On the latest edition of the Talk Is Jericho podcast new AEW signee Paul Wight (fka Big Show) spoke about his decision to leave WWE due to the company failing to build new stars, specifically noting the time he put over Cesaro at WrestleMania 30 and WWE didn’t take advantage. Highlights from the interview are below.
Says WWE wasn’t building talent the way they used to and recalls being told on the day of that he’d be losing at Mania 30 to Cesaro:
They weren’t building talent like they used to, it was newer is better. Every 2-3 weeks, something new. I went through that first battle royal and I was meant to win that. Then the day of, they went oh we’re going with Cesaro. I was like OK, Cesaro is an incredible dude, he speaks 5 languages, this is a guy I will get behind no problem. I will put him over the best way I could.
How he put Cesaro over as best as he could, but WWE didn’t take advantage:
He slammed me over the top, I shook his hand at the end. That’s what you want to do in this business, you want to make guys. Then I watched Cesaro wither on the vine because they didn’t do anything with him. He was just a piece to give a chance for Paul Heyman to be on TV until Brock came back.
Says he feels like there’s more things he could have done for WWE but he wasn’t used:
That was the stack of the cards to get to the talent that they wanted to use and depend on. I’m not bitter, but it’s one of those things where I feel a bit sad that I didn’t get to do all the things I could have done. After a while, when the opportunity came up, I got tired of trying to prove to them what I could do for them. I can’t walk down the street without being recognised. I’m a constant billboard of everything that I’ve done, and I feel like WWE never took advantage.
(H/T and transcribed by Inside the Ropes)