Billed as The Giant in WCW, Paul 'Big Show' Wight had little reason to complain, he was on a million dollar year contract and good buddies with main event star Hulk Hogan. His debut was straight into the show closing position, winning the World Title in his very first match. Not bad really, The Giant achieved in one night what some men wait their entire career for. Yet he wasn't happy and has since complained about WCW's lack of creative cohesion. He did fall behind in billing to the likes of Nash, Goldberg and Hogan, but in truth he really had nothing to be all that upset about compared to the likes of Jericho and Benoit. Whatever his reasons, he wanted out, letting his contract run down and exiting WCW on February 8th 1999. The next day he signed with the WWF and debuted on the 14th of February St Valentines Day Massacre show. It was a big loss for WCW. He was one of their own, a heavily invested in performer. His striking image was heavily associated with the WCW brand and had been used heavily on various marketing and franchise ventures such as the WCW video games. For him to turn around and go was a shock. WCW had failed to keep him engaged, failed to convince him that his brand loyalty would be rewarded. Were they stupid for allowing a situation where he wanted to leave? Absolutely, as a big home grown WCW star it sent the message that the promotion was on the way down. No longer were the big WWF names switching allegiance, it was now a case of the big WCW names jumping off a sinking ship. He went on to become one of the WWE's most consistently pushed stars ever, a 14 year odyssey in which he has became one of Vince McMahon's favourite performers.
