Paul Wight has worked through several completely different eras of professional wrestling, and he sees a huge difference between today’s talent and the wrestlers Vince McMahon had to deal with decades ago.
While speaking to TMZ’s Inside the Ring, Wight was asked to compare Vince McMahon’s management style with Tony Khan’s. Wight said it isn’t really fair to compare them without understanding the type of wrestlers McMahon was dealing with when he was younger. According to Wight, the old-school generation could be absolutely ruthless.
“I know for a fact from talking to older talents that were around when Vince was young and first took over, they ran Vince through the dirt. They bullied the shit out of Vince. They were bad contract-wise, business-wise. Andre was brutal at times.”
Wight said those wrestlers were far more focused on protecting themselves and making as much money as possible than helping the overall company.
“The talent back then, those older guys back in the day were mean. They were very ungiving as far as what they did business-wise. It was very much all about them. They weren’t worried about the company. They weren’t worried about other talent. Their thing was me, me only, I, me, me, me.”
When comparing those wrestlers to the current generation, Wight didn’t hold back. Wight believes some wrestlers today are so thrilled just to appear on television that they aren’t paying enough attention to how much money they should actually be making. That wasn’t how the older generation operated.
“Most of the times now — and I mean this in a nice way, I think it’s a good thing — a lot of the talent now is a lot softer. They’re excited because they’re fans. They’re in the business because they’re fans. They’ve got a contract. All they want to do is be on TV.”
“Most of them aren’t even really concerned about making some of the money they should be making because they just want to be on TV. They like that being-on-TV thing.”
“The old-timers, I mean, as nicely, they didn’t really give a shit about being on TV. All they wanted to do was make as much money as they could. If they could rob the entire bank and leave, like, dust motes on the vault floor when they left, they were happy. They got theirs, they got out.”
Wight said that environment also explains why McMahon eventually developed distance between himself and WWE talent. The old locker room could involve wrestlers messing with each other’s belongings, destroying gear and pulling vicious ribs, so McMahon had to manage a completely different kind of personality than many promoters deal with today.
Wight isn’t necessarily saying softer is worse. In fact, he specifically called it a good thing. His larger point was that today’s wrestlers have completely different priorities, and some may be leaving money on the table because simply being on television means so much to them.
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