Big Show is #AllElite

[Storm Trooper]

Tony Khan just tweeted that Paul Wight (FKA The Big Show) is coming to All Elite Wrestling. This is a shocking announcement as Big Show seemed like a lifer it WWE especially with his Netflix show being done with WWE Studios (I'd bet the show is canceled now).

In the same tweet he also mentioned a new show called AEW dark: Elevation which will be on their YouTube channel.

https://twitter.com/TonyKhan/status/1364607196533829639?s=19

[EnviousDominous]

This reminds me of when Herb Abrams brought Andre to the UWF.

AEW is still trying to carve out their niche in the prowrestling world. I'm pretty mad at them for shitting the bed with how they've used Jake the Snake.

Why watch AEW? All the indy-darlings that despise the WWE are there, so they're your only option if you want to watch Kenny Omega or Pentagon Jr.

Why stop watching AEW? They try too hard to take something that worked before and use it for their storylines, only to produce a bargain-basement version of the original masterpiece. Oh, hi Big Show.

Paul Wight is great. He played his role to a T when he was mixing it up with Hogan in WCW, and when it came time to take his medicine in the WWE he gladly accepted that status as long as he could continue to entertain the fans.

There's only so much he can do now, and I sincerely hope that he limits his activities to being anything but an in-ring competitor. I'm not inspired to tune in to AEW to see the long-awaited debut of Paul Wight. AEW bombed Kenny Omega's world title win, and they're probably going to introduce Paul Wight only so that he can fail in an attempt to figure out what in the Hell Cody is saying through his lisp.

[Jack-Hammer]

This reminds me of when Herb Abrams brought Andre to the UWF.

AEW is still trying to carve out their niche in the prowrestling world. I'm pretty mad at them for shitting the bed with how they've used Jake the Snake.

Well, in their defense, there's only so much that can be done with Jake. From what I understand, he's been diagnosed with an advanced case of COPD. So he can't get physical and there are times in which he won't even be able to talk much simply because he has to save his breath, literally. At least, that's what he himself said a while back when he revealed he had COPD.

As to Paul Wight, it's being reported that he and WWE couldn't come to terms financially. On one hand, when you see guys like Edge and Goldberg showing up to wrestle a small handful of times and get millions of dollars for it, you might see where Show might feel he's not getting enough. On the other hand, Show is 49 years old, he's much more physically limited than Edge, was never as big of a star as Edge or Goldberg. Although, truth be told, he couldn't be any more limited than Goldberg as Wight can actually wrestle for more than 5 minutes without blowing up. Still, Goldberg's name is simply bigger and he reportedly gets a million bucks per match.

I also suspect Vince probably considers this a big ol' pecker slap right to the face. Show's been with WWE since the late 90s, he made a lot of money in WWE and Vince may feel Wight "owes" WWE something. To be perfectly honest, I don't see this as any sort of big loss for WWE. Show wasn't being used very much and WWE obviously wasn't going to use him to help elevate younger talent, so it's not like fans are going to tune out in droves just because he's not there anymore.

[Storm Trooper]

Well, in their defense, there's only so much that can be done with Jake. From what I understand, he's been diagnosed with an advanced case of COPD. So he can't get physical and there are times in which he won't even be able to talk much simply because he has to save his breath, literally. At least, that's what he himself said a while back when he revealed he had COPD.

As to Paul Wight, it's being reported that he and WWE couldn't come to terms financially. On one hand, when you see guys like Edge and Goldberg showing up to wrestle a small handful of times and get millions of dollars for it, you might see where Show might feel he's not getting enough. On the other hand, Show is 49 years old, he's much more physically limited than Edge, was never as big of a star as Edge or Goldberg. Although, truth be told, he couldn't be any more limited than Goldberg as Wight can actually wrestle for more than 5 minutes without blowing up. Still, Goldberg's name is simply bigger and he reportedly gets a million bucks per match.

I also suspect Vince probably considers this a big ol' pecker slap right to the face. Show's been with WWE since the late 90s, he made a lot of money in WWE and Vince may feel Wight "owes" WWE something. To be perfectly honest, I don't see this as any sort of big loss for WWE. Show wasn't being used very much and WWE obviously wasn't going to use him to help elevate younger talent, so it's not like fans are going to tune out in droves just because he's not there anymore.
The biggest loss for WWE is the fact that I would assume this means The Big Show Show is canceled. Although supposedly people think HHH said that WWE is not unwlling to work with other promotions.

At the end of the day the past 4 years or so Big Show was nothing but a part time guy used to elevate talent at his expense, or not used at all. I'm glad he moved on, I'm intrigued to hear him as a commentator. I wouldn't mind seeing him wrestle every so often.

He would never get the Goldberg or Edge treatment because he was never close to as big a star as either of those 2.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Big Show turns heel on WWE yet again

[Y 2 Jake]

The Christmas special was the end for The Big Show Show anyway.

Umm, I'm sure he can be valuable in some capacity but shouldn't AEW bring in former WWE guys who are going to make them grow as a company. They need a Kevin Owens, Aleister Black, guys who have stagnated but have much more to give and could use a change of scenery.

[EnviousDominous]

Well, in their defense, there's only so much that can be done with Jake. From what I understand, he's been diagnosed with an advanced case of COPD. So he can't get physical and there are times in which he won't even be able to talk much simply because he has to save his breath, literally. At least, that's what he himself said a while back when he revealed he had COPD.

I have been a Jake the Snake mark since I was old enough to comprehend thoughts. I respect him and I think that, even with his limited ability to speak, he's an absolute gold mine of priceless promos. So how did AEW use him? They had Vance "dorkass" Archer turn Jake around and rip his shirt open so we could read "EVERYBODY DIES!" which was written on Jake's back.

Yeah, thanks a bunch for that AEW. Hey guys, how should we use one of the most haunting and powerful personas in all of prowrestling? Let's emasculate him and have him crying saying "Oh, come on man" like he's being treated like a prison bitch. Fuck you AEW.


As to Paul Wight, it's being reported that he and WWE couldn't come to terms financially. On one hand, when you see guys like Edge and Goldberg showing up to wrestle a small handful of times and get millions of dollars for it, you might see where Show might feel he's not getting enough. On the other hand, Show is 49 years old, he's much more physically limited than Edge, was never as big of a star as Edge or Goldberg. Although, truth be told, he couldn't be any more limited than Goldberg as Wight can actually wrestle for more than 5 minutes without blowing up. Still, Goldberg's name is simply bigger and he reportedly gets a million bucks per match.

I really like Paul. The only thing I get out of this is knowing that AEW probably shoveled a ton of cash into his pockets, despite Paul's physical limitations this was still a big announcement that generated a lot of buzz for AEW. I think that Paul can be an awesome presence if he's used in a way that compliments his reputation as a veteran. Maybe he can play a Joseph Park role, or he can be a mentor to a newcomer. I understand that Tony intends to use him as an in-ring competitor, which I am strongly against. Not because of any assumption of Paul's lack of ability to wrestle, but because they'd probably waste him in nonsensical ways like they did Rusev. I hope I'm wrong, but they've been consistently abandoning their performers after they write themselves into a corner.


I also suspect Vince probably considers this a big ol' pecker slap right to the face. Show's been with WWE since the late 90s, he made a lot of money in WWE and Vince may feel Wight "owes" WWE something. To be perfectly honest, I don't see this as any sort of big loss for WWE. Show wasn't being used very much and WWE obviously wasn't going to use him to help elevate younger talent, so it's not like fans are going to tune out in droves just because he's not there anymore.

I really think Vince is just happy that he has one less person to provide for in terms of pay and airtime. The WWE is struggling to stay creatively relevant on their own, and if Paul still worked for them they'd be just paying him to not work for AEW. I think that fans will tune in just to see if this turns into anything fun, and I think that AEW will foolishly debut him in some useless bit part because they spent too much time trying to promote Sting and trying to make Tony look good for TV. Tony Khan's wrestling persona is what would happen if Dark Journey imitated The Grand Wizard.

[Fallout]

Has Big Show meant anything since 2014 (and that's being somewhat generous)? No offence to the guy, he's had both a long and solid career, but even at his peak, Big Show was never the biggest draw, he was just a solid hand and talent to have around.

Might be good for his own career though, not like he was doing anything beside that awkward but not totally god-awful sitcom.

[Stone Cold Tea]

Not to derail the thread but I see a lot of Edge comparisons. Was Edge ever really a draw?

I'd argue that Big Show had a better career than Edge and was a bigger draw. Edge is a bigger draw now as he had 10 years away from the company but 10 years ago was he a bigger draw?

Edge was opening 'Mania with Alberto Del Rio 10 years ago.

[EnviousDominous]

Not to derail the thread but I see a lot of Edge comparisons. Was Edge ever really a draw?

I'd argue that Big Show had a better career than Edge and was a bigger draw. Edge is a bigger draw now as he had 10 years away from the company but 10 years ago was he a bigger draw?

Edge was opening 'Mania with Alberto Del Rio 10 years ago.

Edge had his niche audience, and he had similar ups and downs to his ability to draw when compared to Big Show.

I think that comparing the two, overall, they're even. The Giant was way over, then Big Show shook up the WWE with his debut, and I would argue that his involvement kept Smackdown relevant when the WWE put most of their creative effort into RAW. He fell off when he was being fed shit sandwiches for upsetting certain people with his attitude, and when he had to run the ropes in OVW to lose weight. His ring work was borderline basic at best, the only times he really impressed me was when he'd sell moves that big men usually don't attempt to sell. The punch finisher was so stupid that it made The People's Elbow look creative by comparison.

Edge was kind of the opposite for me. He would cut the most agonizingly bland and vapid promos I've ever heard. I liked his ring work because he would perform spots that were innovative and unique. I think that overtime, given the amount of "Holy Shit!" spots he performed, he grew on the fans and they accepted him even if he was cutting boring ass promos. He was one of the few of whom the fans never used "WHAT!?" as an irritant. I say that he's the opposite of Big Show because Big Show was all presence and very little substance, and Edge was all substance with his presence only being powerful for me because he fell off a bunch of ladders.

[Stone Cold Tea]

I agree they would probably be tiered the same if I decided to ever do one of those Tier memes. They're both people you'd want for your company as Edge was a work horse and Big Show was the ultimate company guy. I've been watching all of the AE on WWE Network and Big Show had so many ups and downs even in his first year. I'll be honest as well, I really enjoyed the Big Show breaking into Hollywood gimmick.

Reason I'd say Big Show was a bigger draw is simply due to his size. His matches against Akebono ad Mayweather were perfect proof of this. He has a unique presence to him.

Edge for 5 star matches and Big Show for the spectacle.

[Fallout]

Edge is absolutely a bigger star than Show. He had a time period where he could call himself one of the greats of his era alongside Cena, Orton, Batista and Undertaker.

Big Show is in that tier below, a solid force in his own right, but from what I remember, he's had three world title reigns (not counting the ECW title, and being generous and counting that 45 second one he lost to Bryan cashing in MITB). Edge is in the double digits in that regard IIRC. And Show wasn't even remotely close to Andre in terms of spectacle and drawing power.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

Edge is one of the best heels of all time. He has many all-time great rivalries and matches and 11 world championship reigns.

Big Show was an upper mid-carder after 2003. He had celebrity matches, a couple of tag team championship reigns, and a brief world championship run (though the title was upper mid card by then). He turned heel and face so many times he became a meme. He's simply not close to Edge's level. He was a spectacle, and it didn't take long for the spectacle to wear off.

[Stone Cold Tea]

Edge vs Big Show in the SCF Tournament.

Make it happen!

[#AbsoluteUnit]

Good for him.