Paul Wight recently spoke with boxing and MMA journalist Gareth A. Davies for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling.
During the discussion, the former WWE Superstar known as The Big Show reflected on his memorable rivalry with Floyd Mayweather, the original plans for their match at WrestleMania 24, as well as why he never pursued a fight career.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On why he never explored a career in the fight world: “I didn’t need to. I got into, wrestling very early, 21, when I met Hogan and started with WCW. So, financially, it was a lottery ticket for me, and I’ve never been, a person that really feels like I have something to prove in that genre I have a lot of respect for for guys that do that. I did a little bit of boxing myself in 07. I took a year off from WWE and trained boxing. I sparred with Oliver McCall. It takes a lot of courage to step over those ropes and know that someone’s going to do physical harm to you and you need to protect yourself and do physical harm back on a… What was it my boxing trainer said? Fatigue makes cowards of us all. So there’s a big difference in… fight conditioning versus, you know, other conditioning, and that 10 months of boxing that I did with Artie Artwell, his boxing trainer, changed the game for me. He had a couple of great sayings. Fatigue makes cowards of us all. Potential is a French word for you ain’t worth a shit yet, and we don’t eat cake, we eat steak. So, because, you know, we were doing it. No sugar, no carb training plan. But, yeah, the whole fight thing was never – I appreciate it. It just wasn’t anything that crossed my mind with it. There’s nothing for me to win, I think, too, is the biggest thing. There’s nothing for me to win at this size to get in that because you know if you know combat sports for real. Size and strength play a point in it. But actually, it’s training and unconscious competence was another word I already said. Because there’s a lot of times where if I’m thinking about throwing a jab or thinking about… It’s already too late. It depends on what time you get in these sports. These are sports that you have to have a real natural aptitude for, and I realized a long time ago that I’m good at doing the pretend stuff, and I’ll stick with that. So I’ll leave… Like, you know, I’ve had Shamrock, Ken Shamrock, years ago show me some stuff, and all the boys were like, ‘quit showing him that stuff. He’s too damn big,’ and it was like, you know, it was fun. But, no, my hat’s off to guys like Brock and John that stepped in there and did that because there’s no upside if you fail. You know, and it wasn’t a question of not having confidence in myself. To me, it was like I didn’t- I was very fortunate in the career that I have. I like entertaining people. I like making people laugh. I like doing what I do in wrestling. I like doing the movies and the TV shows and that stuff. That’s more my drive. I don’t feel that desire to test my mettle. I think a different life, different opportunities, sure. You know what I mean? I’m blessed with what I have.”
On his memorable angle with Floyd Mayweather in WWE and the original plans for the rivalry and match at WrestleMania: “That angle came about, just not meaning to cut you off, but originally that was supposed to be a tag. It was supposed to be Floyd Mayweather and I against Batista and Rey Mysterio, and in the events leading up before we launched that angle, Rey and Dave both got hurt. I think Dave tore a bicep or a lat and Rey did something. So then it was brought to me, ‘hey, would you consider working Floyd in a singles match?’ I’m like, ‘at WrestleMania?’ At the time, he’s the hottest boxer on the planet. Absolutely, 100%, I’m in, whatever we need to do.”
On being yelled at by Mayweather’s grandmother for standing on him at WrestleMania 24: “At WrestleMania, I stood on him in the match. After the Mania match, after he punches me in the knuckle dusters and the chair shots and everything else, his grandmother… pulled me off to the side and was ripping me a new ass for standing on him. She’s intimidating! Floyd had to come over like, you know, ‘hey, Nana, it’s okay.’ ‘You stand on him like that. He’s small. You could have-‘ I think she said I could have burst him or something. She thought I was going to cave in his ribcage. She is absolutely ready to fight, and I was like… yeah, Floyd came over and rescued me, but, boy, she had her eye on me for about 20 minutes after that whole thing went down. By the end of it, everything was cool, but when I came through the curtain, it wasn’t-the WWE staff telling me I did a great job and all that stuff. Normally, like, you know, that’s good, but as soon as I came past that staging area, she was right there waiting for me and, like… had me by the arm, like by the wrist, and pulled me off to the side, and, you know, I got my ass chewed pretty heavy, and I was like, ‘but ma’am, he’s a… yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am.’ Like, there was no arguing that whatsoever.”
