Paul Wight was once billed as Andre The Giant’s son.
On a recent episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, Eric Bischoff reflected on Hulk Hogan coming up with the idea to bill Big Show, formerly known as The Giant in WCW, as the son of Andre The Giant when he first came into the business during the boom period of World Championship Wrestling.
“Hulk was the one that really brought Paul in,” Bischoff said. “I can’t remember the details of how they came together, I think Hulk was at a charity basketball game in Chicago, and Paul was playing on that game. Hogan caught sight of Paul and thought Paul was interested in wrestling. I don’t know enough of the details to even sketch it out, but at the end of that conversation it was Hulk Hogan who said, ‘Hey you got to see what I found.’ Hulk was so excited about Paul Wight.”
Bischoff continued, “Hulk or anybody else that’s been successful is going to go with what they know. What’s worked for me in the past? How do I recreate that? Make it feel a little different, but do something that I believe the audience is going to respond to based on my experience in the past. Which is not a bad way to make a decision, generally. Hulk wanted him to be the son of Andre, or whatever he was. That was all Hulk, so there was no discussion of maybe we should make him something else. That never happened.”
Check out the complete episode of the show at Apple.com. H/T to WrestlingInc.com for transcribing the above quotes.
