Paul Wight Says He Hated the Name “The Big Show” When Vince McMahon First Gave It to Him

Paul Wight didn’t exactly love his WWE name when Vince McMahon surprised him with it. In fact, he straight-up hated it.

During his Going Ringside interview at River City Wrestling Con, the former “Giant” opened up about the moment WWE rebranded him as “The Big Show” after his WCW jump in 1999. Since “The Giant” was trademarked by WCW, WWE needed a fresh moniker—and Vince McMahon didn’t waste time springing it on him backstage.

“I couldn’t use the Giant in WWF at the time because it was WCW intellectual property. They had copyrighted it. So then I was like, ‘Ah, gosh, I’m the Giant… what are they going to call me now?’ There were tons of names kicked around.”

One day, McMahon casually passed him in the hallway and dropped the new identity without warning. Wight didn’t love it.

“Vince walks by me one day in the hall and goes, ‘How’s the Big Show today?’ I went, ‘Who the hell is the Big Show?’ He says, ‘You’re the Big Show. You’re an athlete. You’re huge. You can talk. You’re charismatic. You’re the Big Show. You’re everything.’ And when he walked off, I went, ‘Oh my God, that name sucks.’”

Despite his initial reaction, Wight said he eventually came to terms with it. He explained that McMahon never liked the name “Paul Wight” anyway and that the name itself wasn’t as important as what he did with it.

“But again, it’s not really the name — it’s what you do with it. You know, the name isn’t going to make you a star. Sure, there are some names that have an advantage, but I knew he didn’t like my real name.”

He added that WWE let guys like John Cena and Randy Orton keep their names because it suited their characters—but for him, Vince had other plans.

“Back then there were guys like Randy Orton, John Cena, Ted DiBiase — they got to keep their names because it worked for their character. He didn’t like Paul Wight. To him, that was as vanilla as it gets. I’m like, ‘Well, hello… can’t sing, can’t dance, I’m just big — I’m just glad to be here.’”

In the end, the name stuck—and so did Wight. Whether he liked it or not, “The Big Show” became one of the most recognizable names in wrestling history.

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