him universal recognization among wrestling and non-wrestling fans alike.
The now former WWE star recently appeared on Insight With Chris Van Vliet. He talked about things such as WWE making him turn down an offer for a role in Gladiator, why he left the promotion and more.
Revealing how he got his WWE name, Wight recalled the time he first got into WWE. He revealed that it was Vince McMahon himself who named him The Big Show:
“That was Vince, when I first came into WWE I was Paul Wight. I just don’t think Vince liked the spelling of my name or just my name. But what would Vince know about marketing? But he walked by me one day and he goes ‘so how’s The Big Show today?’
I go ‘I’m good but who the hell is The Big show?’ He goes ‘you! You can walk, you can talk, you’re an athlete. You’re The Big Show.’ He walked off” recalled Paul Wight, “And I thought ‘oh dear God I hope that is not my wrestling name.’ But it was.”
The former world champion also talked about his decision to leave WWE and claimed that he was not sure he would get a job in wrestling again after he left the company.
He told the story of how Chris Jericho got him into touch with Tony Khan. They then had a long conversation leading to Wight’s AEW signing. You can check out his full interview below:
