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All Elite Wrestling announced this morning that they have signed Paul Wight aka former WWF and WCW World Champion Big Show, 49, to a multi-year contract.
So, what happened?
PWInsider.com is told that WWE and Wight were unable to come to terms on a new deal financially and his final contract with the company last month, days after he made an appearance being verbally bullied by Randy Orton on the Raw Legends Night episode on 1/4. One source stated that Wight was very open that night about his unhappiness about the situation. Wight, who did not publicly announce his departure, was moved this week to WWE.com's Alumni section on 2/19.
The exit ends an association that goes back to February 1999, when Wight debuted as Big Show after signing a ten-year deal with the company.
Wight was originally trained at the Monster Factory in New Jersey but credits the now-defunct WCW Power Plant for his training. He was introduced to Hulk Hogan, who immediately (and rightly) saw dollar signs and had him signed to World Championship Wrestling as The Giant, where he was purported to be the son of WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant. As The Giant, Wight won the WCW World Title in his first official match at Halloween Havoc '95 in a win over Hogan in Detroit. After a run as one of the company's top heels, Wight was became a member of the NWO but was written out after deciding to sign a long-term deal with the WWF.
Over the course of his run with WWE, Wight held the WWF, WWE World Title, Intercontinental, United States and the WWE version of the ECW Championship as well as a slew of Tag Team Titles with everyone from Chris Jericho to Kane to The Undertaker and beyond. As a talent, he was utilized in roles that ran the gamut from top heel monster to silly undercard character and beyond. As an actor, he was shockingly versatile and starred in WWE Studios' first-ever sitcom The Big Show Show, which ran for one season on Netflix before being canceled. He also appeared in WWE Studios films Vendetta, Knucklehead and Fighting With My Family
As Big Show, Wight feuded with everyone you can think of, including John Cena, the late Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Triple H, Kane, Randy Orton, The Undertaker and many more. Show last wrestled for WWE in July 2020 against Orton on an episode of Raw from the WWE Performance Center. He had made numerous non-wrestling cameos until the Raw Legends Night,
Wight's last "major" WWE match was a surprise challenge to newly crowned WWE Champion Drew McIntyre in a bout that took place after Wrestlemania 36 "went off the air", broadcast the next night on Raw.
Since AEW announced that they have acquired Wight, the term "Big Show" is trending #1 worldwide on Twitter while Wight's name is trending #5 worldwide. In terms of grabbing attention in advance of Dynamite, AEW nailed a grand slam here.
While Wight has been announced as taking part in a new weekly AEW series Dark: Elevation, one has to think it's just a matter of time before he enters the ring. It is interesting to note that his one-time bandied about potential Wrestlemania opponent Shaq is wrestling next week for AEW, so it's quite possible that could be rekindled for the AEW audience.
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