Paul Wight Recalls WWE Hall Of Famer Teaching Important Lesson After Prank
Paul Wight is thankful for Sting helping him after the big man was pranked by one of the biggest superstars of all time.
Over the last 30 years, Paul Wight has had an incredible legacy in pro wrestling that started when he was known as The Giant in WCW starting in 1995. Four years later, he was off to WWE to become the Big Show, which led to a 20 year run there that will lead to the WWE Hall of Fame one day.
While Paul Wight has been in AEW for the past four years, he’s in more of a behind-the-scenes role although he recently said he wants to compete in the ring again since Wight claims he “hasn’t done s**t” in AEW.
At WCW Halloween Havoc 1995, Paul Wight had his first official match as The Giant. It was a night where The Giant beat Hulk Hogan to win the WCW World Title although it was very confusing because it ended in a disqualification, yet it led to a title change that was acknowledged on night later on WCW Monday Nitro. That first title reign for The Giant only lasted about one week when he was forced to vacate the title due to the controversy surrounding the title change.
How Did Sting Help Paul Wight?
During an interview with Fightful and Downunder The Ring, Paul Wight shared a funny story about how Hulk Hogan pranked Wight by telling him to wear the WCW World Title at the airport. Thankfully for Wight, Sting was there to give him some friendly advice.
“These guys were out for themselves, and sure, they knew you had talent. Sure, they knew they were gonna draw money with you. But, you know, they want to make sure they did a little bit better and that’s OK, because it teaches you to fight for yourself, and it teaches you to protect your own brand. I never had to go through that with Sting. Sting was wide open, just very open to any ideas I had.”
“My favorite Sting story, and I’ve told this, and he laughs, but when I walked away with the title at Halloween Havoc, my first match against Hulk Hogan. Yeah, well, I was 21, so it wasn’t that I’m 22. So Hogan told me to wear the title through the airport as a rib, and you guys have been around wrestling, you know what ribs are.”
“He goes, ‘Hey, brother, I want you to wear that title through the airport and let everybody know that you took that title from Hulk Hogan.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, yeah,’ because I mean, what do I know? I’m green, I’m proud to wear the championship. Why wouldn’t I wear the world title everywhere I go?’
“So I’m walking through the Detroit airport with a world championship around my waist and all the old timers that are at the airport are all giving me the thumbs up, ‘Hey, champ. Hey, champ,’ and I’m so proud. I’m glowing like, ‘Yeah, these guys all think I’m the champ. Like this is great.’ I took the title off with the metal detector and put it on the belt and it went through. All the security people are congratulating me and I’m strapping it back on.”
“This is blonde haired Sting with the razor shades. He comes over to me after I’m with the security, he goes, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘Why are you wearing the title?’ I said, ‘Well, Hulk told me to wear it to the airport, let everybody know that I’m the new champ.’ He goes, ‘Put it in your bag, you look like an idiot. He’s ribbing you,’ and he walked off and I was like, ‘Aw, he’s making fun of me.’ I had to take the title and put it in my bag.”
“It was my first lesson and yeah, Hulk and Randy ‘Macho Man,’ they were both in on that one. They thought that was hysterical.”
The “ribbing” phrase in pro wrestling is another way of saying somebody was pulling a prank.