Paul Wight, a.k.a. The Big Show and The Giant, has made a huge impact on the wrestling world both as a baby face
and as a heel. He learned the tricks of the trade a WCW's training grounds, the Poer Plant, and then made an
impression entrance in the industry in 1995, when he burst on the WCW scene as The Giant, claiming to be the
long lost son of the legendary Andre The Giant.
The rookie grappler tried to play hero right off the bat as he pretended to only want to defend his "in-his-dreams"
father's honor. He didnt toil around with mid-card personalities upon entering the federation. Instead, he went right
after the top dog, Hulk Hogan, citing that the Hulkster was responsible for many wrongs in his llate, great dad's life.
This association immediatelyput the new kid, well, giant in his caes, on the block in the limelight. In his first few
months on the pro-scene, The Giant went out of his way to make Hogan's life miserable. He enjoyed in a big way wreaking
havoc on the wrestling legend's life. On October 29, 1995, at Halloween Havoc in Detroit, the 2 squared off in a Monster
Truck match and, by the end of the event, The Giant sat atop the WCW mountain as the world champion.
This would be only the beginning of his succes in the WCW. He would go on to win one more world title (over Ric Flair on
April 22, 1996, in Albany,Ga.) and 3 tag-team belts in his career with the organization. Amazingly, the big guy would
garner the tag straps with 3 different partners (Lex Luger, Sting, and Scott Hall) during his time on the tag circuit. He
had many alliances in his time with the WCW, and he often went back and forth from hero to heel. One such circumstance was
in 1998, during his reign as tag chqmp with Sting.
Sting waas a clean-cut-to-the-bone wrestler and wanted no part of dirty-wrestling factions such as the NWO, and when The
Giant turned heel and joined the posse, Sting spat in his teammate's face to show his disapproval. This was the beginning
of the end of their tag team and the start of the feud between the two grapplers. Their score was settled later that year
at The Great American Bash event, where The Giant defeated his former ally in less than 7 minutes.
Wight would make the big jump to the WWF in Febuary 1999, when again he made a huge entrance. He literally burst onto the
scene as he ripped through the ring canvas at the ST. Valentines Day Massacre and grabbed a hold of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
and threw him through a steel cage.
He immediately aligned himself with the federation boss, Vince McMahon, as part of Team Corporate, and he again tried to play
hero the last linr of defense for the WWF head honcho. But, as has been the case throughout his whole career, Wight jumped
ship and rebelled against Team Corporate and McMahon. The mountain-of-a-wrestler felt he was taking too much abuse from Vince
and The Rock of Team Corporate. As a matter of fact, the situation came to a head at Wrestlemania XV when Wight knocked out his
boss after MacMahon slapped him in the face following The Big Show's match against Mankind. His own words, which were really
meant for Mankind before their bout that night were:"Now you have awaken a sleeping Giant!" That statement really was a warning
to McMahon and the rest of the WWF.
In months that followed, he tore up the scene, knocking down any and all in his path. He teamed with another giant, The Undertaker,
in August 1999 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to win the tag title. The awesome duo would then take part in some action-packed matches
with The Rock and Mankind, as the pairings traded tag titles 3 times over the course of their meetings.
But the best was yet to come. By November 1999, the 7"2' 500 pound wrestler was wearing the heavyweight belt around his waist courtesy
of his defeating Triple H at the Survivor Series held in Detroit. This was quite a feat considering The Tampa native had only been in
the federation for a mere 9 months. Some wrestlers go a whole lifetime waiting for a chance just to take part in a world title match,
let alon win one!
The Big Show wound up putting on a funny show when he appeared as a guest on Saturday Night Live last year and decided to try yet
another image change in the ring. This change wasn't a stretch for the muscular giant, as he was bringing his true life persona, which
includes making people laugh, to the mat.
Since the change, some of the characters wight has appeared as were The Big Showbowski and the Fat Bastard character from the Austin
Powers movie. No one knows what's next for this WWF superstar, but one thing is for certain, and that's "The Show" must go on!
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Bam Bam Bigelow
