During an appearance on the Rasslin’ with Brandon F. Walker podcast, Chris Jericho commented on AEW signing former WWE stars:
“It’s funny because some people are like, ‘Well, you can’t sign all these WWE castoffs or the guys from that generation,’ and we really haven’t. When there was a big purge last year when they let a bunch of people go, I don’t think we hired any of those guys and nothing against them. But a guy like Big Show transcends that. He’s one of the most recognizable pro wrestlers in the world, and when you’re dealing with a new company, because it’s only been a year and a half, and if we want to try and go get a TV deal in India for example, who’s on the show, Chris Jericho. We know him. Sting, I know him. Paul Wight. Oh, really? We know him.”
“Same thing as I said before, those are the guys that can open the door to get people’s eyeballs on Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks, and Darby, and Cody, and Ricky Starks etc, etc, etc. So he is super valuable, and also, he has the one thing that you can’t teach. Well, two things obviously. You can’t teach someone to be a giant, but you can’t see teach someone experience, and Paul’s got almost as much experience as I do, probably 25 years at this point.”
“We’ve got a lot of big guys on our roster who need to think more like big guys. Paul can help with that. Paul can also be very funny. He’s very charming, and I know more than anybody. A motivated Big Show, a motivated Paul Wight is very dangerous. He doesn’t have to wrestle every week nor should he, but when he gets the call, and he wants to be there and he wants to prove what he can do, he’s one of the best big men workers that’s ever lived. So he’s got that side of the coin as well. He’s a great sign for AEW, and I think anybody that doesn’t know for sure will have their minds changed very very quickly.”
