*Paul Wight has had his share of triumphs and disappointments.*

His Big Break
Working at the karaoke distributorship enabled Wight to come in contact with many stars of entertainment, one of which was radio personality Danny Bonaduce, who played Danny on the "Partridge Family." In early 1995, Danny invited Wight to play in a celebrity basketball game. Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart also attended, and Wight met Hogan, one of his wrestling heroes. "I swear to god, when I first met Hulk Hogan I thought he was six inches taller than me," Wight said at the time. Hogan was impressed with Wight's overall look and saw a potential star in the making. Hogan spoke to Wight about a future career in professional wrestling and invited him to come to the matches as his guest. After the matches, Wight socialized with the stars of World Championship Wrestling, including his idol, Ric Flair. "As I'm standing there in the hallway, I see this platinum blond hair walk by," Wight said at the time. "He said to me, `How you doing, sir, nice to see you.' I had to go outside and take a deep breath and hold onto the wall. Ric Flair had just walked by me and said hello. Oh my god! You could have taken me outside, put a bullet through my head, ended my life, and I would have died happy. I was hyperventilating. I thought for sure I had just met Jesus Christ himself." Wight was promised a phone call from Eric Bischoff. That call never came. Dejected, Wight and some friends headed to Orlando for a vacation. Hart, who lived in the area, contacted him because he believed that Wight was in town negotiating with the World Wrestling Federation, who was also in town for a show. Wight was not, but it did accelerate a meeting with Bischoff, who signed Wight in March 1995 and assigned him to WCW's training school, "The PowerPlant," in Atlanta. For the next six months, Wight worked extensively with trainer and former wrestler Terry Taylor. He and wrestlers Diamond Dallas Page and Paul Levesque, who is now Triple H in the WWF, began teaching Wight about the rigors of wrestling. At the time, Wight was extremely agile and was performing moonsaults and jumps off the top rope with regularity. Hogan was monitoring the training regimen and had other ideas. Hogan believed a grounded mat style was better suited for Wight and invited him to move to his Florida beach house to continue his training. Hoping to be groomed for a spot against Hogan, Wight accepted the offer. In short time, Wight debuted in then-booker Kevin Sullivan's "Dungeon of Doom" as "the Giant."

A Giant Debut
A series of worked attacks against Hogan culminated on October 29, 1995, at Halloween Havoc, where Wight challenged Hogan for the WCW world heavyweight title in his first match. Shocking fans around the world, Wight defeated Hogan to become world champion. Although he was stripped of the title less than a week later, Wight became instantly famous and rich. With his notoriety came jealousy and resentment from other performers, some of whom had been wrestling for years and never had the opportunities Wight was given. Along with these problems came the perception from Bischoff and other WCW brass that Wight had an attitude problem and was Hogan's lackey. While Hogan was away making movies, Wight was constantly on the phone with Hogan conferring on storylines and character direction. If Hogan didn't like it, he would instruct Wight to tell the booking committee. This caused problems backstage for the young and inexperienced Wight, but he continued to seek the advice of his mentor. "Hogan got me my job, took care of me and put the freakin' strap on me in my first match." Wight says. "I looked at Hulk as the guy who has made more money than anyone in the entire business, and this is the guy I was going to listen to. It caused a lot of resentment toward me." Wight won his second WCW world title on April 22,1996, from Flair, and continued wrestling in WCW for almost three years. During that span, Wight wrestled a who's who of performers, including Lex Luger, Sting (with whom he won the tag-team title on May 17, 1998), and Randy Savage. Wight also became Hogan's ally when he joined the New World Order alongside Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. He and Hall captured the tag-team title on July 20, 1998. During that time, he also began a budding acting career, playing Santa in 1996's "Jingle All the Way" and Captain Insano in 1998's "The Waterboy." Now in his mid-20s, Paul Wight was a two-time world champion and earning a high six-figure income. Fellow workers began to spread word that his ego was getting as big as his bank account. "I thought I was a lot better than I was," he says. "I was having good matches, because the guys I was working with were leading me. I thought I was main-event material and gave main-event matches. Looking back, I was wrong."

From Being WWF-Bound to Being Sent Down
Increased problems backstage led to Wight's decision not to renew his WCW contract. On February 8, 1999, his WCW contract ended, and on February 9, he signed a 10-year deal with the WWF. "No matter what the WCW would have offered me, I was going to the WWF," Wight says. "I already had plans in place prior to my contract ending. As a matter of fact, Hogan told me the first day I walked into WCW that I needed to be in the WWF. Nash told me the same thing." Wight debuted on WWF programming on February 14, 1999, at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view, throwing Steve Austin against a steel cage with such force that the cage broke. Well received by the fans and the wrestling public, Wight, dubbed "the Big Show" by Vince McMahon, was on his way. As his tenure in the WWF progressed, Wight realized that his time spent in WCW did nothing to prepare him for life in the "big leagues." Performers were sharper, quicker and more professional than anything he had encountered in WCW. He tried to hide his anxiety by being cocky. This alienated him from many on the roster. An injury to his right knee required surgery, and during his six weeks of rehabilitation, Wight's weight ballooned from 430 pounds to more than 490 pounds. Overweight, sloppy, and too cocky for his own good, Wight was issued an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out. For a while, Wight was on the track back to his old self, and the WWF rewarded him with the world heavyweight title on November 14, 1999, at Survivor Series in a Triple Threat match against the Rock and Triple H, but it didn't last long.

The Big Show Return to the Big Time
By summer of 2000, Wight's weight and attitude problems resurfaced. Rather than releasing him, the WWF decided to send him to Ohio Valley Wrestling, run by Jim Cornette and trainer Danny Davis in Louisville. They were given the task of getting Wight's body and mind back in shape. Louisville was a long way from the glitz and glamour of the WWF, but it was a necessary trip for Wight. After six months in the territory, Wight lost 60 pounds and found a new attitude and work ethic. He was called back to the WWF for Royal Rumble on January 21, 2001. Since then, feuds with Kane, the Hardy Boyz, the Undertaker, and Test followed. Time and time again, Wight's attitude was tested, and thus far, he has passed. As of press time, the Big Show is trying to win the affections of Trish Stratus and appears to be enjoying himself once again. Maybe this time around, the Big Show can finally live up to his name.

Source:Wrestling Digest