Big Show (Paul Wight) jumps ship to AEW
 

...AEW just signed The Big Show.

https://i.imgur.com/0hSBg1p.png

Lol why

Legit the BIGGEST signing in the past 20 years.

Huh. Didn’t see that one coming. Show seemed like a WWE ambassador for life.

Oh, wait. They’re gonna set up that Show vs Shaq match WWE teased but never pulled the trigger on.

AEW upping their production values obviously. Sting gets to walk out in the snow. Paul Wight gets to emerge through a cloud of vape smoke.

He will finally get to tussle with Shaq!

If he comes out smoking cigarettes like he used to I will pop so hard.

Oh shit! This is real :eek:

Paul Wight has always been known behind the scenes for helping other big guys learn to work smarter in the ring. While I'm not the biggest fan of his wrestling I hope he can help Wardlow, Archer, Luchasaurus and future bigger guys they sign sharper their skills.

I legit thought he was a WWE lifer so this is a shocking.

with the small guys in aew paul will look real big. how far you think paul can throw marko stunt?

Paul Wight's twitter cover photo though

https://twitter.com/PaulWight/header_photo

I’d like to see him get a nice little part-time run where he can be built like the proper attraction that WWE failed so miserably to build him up as.

He’s probably gonna be bumping for Marko Stunt in a month or so though and I’m gonna have to continue to drown my sadness with old wrestling videos.

So they got another over the hill part timer. Amazing grab!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Big Show’s final WWE match was a WrestleMania main event for the WWE Championship. <a href="https://t.co/46PypbtXLN">pic.twitter.com/46PypbtXLN</a></p>&mdash; Gary Cassidy (@WrestlingGary) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestlingGary/status/1364616134763364352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Looks like he's joining the commentary booth.

He's got value and marketability to his name, which about 95% of wrestlers don't these days. I think it's a great signing. If AEW wants to grow, they need to get more eyeballs on their product then just people who blindly watch wrestling because that's all they've done for 20 years. Big Show's been in movies, tv shows and is well known outside of the wrestling ring.

AEW will use him correctly unlike they way TNA used over the hill wrestlers. I want to believe they;re smarter then the people behind the scenes at TNA or Impact,,whatever the fuck they are called. Great signing

Wardlow going to be crazy over after he press slams Paul Wight

Agreed. Maybe Sting to WWE as a close second.

Big Show crying.gif

I remember Big Show busting his ass getting into amazing shape a couple years ago for “one last run” only for them to do nothing with him.

I need a backstage skit involving John Silver and Paul Wight

We'll prob get the Shaq match finally. He can helpthe younger guys, and if how they're using Sting is any indication, he'll prob be used to get talent over but not wrestle all that often.

Please don't wrestle or I'll have to get stuck watching AEW cause my girls like the bastard.

LMAO what the hell? How are they gonna pretend 6'5" guys are monster giants when a legit 7 footer is there?

Tony Khan is wasting so much of his father's money. A BIG money multi year deal for another 50 year old.

They will sign ANYBODY!

....wut?

Context:

Marko Stunt's favorite wrestler is The Big Show


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!!?!!?!?!?!?! HOW COULD YOU HIDE THIS FROM ME<br><br>I JUST PEED MYSELF HOLY SHIT HAHDJFMTNaiebdbsiwlsofirndjcijfdnowisvrueicnfjuedgsgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <a href="https://t.co/RMz0n88hRu">https://t.co/RMz0n88hRu</a></p>&mdash; Mr. Fun Size (@realmarkostunt) <a href="https://twitter.com/realmarkostunt/status/1364607197670350848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/AEW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AEW</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulWight?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PaulWight</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDynamite</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AEWDark?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AEWDark</a> <a href="https://t.co/zSuqpHVA5d">pic.twitter.com/zSuqpHVA5d</a></p>&mdash; Mr. Fun Size (@realmarkostunt) <a href="https://twitter.com/realmarkostunt/status/1364615443554521103?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Marko is going to turn on Jurassic Express now.

we need marko and paul to stand next to each other, that would be better then the big guy aj styles has.

he needs a ring name

Wight Giant seems like a name they'd go with.

Why the fuck would they spoil this?

If Big Show would have come out at the end of the show tonight and choke slammed 2 or 3 people, this would be huge!

Instead they spoiled there own show. So fucking dumb. This shit makes Bischoff and the Hall and Nash stuff look even more brilliant. Bischoff was dumb enough to spoil his own show.

That really pisses me off.

If Big Show had shown up unannounced to AEW, that would have ignited things big time. Instead, AEW lacks any creativity just like WWE. It almost feels like WWE is secretly running AEW.

if by huge you mean no one would know about it because no one watches the sbow then yes

territories have been announcing people coming to the territory weeks in advance for 100 years itll be ok

I think it was smart to announce in advance bc it gets them buzz to entice people to tune in.

They've had plenty of surprise appearances on Dynamite, announcing some things in advance is fine with me.

What is The Tall Program doing in Daily’s Place?!

What buzz?? They signed a 50 year old wrestler that has not done anything meaningful but have a Netflix show cancelled and worked a dark match at Mania in years.

Remember how much they bragged early on how they didn't want hardly anybody from WWE, yet they have continually signed every former WWE guy possible. Hell at this point AEW is like WWE's retirement plan.

"Oh you didn't save your money, go to AEW and get paid!"

How long can they honestly play the "hey look we signed a guy that was held back by WWE, but now they are ALL ELITE!"

"Hey he and Shaq could finally have the match Shaq was too out of shape to have when he was 7 years younger, and it will be SOOOOOOOO much more Elite on a special edition of Dynamite than at Wrestlemania!"

Let's not pretend this is gonna lead to some surge in AEW popularity, it's just gonna be another guy that is gonna have to pretend he is happy jobbing to the Young Bucks while fleecing Tony Khan out of more of his father's money.

He was out for about a year after that due to hip issues.

And they'll draw the same 750,000-850,000 like they do every week

Unfortunately, that's all too true where he is concerned, when he was out of wwe before he returned to do the Mayweather match he was in training for boxing and was apparently in the shit for money big time.

https://www.sbnation.com/longform/20...ght-wwe-boxing


They even put his money issues into a storyline on raw where he was suing the authority.

Gonna be mildly amusing to see a fat Jericho alongside a slimline Big Show, was the other way around for years.

That Big Show article is amazing by the way if you all haven't read it.

Bix is the best

They should sign Hossein Kaebi next.

Am I missing a connection there?

So much angst over signing a commentator...

I have no doubt he will get involved physically somewhere somehow but from what I can see hes a commentator, adds a vet to the promotion and a guy who seems to be a fairly witty dude.

I think he will do well in this role.

He's not signing on to be a huge star with the main event scenebuilt around him. I'm almost 100% certain we get the Shaq match, and Show will be involved here and there as an in ring competitor. But that stated flatly he's there to be an announcer. Which is fine. He's a charismatic guy who can help try to get guys over.

Wonder if his contract includes him making an appearance on The Go-Big Show with Cody.

Hope him joining the commentary for another Dark series means they split up Dark to be an hour each at most and not just have another lengthy show each week. AEW's Dark format doesn't really lend itself well to being in the 2+ hour range for shows.

You can't ignite things if no one new is watching the show. At least by announcing it they could bring new eyes.

Will Paul Wight bring in many new eyes? I'm not sure, but he could and the way to ensure that is by letting people know ahead of time.

Legitimately the biggest star in the past 20 years has signed with AEW, making them the biggest Wrestling company in the world! GIANT DEVELOPMENT!

Honestly there is a ton of programs waiting for Wight in AEW...

Something with Jericho, I expect these two to be commentary partners on Elevation.

Mox, I think they would have a good hardcore match.

Archer, obviously this is probably the best match waiting for Show.

Wardlow, could be elevating to The Ward Dog.

Dark Order shenanigans, come on! Choke slams a many and comedy to boot.

Kenny Omega, I mean show had some great matches with Lesnar and Angle, why not Omega? I think they should be able to come up with an original match that would surprise us all.

MJF, just imagining them on the mic together and I could see a lot of fun stuff.

Brian Cage, similar to Archer this could be a surprisingly good program that may surprise us all.

Shaq, obviously this has to be on the horizon. It could be a media boost at the very least. It's a good idea.

Kingston. There is nobody Eddie can't work magic with. The mic trade off would be great but also they could do a great brawl together.

Just some of the ideas that came to me when hearing the GIANT news.

^ Kingston/Wight would be a terrific first feud

On one hand, I'm surprised because I didn't think Paul would go anywhere else.

On the other hand, He has no problem with making an enormous ass of himself, so he'd fit right in with this clown show.

A few questions will be answered though:

1. If Paul sat in a chair to interview a standing Marko Stunt, would he still appear taller than Stunt? I mean, if he's a commentator, I imagine he'd have to do interviews at some point. How would he do them without making the other guy look diminutive in comparison.?

2. If he had a match with Orange Cassidy, would he FINALLY be the one to show how stupid the whole "Put my hands in my Pockets" gimmick is? He has two options for that: The chokeslam and the WMD. Both he could do to Fire Ant.

3. What could he show a bunch of hosses in a company that has been, thus far, very hostile to hosses? Seriously, the big men have been made to look more or less foolish.

yeah i am betting they won't let him do the interviews. keep that job with tony and marvez.

Only it wasn’t.

Last match was against Orton i think?

Yeah. You could argue how official it was as it was an Unsanctioned Match but he had a few matches between that and the Mania “main event”.

Biggest star in the sport.

Right, it was a dark match. Not exactly the same thing lol

Some of the articles are a bit lol with the Hyperbole ramped right up.

"State of shock" as part timer thats verging on a half century of age and who has had a handful of matches in the last few years leaves the company. :shifty: Yeah it was surprising but it's not as if he was being used to any extent.


There's also talk going round he was annoyed at the orton segment in January where Orton said his career was over.

And yet more talk he was in "huge debt" which led to the AEW signing.

https://wrestling-edge.com/big-show-...on-disrespect/


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Nice to see he heeded Macho Man telling him to save his money.

i wonder if anyone currently holds the trademark for "Big Nasty" so he can use it again. he never got a proper run with that moniker

He should be called The Giant. I really can't see how they can't find a reason to go with that.

wwe own it that is what he used in wcw unless wwe did not keep the tradmark.

Lol, they’re trying to call him “Big G.”

About the same height. Both stars in their own right , one the best player Leicester City ever had.

Not even that it was a dark match, it did air on TV after all. He literally had 3 or 4 matches after that though. He teamed with the Viking Raiders at one point.

If you can’t make it, fake it.

We may not all be able to agree on the AEW/Paul Wight pairing but can we all at least agree that WWE botched his career for 20 years and wasted away a guy that could have been a HUGE worldwide attraction?

Let’s at least bond on this, TPWW family.

I’m stopping short of saying he could have been Andre-level if handled properly because Andre was one of a kind but... a mobile giant with that much likeability and charisma. There’s no excuse for him becoming a guy you turn the channel on.

he could have never been andre level kayfabe was dead by then. also think by the time he jumped he was already damaged good. too many high profile jobs.

theres also the issue of monthly super cards making it pretty impossible to have meaningful long term heels

Big Show botched himself too. The WWF inherited a fat, lazy, bad habit-ridden asshole. He got past that, to some degree, but he obviously never had the mind Andre did. Booking is some of it, but you also have guys who don’t mind wearing a diaper and dancing around as Baby New Year. He’s had a legendary and “entertaining” career for what it was. A sometimes serious, usually silly, big oaf who was...there.

He was not damaged beyond repair in 1999. If they had booked him strong even up until Vince bought WCW 2 years later, do you really think people would have not bought in because he was jobbing to Kevin Nash in WCW 3 years earlier?

Who decided WWE needed to have monthly super cards?

And who decided that all talent needed to be used on all super cards, thus taking away the ability to build special attractions?

You’re excusing WWE for being a victim of a problem they created themselves.

supercard formula was created by bischoff and had the company not also engaged in hot shotting every week theyd have gone under in 97

worked in the short term. but not good for business long term and especially bad for the talents longevity. both in health and staying power

and the giant had jobbed in every angle he had ever been in post hogan. if the entire wcw main event is going over him and the wwf main event isnt there's a problem.

The face\heel switcheroo really started in WCW as he turned quite a few times. But WWE brought it up to another level to say the least. He got into great shape far too late in his career for it to make any difference, had he continued his weight loss and training from his Mayweather match he may well have made more of an impact in the years that followed.

But the reality is he ballooned up in weight again, not to his ecw weight which was a legit 535 or thereabouts for a time but over the 400lb mark and he just looked out of shape and flabby.

I think for the most part the crowd got bored of him due to his many many "turns", it really became all he was known for in the end. At last count it was around 30 or so iirc, which is fucking ridiculous to say the least. It's like the so called "creative" team just used him as a flip\flop machine when they didn't have any ideas for him.

He could have been a bigger player than he ended up being, part of that is down to his laziness in being out of shape for most of his career and the other part down to wwe misusing him constantly.

lets say he's got infinite potential coming in. with the structure of modern wrestling you still cant hope to get more than 8 months from a heel these days before you need to cool him off, take him off air or turn him. theres no room for legitimate long term heat.

Kevin Nash and DDP were beating that ass like a drum towards the end

My favourite thing is Paul Wight showing up on WWE television and losing to Stone Cold in his first televised match lol

The story Bruce Prichard gave about why that happened is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard in wrestling and fits entirely well with WWE's booking mentality post-Attitude Era.

They purposely deflated the hype he brought in solely just to see how he'd react backstage afterwards. They thought he'd flip out backstage over losing his first notable match and when that didn't happen, that left them with damaged goods and no real big plans for him at the time.

It's par for the course with Bruce.

I've never understood how people take his word like it's the Gospel.

Used to have no real opinion of Bruce until the past couple of years.

For someone who understands the "mind of Vince" and meant to act as a filter, he's just as dumb or bad as Vince is when it comes to creative stuff based on the stories he's told over the years, his terrible booking while in charge of WWE creative these days, and opinions other have about him online.

Also supposedly he's the reason why people had big issues with the second season of Dark Side of the Ring because he got his grubby hands all over the direction for it.

Him defending Austin dumping beer on Scott Hall who was a recovering alcoholic was the most ridiculous thing I've heard on a podcast.

I got the timeline of In Your House PPVs and WCW monthly PPVs off. Bischoff started the hotshotting. Vince was forced to play by Bischoff’s rules short-term. Sure.

That still doesn’t excuse his use of Big Show though. Especially if his worth was diminished like you think it was. If that were the case then they still could have used him part-time and built him as a special attraction. Because he was worthless, right? You’ve gotta throw Rock and/or Austin on every show but Show was an un-repaired WCW cast-off. Not having to put him on every show could have been a luxury.

I feel like I remember you arguing that Brock jobbing constantly wasn’t a big deal and doesn’t hurt him in the long rung.

The fact that you don’t think a poor 2 year stint in WCW in the late 90s could not possibly be overcome in 20 years is odd.

I can understand the logic behind what Destor is saying here. In a competitive setting, it makes the WWF look weak as shit if a big shitty wrestler from WCW comes over and starts beating all your guys. I have no doubt he could have been used better at certain points. But he isn’t someone you build around in 1999.

Monthly PPVs saved the WWF in 1997. That point should be re-emphasized.

He didn’t have to come in and beat all the top guys from the get-go. You build him up.

Austin was jobbing to Hacksaw Jim Duggan before leaving for WWE. It didn’t exactly mean he was ruined for life.

They’re not exactly the same circumstances. The Giant was seen on top and had been fucked around with on top. And a time when wrestling was cool. Vince has always been reluctant to bring in guys who were presented poorly in one promotion to push them to the top in another. The exceptions are when he thinks he can make a new tier of fans off a guy (Hogan, who wasn’t used poorly, but wasn’t made the guy), eventually Austin. Pretty much everyone else gets pounded into dust to make the WWF/E look bigger and badder than whatever “bingo hall” they came from.

Plus, Big Show was letting himself down at this point in time. He was not in great form.

Agreed that you could have used him more creatively. Make him the bodyguard lackey for someone or have him beat nobodies on his way up. Sure. But they basically stole what they could with the guy immediately. Possibly because they thought he might wash out.

When Big Show came to WWF his first match was with Austin. That was HUGE. But he lost. It was a huge deflation of the balloon. If he'd have beaten Austin even with help from The Corporation, they would've set up a huge program for after Mania. He also should have had been booked at Hell In Cell with Foley instead of Taker/Bossman, and won cleanly. WWF absolutely botched Paul Wight from the beginning.

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His loss wasn't a clean one though, numerous chair shots to the head were part of it, and even then he was up immediately after the pin so not as weak looking as it could have been.

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It was a loss though. Clean or not, you were instantly handicapping yourself needlessly by having him come in and job night one.

And I’m not saying he should have beaten Austin either. Austin shouldn’t have been jobbing. A bullshit non-finish (which was pretty common at the time) would have been better. Otherwise, if you can’t come up with a good finish that doesn’t fuck things up long-term, to quote Jim Cornette, just don’t book the fucking match.

He isn’t really much different to anyone else in recent times. They come in, it’s stop-start, flip-flop, until nothing they do really means anything anymore.

His potential was massive, but he wasn’t a special case. It’s just the way they do things.

I remember at the time knowing he was signed for 10 years to a big deal like a million a year. It was a great time for WWF... And they would have never put a WCW guy over Austin like I suggested, but yes just don't book the damn match. Could've been a tag with Wight & Rock vs Austin and Mankind and they could've done some kind of dq BS and still had the same result.

is AEW pretty much WCW without Billionaire Ted's money?

It’s not even TNA!

TNA were signing a still excellent Kurt Angle and Christian, as well as a much younger Sting.

AEW are signing a 61 year old Sting and encouraging him to get in the ring, an immobile 50 year old Big Show, and letting a heavy, past his prime Jericho dictate what he and others do on the show.

I don’t really understand the buzz about AEW. I feel like it must be because it is still relatively new and people are hopeful.

Their roster isn’t a patch on what even TNA had though and they look to be making the same mistakes.

That is pretty much all true.

TNA was let down by its booking most of the time. The booking in AEW is very Russo-esque in its own right. Would anyone be shocked to see Miro kidnapped by ninjas next week and never have it explained to them?

Tony Khan is spending the money in the big names of yesteryear that Vince isn’t willing to break bank on any more. He hasn’t actually gotten anyone significant in their 30’s or 40’s since Moxley and Jericho, and that is before they started generating content.

There own show... if a guy from Poland is telling you your English sucks you need to think about your life.

You're right, it's not TNA. If it were TNA all the older talent would be in a stable together and have all the titles. Instead, AEW tends to use older talent as managers or pair them with a younger guy or stable of younger guys. It's an easy and smart way to help get newer talent over, which they have done really well with.

The buzz for AEW is because it produces the best wrestling show overall each week. Dynamite tends to fly by and is mostly chill. Unlike WWE, there isn't any robotic commentary and over-scripted promos that come across as inhuman. Anything can almost happen on Dynamite, you never know what to expect.

lol "the Buzz". They've been doing the same numbers for over a year