Following the realisation that despite getting in the best shape of his career, that he “couldn’t get a f**king match” Paul Wight chose to leave WWE and head to AEW. A move that came as a surprise to many fans around the world, as well as former WWE Champion Kurt Angle.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show, available via Ad Free Shows, the Olympic Gold Medal winner expressed his surprise that the man formerly known as The Big Show left his wrestling home of over 20 years.
“I always thought Paul would be with the WWE the rest of his life,” Angle said. “They treat him really well, they did a lot for the Big Show. When he quit and went to be a boxer, he lost a bunch of money and Vince helped him out a little bit and got him back in the game. There are a lot of things that occurred where Vince McMahon showed his loyalty to Big Show and Big Show showed it back.
Angle went on to add that Paul Wight probably felt undervalued by WWE, commenting that they “humbled him quite a bit.”
“I thought he was in the company forever. I think Big Show probably felt a little bit under appreciated in WWE the last couple of years, they humbled him quite a bit. Had him job out here and there, I understand why he was frustrated but I thought he would be with the WWE forever. If he’s happy, I’m happy.”
The WWE Hall of Famer was then asked if we may get to see him move to AEW, a suggestion he brushed off, before revealing that he’d text his former adversary to say congratulations.
“I don’t think so,” Angle mentioned, in reference to him ever coming to AEW to wrestle. “I texted Big Show and said congratulations on signing with AEW and he said ‘Oh man, I feel like I’m 25.’ I was like holy s–t, you’re going to wrestle? He didn’t answer me, but he said he felt like he was 25 again, I guess that means he’s going to wrestle, I don’t know.”
Elsewhere in the episode Angle discussed WWE’s relaunch of the ECW name, detailing how Vince McMahon wanted him to be the face of the resurrected brand, offering to triple his pay to work ECW pay-per-views.
H/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.