“Big Show” Paul Wight comments on the moment he knew he was “done” with WWE
While speaking to TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, “Big Show” Paul Wight reflected on his relationship with former WWE owner Vince McMahon. Here is what Wight had to say…
“Some of the sh*t he did was pretty mean. At the same time, do I have anything to complain about? No. I had a great career. I did a lot of things. I worked with some of the greatest people, the greatest talents that have ever been in this business.
But I never for once laid back on my ass and thought that I had it made. No, there was a lot of anxiety and a lot of stress daily, making sure I knew I was only going to be there as long as I was valuable, as long as I produced. And when I stopped producing, I wasn’t going to be there anymore because that’s the role that he saw me in.
And I’ll tell you when I knew I was done with WWE: Vince called me ‘Paul’ one day during the COVID era.
In all the years that I knew Vince McMahon, he never called me Paul. He always called me Show or Big Show. He never called me Paul.
And we were doing something. I think it was maybe during the Randy Orton angle or something like that. They said, ‘Well, Paul can do an interview here.’ And in my brain, I died a little bit in my soul because I knew my opportunities to compete in the ring were pretty much done because Vince didn’t see me as a talent anymore. Vince was going to start moving me into, like, ambassador roles and all these things that, at the time, I didn’t want to be a part of.
So that was a lot of my decision of knowing and being around him long enough. And there was nothing mean or malicious about it. You know, I could have rolled into that nice role at the time. I wasn’t ready to give up competing.
And that’s where I went to Tony Khan. And yeah, sure, I’ve had knee replacements, hip replacements, and I’ve been through hell the past six years. I would have fired me three years ago, if you want to be honest about it. But Tony Khan still sees value in me and sees value that I can give to younger talent.”