Paul Wight Admits Scary Spot With WWE Legend “Gives Me Nightmares”

The former WWE Big Show, Paul Wight, admits there was one spot in his career that gave him nightmares. 

Whether he was known as The Giant in WCW for the first four years of his career or WWE’s the Big Show for 20 years, AEW’s Paul Wight will always be remembered by wrestling fans as one of the true giants in the history of pro wrestling.

During his incredible career, Wight was a 4-time WWE World Champion and a 2-time WWE World Champion, and he is no doubt a WWE Hall of Famer whenever the time comes for him to return to the company for that honor.

At the WWE Backlash 2003 PLE, Big Show faced Rey Mysterio in a match that Show won easily. After the match, Rey was attacked and put on a stretcher. To further establish Show as a powerful heel, he picked up Rey on the stretcher board and smashed him into the ring post as the attack continued.

Paul Wight Was Terrified By Attack On Rey Mysterio At WWE Backlash 2003

In an interview with Chris Van Vliet covering his incredible career, Paul Wight admitted that he had nightmares because of that attack on WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio.

“I hate that spot! That gives me nightmares. That went so bad. Oh, that went terrible because it was my idea, because Rey was tied in it, and then I thought I’d rib him in the afternoon, whereas I’ll just pick him up scare him. Oh, I can [pick him up]. This isn’t that tough. So what about swinging the pole? My God, that’ll look crazy.

But the whole thing was, I was gonna swing him on the pole, swing him on the pole again, and I was gonna shove him back in the ring. Somewhere, somebody before us, because it sure as hell wasn’t me, the guys used to put this conditioner crap on their hair. And sometimes it would get on the ropes, and it makes your hands so slimy, like even if you grab the top rope, getting out of the ring, your hand just comes right off.

So when I swung Rey into that pole, that thing popped right out of my hands, like it squeezed, like a hard-boiled egg or something. It just popped right out, then I saw Rey go, and I went, ‘Oh, I just killed Rey.’ Oh, Jesus. So I’m freaking out on the inside, but we’re still doing our thing. He’s moving. Oh god, they’re putting him in the ambulance. Oh my god.

So I ran back to the locker room, grabbed my clothes, threw them in the car, and drove to the hospital in my rental car, because I’m thinking, man, if Rey’s seriously f*cked up, I’m done. I’m quitting. I’m done. Because I really cared about taking care of the other guys.

I get there and Rey sits in the hospital bed with his hands behind his head, just chilling. ‘Hey, man, that was good, huh?’ I’m like, ‘You’re okay?’ [He says] ‘Oh yeah, man, I’m fine.’ I’m like, ‘You know what I went through driving over here worrying?!’

Rey used to love in the house shows when he worked, he used to love to sit on the top turnbuckle and have me chop him in the chest. And he would bump from the top turnbuckle to the floor, and it looked like he got assassinated. There’s a loud smack, and then boom, there’s no more Rey. He just disappears and goes down. Arn Anderson was the agent. Arn said, ‘You know, when I see you do that to Rey, I want to call the police on you.’ It’s not me. It’s his idea. That’s not me doing that. That’s Rey. That’s getting me in trouble.”

Even though Paul Wight isn’t wrestling regularly, the big man plans to wrestle again as he tries to lose more weight.

Also Read: Ex-WWE Star On Real-Life Confrontations With Big Show: “I Was Gonna Die”