Paul Wight, who went by Big Show in WWE, signed a contract with All Elite Wrestling earlier this month after spending 22 years with WWE. And while Wight loved his time in WWE he told Renee Paquette on her Oral Sessions podcast that creative frustration is the reason he left the company.
“It was a very quick decision that was made in a matter of 48 hours for me,” Wight said per Fightful. “For me, it was creative frustration. I had gone back and forth with Paul Heyman, Bruce Prichard, and Vince. [McMamhon]. I had some medical issues a couple of years ago where I had problems with my hip real bad. You know how things are there. If you get out of the loop a little, it’s hard for them to work you back into the ring, no matter how much talent you have or have to offer. It was frustrating for me because, yeah, I was making money and working once against Drew and did a couple of things like be partners with Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe, but I was like, ‘I need more than this.’ I’ve never been a sit on the bench guy.”
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Wight will wrestle as well be a commentator on AEW’s new show, AEW Dark: Elevation. He said when he signed his contract with AEW, McMahon sent him a message. “Nobody is mad, nobody is upset,” he explained. “The day I signed, Vince called me and wished me luck, saying I was a big asset for AEW and he was glad I signed. They did a lot of things for me. For me to try and bury WWE, it’s not about that. It’s just business.”
AEW has seen growth in the last two years, and Wight believes it will only get bigger. “You need competition that’s not in the same house,” Wight explained. “You need another brand where if someone doesn’t find out who they are on one brand, there is another company where they can re-invent themselves. That’s the problem when WWE was the only game in town and is one of the problems they have now.” Wight had a lot of success during his time in WWE. In his 22 years with the company, Wight won the WWE Championship twice, the ECW World Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship twice among other titles.
