-- Lucha Libre Online recently interviewed Paul Wight and here are the highlights:
1- Paul Wight revealed in an interview with Lucha Libre Online's Michael Morales Torres the real story behind his WCW debut against Hulk Hogan and how he got the WCW World Championship only on his first match.
"I remember being extremely nervous. After four decades in the business and 26 years of experience, you know, Hulk was crazy to take me out for his first match. He was out of his mind. I remember training of the power plant in Atlanta with Jody Hamilton, Terry Taylor, Paul, Levesque and Diamond, Dallas Page. A lot of guys were very instrumental in my early training and I remember Hulk said: 'Alright brother, I need you to come down and Clearwater'. And this was like, I think our first match was how do we have it in October and he wanted me to come down and Clearwater. I want to say like in August and I'd start at the power plant in February. So very little training time. Very green is an understatement. I remember we just went to World Gym at six o'clock in the morning every morning. It was me, him and Savage (Macho Man). These guys were trained so hard. I remember they brought an extra bag and they were changing clothes. I thought: 'Thank God this workout is over'. No. They change clothes for work out two. So that was my first introduction to these two guys that were relentless in the gym. We go out to eat and had a big breakfast. Then we're on the beach when Hulk said: 'All right brother, lock up with me'. So we locked up and he took three or four steps and on the beach like in a lock-up position and says: 'Alright brother, just listen to me. You'll be fine'. Back then I was nervous because I thought we were going to go over the match and talk about spots and what we were going to do you. No, no nothing at all. He called it all in drink nothing at all. So believe me. I was 22 or 23 years old and just absolutely terrified the entire time out there. I remember one time in the match, I had Hulk in the corner and I didn't had any corner offense. I didn't had a chop, I didn't had an knee, I didn't have a shoulder. I didn't had any corner offense. Not that even the big boot to the throat to stretch somebody in the corner. I had nothing. I think Hogan saw that deer in the headlight look (on me), which when you're out there, you think: 'Oh my God! Everybody in the building knows something is wrong'. They don't. Hogan grabbed my hand and started fighting with it and he goes: 'No brother. Don't choke me'. He put my hand on his throat and he was just super cool. I remember put him in a bear hug, and he selling a bear hug said: 'Alright brother, turn me a little brother. I want to see the kids'. Nick and Brooke (Hogan) were in the crowd he wanted to sell to them. Just looking back now to have that kind of faith and somebody like me that was that green and that strong and that agile was pretty brave. I've gotten my dose of green guys over the years and I still go back to the patience that Hogan had with me, which was was pretty incredible. I started out the penthouse and probably should have retired after that match. You retire after a controversial world champion. You've done it. Been there; done that. Yeah".
2- Paul Wight revealed in an interview with Lucha Libre Online's Michael Morales Torres why he choose AEW over any other company, planning to return to Hollywood on 2022, Tony Khan, and more.
"Well Hollywood right now is going through a tough time. Obviously, this is pandemic. I mean, there's a lot of projects that are being shot. But I mean, you've got to be, you know an A-lister actor to get that stuff going. I'm just really establishing my Hollywood career. I had a little bit of success with the The Big Show Show. So I think people understand I can read a script. Now they can trust me to put me behind the camera or in front of a camera rather. It's just tough to get this opportunity because a lot of projects that I'm eligible enough to work for so to speak they're just not shooting now. I'm hoping a lot of stuff that will pick up in 2022 and as we get under control and get things back to normal".
"One of the biggest reasons why I opted for a AEW is I still wanted to compete. That was a little bit of the frustration that I've had in the past couple of years. I mean, I had an amazing career WWE. I have nothing at all to complain about other than like everything in life, they move on. They're thinking about the generations and the future generations. I had done everything I could do in WWE. I really had. I mean we both know I've have more turns than NASCAR on WWE. You know what? I mean... I think my character was schizophrenic. I'd walk down the ramp a good guy and walk back at bad guy. Who knows! Maybe was a sugar and balance problem? Who knows. But I just I had some friends working there (AEW). Chris Jericho is there, Cody Rhodes is there, Dustin is there, Billy Gunn, Arn Anderson is my mentor. I don't know if a lot of people know that, but Arn was very instrumental in my career. Especially after 2008. Arn and I spent a lot of time together. Just kind of honing in on what made the Big Show, The Big Show, back then. Because I tried for so many years to try to do pretty things like drop kicks and nip-ups and all these pretty athletic things. Arn used to tell me: 'You're a giant. You don't do pretty. You do ugly. Just go do ugly. Once I found out the best for me, we honed in on that. But Arn being there. I saw some of the success that AEW is having. I mean, they were selling out. They sold out Vegas faster than anybody. They had great success in Chicago. They just had that grassroots fighting from underneath kind of a thing and when you're passionate about the industry, you're passionate about the business and you want to compete, you want to go somewhere where you can contribute the most. That's one of the things I felt about AEW. Is that I could go in there still be a talent, still working the ring, pursue some personal things like, you know, I'm doing this color commentary thing now, which it's been wonderful having Tony Schiavone for a partner, but there's a lot of fast thinking. I've learned that a lot of these young men and women have on AEW has lot of different names for things. So I have to learn the new style names. But that the opportunity was there. After my contract ended with WWE, I spoke with Tony Khan for a while on the phone because it was one of those things like you said, I did have to make a decision on what I want to do and I just really enjoyed talking to Tony and the vision we both had for me and what I could do for a AEW. At my age and everything that I've been through, you know, it's nice to be able to go someplace and take all that experience and all that knowledge and put it to work and also pass it along. Because that's what you want to do. I can make the most impact there helping the young talent on AEW and helped a lot of their bigger guys understand who they are. It's not necessarily doing it my way. That's not the thing. Professional wrestling is an art form. You have to find out what works for you, but there are certain ways of learning to discover yourself that are universal that I think I can help with a lot of people".
3- Paul Wight revealed in an interview with Lucha Libre Online's Michael Morales Torres the main differences between AEW and WWE, plans to wrestle again, backstage ambience on AEW and more.
"There are no writers. There's no writers. For 26 years, I've had everybody write everything I was going to say. I'm giant. I'm 500 pounds. I'm like, I know how big I am. Like it felt awkward because I never got to really express myself because I have a quick wit. At least I think I do. That was always kind of shoved in a can because this is the image that this company wants you to portray and this is the image that you had to be. It's funny, my first night on TV, and I laugh about this, but the first night I went out, I talked to Tony Schiavone. I said the wrong name of the PPV. I said Evolution instead of Revolution because it was elevation. There's Revolution. There's all these different names that are new brand names for shows and type of use that I'm not used to. I said Evolution and nobody said a word. Everybody thank me for what I did and said it was a great response. I didn't figure out I'd said the wrong name until the next day. But that's out like the next day. I was looking social media and I was like: 'Oh my God, it's Revolution. I said Evolution? Like I was waiting for that backlash of fire to come, like you know, oh, you made a boo-boo. Everybody was super cool about it and that kind of environment where you're that relaxed to not having to keep all these things clocked in your mind of: You can't call a championship this. You can't say this. You can't say that. All those things that are put in place to sometimes confuse a talent or hinder a talent from expressing themselves. I think that's the one clear difference now. When it comes time for me to put on my boots and step in the ring and really grab that microphone and get into a confrontation with an opponent, I think I would be able to surprise a lot of people. They all be like, you know, I didn't knew Big Show was that funny. He's pretty sharp. He's not just a big hat rack. So we'll see either that or I'll get booed out of the building. One of the two. If I get booed, I'll just turn. I'm good at that. So that's fine".
