Every 'Next Big Thing' In Wrestling History: Where Are They Now?
7. Paul Wight
If you disregard his match with Frank Finnegan for the long-defunct World Wrestling Association in 1994, as the Giant, Paul Wight made his pro wrestling debut by dethroning WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan at WCW Halloween Havoc 1995. Vince McMahon didn’t even go nearly that far with Brock Lesnar in 2002.
It was the ultimate push.
The Giant was an André regen capable of executing a moonsault (not that anybody would entertain the idea of taking it). Even WCW was astute enough to grasp that you had to go as big and as hard and as early as possible with a supernatural specimen like Paul Wight. The creative was abysmal, which didn’t help, but Wight’s infamous motivation problems crept in as WCW got hot.
He landed in the WWF in 1999. His preposterous athletic ability had already deserted him, which likely infuriated Vince McMahon. The fabled meeting of the on-fire “creative genius” and the man he was born to market never did work. It should have worked for at least two years, lack of mobility and all, but Vince lost patience almost immediately.
For years, the Big Show was a territory heel in an unworkable post-territory world. He couldn’t be on top for a decade, but then, he should rarely have lost. The performer didn’t fit into what the medium had evolved into.
WWE would often ask you to pretend that Wight was the Giant of old, with the latest heel turn and big push, and it really only worked twice - in 2002 and 2012.
Currently, Wight is doing something in AEW. It’s unclear what that is; he wasn’t great at commentary, which was the intended primary gig. Still, that car bump in the Like A Dragon Street Fight ruled.