Big Show spoke about what the original idea was for him and Mayweather and how injuries to other superstars meant that they two had to fight.
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AEW superstar and former WWE superstar Big Show, now known as Paul Wight was a part of one of the most talked-about matches in WWE when he took on Floyd Mayweather at WrestleMania 24. During the leadup to No Way Out just two months before WrestleMania 24, Mayweather cracked Big Show with fast punches which legitimately broke the big man’s nose, which lead to the pair having a match at WrestleMania. But according to Wight, the two men were not supposed to fight each other at the showpiece event.
Speaking on Submission Radio, Big Show spoke about what the original idea was for him and Mayweather and how injuries to other superstars meant that they two had to fight. He said, “It was a shoot. He punched me in the nose, I told him to break it. I mean, I don’t know how you work that, like, I mean, I’m sorry, I guess I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead and punch my nose’. I said not to shove it down the back of my head, but if you can tap it. I mean, to get a chance to work with probably one of the greatest fighters of all-time, certainly one of the greatest defensive fighters of all time. To work with Floyd and to have that opportunity for that spotlight at WrestleMania, I mean, that whole thing changed.
“Originally, I think that was supposed to be Floyd against Batista and Rey. It was supposed to be a tag originally and then there was a series of injuries. I think Dave got hurt really bad, either tore a lat or a bicep and the same thing happened with Rey, and all this happened before we got to kick the angle off. So when they presented the opportunity, hey, will you work with him one-on-one? I’m like, hell yes, I’ll work with him, whatever you guys want to do.
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Wight then went on to stress how good of an experience it was for him to fight Mayweather and how it was best for business. He said, “It was funny, and I came after. The only guy that had the balls to come around me was Shane because I was so wound up, I mean, even our camera crew people, everybody just scattered. And I remember Shane coming over and he goes, ‘You okay?’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah’, and he goes, ‘That was awesome’. Like only he can do it and it made me laugh, and it took me right out of it, but we had to go. They had to run Floyd down because he was in the car, he already left. They had to bring him back, but it was good, great business.
“But you know what? Another thing too, like working with Floyd was such a great experience because he gets promotion, he gets the art of selling tickets. He understands how to motivate people. And it’s funny, last night at the AEW show here in Vegas, his son came by the AEW show, so, of course, I remember when his son was a lot smaller and now his kids got the same smile as his dad, just a lot more hair than me or Floyd. But it was kind of cool to see that and to see him, so it was good.”
