Where would Paul Wight be in WCW if he didn't leave for the WWF in '99?

[TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP]

The last time The Giant appeared on WCW was sometime around early 1999 when he lost a Loser Leaves nWo match against Kevin Nash, the guy he had been feuding with for late 1997, and pretty much almost all of 1998. As it is, didn't Hogan declare that there could only be one giant in the recently merged nWo Wolfpac Elite?

At that point, nWo Wolfpac Elite were a heel group composed of Hogan, Nash, Steiner, Hall, Luger, Bagwell and Elizabeth, while Giant was with the nWo B-Team with Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Stevie Ray, Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Horace Hogan and Vincent. In effect, Giant was beaten down by the nWo Wolfpac Elite after losing to Nash, and after letting his WCW contract expire on his 27th birthday in 1999, Paul Wight left WCW for the WWF because he was unhappy with the volatile backstage politics fueled environment, and also because he had to work for his whole guaranteed money when he was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion for '95-'96.

After leaving WCW for WWF, Paul Wight lost his long hair, athletic ability and overall credibility by joining the corporate WWF company, as the WWF went public that same year. Had he stayed in WCW regardless of the volatile backstage environment, would Paul Wight have been allowed to keep the long hair that he sported when he was The Giant and actually taken as a serious threat ather than the joke that smarks constantly rag him on and get on his case about him and Kane hogging the spotlight? In reality, Wight and Kane actually put over upcoming talent, even if some of them were not good enough to be megastars in hindsight.

As for his storylines in WCW 1999, I wonder if The Giant would've eventually turned back to being a Team WCW babyface alongside Sting, Booker T, Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Raven, Saturn, Kidman, Benoit, Malenko, Mysterio, Goldberg, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Sid and Bret Hart while facing off against the likes of Hogan, Nash, Hall, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Luger, Elizabeth, Stevie Ray, Norton, Adams, Horace and Vincent of the nWo and Flair, Arn, DDP, Bigelow, Kanyon, Charles Robinson and Asya of The Four Horsemen. That's my prediction, and where do you see The Giant in WCW storylines after being kicked out by the nWo in early 1999?

 

[SSJPhenom]

If he hadn't have left WCW he would've continued to be exactly what he always was in WCW; a middle of the pack giant ( pun intended). He would've continued feuding with the nWo and being fed to guys like Goldberg, Hogan, Sting, and others to make them look impressive. He never would have been given a chance to shine because the old timers would've continued to dominate the main event and Russo would've made him look like a damn joke.

I don't always agree with what WWE has done with him in the past, but he faired better there than WCW.

 

[OYDK]

In WCW, Paul White was a big dude andddd... that's about it. He made his name off of being 7 ft 500 pounds (or 7'4, 580 if you listen to Schiavone and Heenan...) but Jesus was the guy dull. I remember always trying to get through a 2 minute Giant promo and failing miserably, and that's not even going into his atrocious ring-work. After 96 (95 really), he was never really treated like the huge deal that he came in as and always played second fiddle to guys like Hogan, Flair, Nash, etc. Had he stayed in WCW, he would have ended up right in the same place he is now. He would have been the first guy they picked up after the WCW purchase. As for what he would have done for the couple of years WCW survived? I'd say exactly what he was already doing. He would have stayed in the upper-card with forays into the main event when they needed him. He probably wins a couple more titles in the dying years, but that belt really didn't mean much after 99 anyway.

The big thing about this question is, Big Show was not developing in WCW. They let him just go in there, squash whoever, cut a random promo talking about his hand, and he'd leave. The reason he was treated like he was when he got to the WWE was because he didn't know how to wrestle and he didn't know how to develop a unique character, he was still green as goose shit and he had been in the business for 4 years already. While I agree that Show wasn't booked particularly well (like losing to Austin in his first match...), it was likely because they noticed how much work still needed to be done with him. I remember watching an interview a while back where Show talked about trying to learn the WWE style and how it was like learning to wrestle all over again, and he also said Vince was pretty blown away with how green he still was.

So yeah, in WCW the Giant probably gets treated like a bigger deal and remains a consummate main event player, but he does it as an unentertaining, generic, character. In WWE, he gets put through the ringer, loses some credibility, but ultimately ends up earning his status as a legend through some brilliant work over 15 years.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

He probably would have turned face in 1999 before turning heel again in the New Blood angle. They likely would have used him there as despite having been around for a few years, he still fit that younger and held back bill those other guys had.

He likely would have been turned face again late 2000 to 2001 and been one of the faces that were fed to Steiner before WCW folded. There's no doubt WWF would have bought his contract during the buy out as it would have been smaller than the others. The Giant would have been one of the captains heading into the much maligned Invasion of 2001.

Big Show began packing on weight like crazy in WWE. I wonder if the grueling schedule had anything to do with it? In WCW he would have been working less dates and found more time for the gym. Maybe he just let himself go.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

The last time The Giant appeared on WCW was sometime around early 1999 when he lost a Loser Leaves nWo match against Kevin Nash, the guy he had been feuding with for late 1997, and pretty much almost all of 1998. As it is, didn't Hogan declare that there could only be one giant in the recently merged nWo Wolfpac Elite?

At that point, nWo Wolfpac Elite were a heel group composed of Hogan, Nash, Steiner, Hall, Luger, Bagwell and Elizabeth, while Giant was with the nWo B-Team with Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Stevie Ray, Scott Norton, Brian Adams, Horace Hogan and Vincent. In effect, Giant was beaten down by the nWo Wolfpac Elite after losing to Nash, and after letting his WCW contract expire on his 27th birthday in 1999, Paul Wight left WCW for the WWF because he was unhappy with the volatile backstage politics fueled environment, and also because he had to work for his whole guaranteed money when he was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion for '95-'96.

After leaving WCW for WWF, Paul Wight lost his long hair, athletic ability and overall credibility by joining the corporate WWF company, as the WWF went public that same year. Had he stayed in WCW regardless of the volatile backstage environment, would Paul Wight have been allowed to keep the long hair that he sported when he was The Giant and actually taken as a serious threat ather than the joke that smarks constantly rag him on and get on his case about him and Kane hogging the spotlight? In reality, Wight and Kane actually put over upcoming talent, even if some of them were not good enough to be megastars in hindsight.

As for his storylines in WCW 1999, I wonder if The Giant would've eventually turned back to being a Team WCW babyface alongside Sting, Booker T, Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Barry Windham, Raven, Saturn, Kidman, Benoit, Malenko, Mysterio, Goldberg, Konnan, Buff Bagwell, Sid and Bret Hart while facing off against the likes of Hogan, Nash, Hall, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Luger, Elizabeth, Stevie Ray, Norton, Adams, Horace and Vincent of the nWo and Flair, Arn, DDP, Bigelow, Kanyon, Charles Robinson and Asya of The Four Horsemen. That's my prediction, and where do you see The Giant in WCW storylines after being kicked out by the nWo in early 1999?

With respect to the hair, the guy was starting to lose it. That's why he cut it short at first when The Rock (who also was loosing his hair at the time) made fun of him and then ultimately shaving it off completely a few years after that when the hair loss got real bad. If he would have kept the hair he would have looked like Baron Corbin does today. Yea his hair is long but it's paper thin and receding in the front. Not a good look.

With respect to the athletic ability that was inevitable. You can't be that big and remain that athletic. That's just nature.

Not sure what to make of the corporate WWE comment. I'll grant you that once Mania season ended in 99 he fell down a bit but ended up teaming with Taker and was being groomed for a feud with Taker and a possible Mania 16 match with Taker before Taker had to take time off due to injury and miss that Mania. He was then kept off of tv as his work rate was in question and once he worked his way back he would bounce around the card as needed.

 

[Makaveli31]

Well remember Nash had the book in early '99 so if you weren't in his "clique' chances were you were going to get buried and Paul Wight certainly wasn't in Nash's inner circle so the writing was basically on the wall. Nash's booking philosophy was to build a monster heel factory for Goldberg to run through to get to Hogan (a la Hogan in 1980's). Where we could go through heel after heel, and guess who got all the prime heel spots to work with Goldberg? Nash's buddies (Hall, Luger, Steiner, Bagwell). You would THINK that a legit 7 foot 500 pound monster would be included but for some reason Nash and Wight just could not co-exist. I never understood the "one Giant thing" unless Nash and Wight were going to go a program together which they weren't.

So to answer your question. Paul Wight would have remained mid-card in 1999.

 

[dsotm5150]

Paul Wight will always be one WCW's biggest lost opportunities. They didn't know how to book a giant let alone keep him relevant. After his program with Hogan in late '96 and then his fued with Nash, i dont think he ever had good storyline, everybody beat him. How do you get a giant over again after 90% of the roster has defeated him? Leaving was the best thing he could have done. Not that WWE was able to keep him relevant either.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

With respect to the hair, the guy was starting to lose it. That's why he cut it short at first when The Rock (who also was loosing his hair at the time) made fun of him and then ultimately shaving it off completely a few years after that when the hair loss got real bad. If he would have kept the hair he would have looked like Baron Corbin does today. Yea his hair is long but it's paper thin and receding in the front. Not a good look.

With respect to the athletic ability that was inevitable. You can't be that big and remain that athletic. That's just nature.

Not sure what to make of the corporate WWE comment. I'll grant you that once Mania season ended in 99 he fell down a bit but ended up teaming with Taker and was being groomed for a feud with Taker and a possible Mania 16 match with Taker before Taker had to take time off due to injury and miss that Mania. He was then kept off of tv as his work rate was in question and once he worked his way back he would bounce around the card as needed.

Yeah, pretty much all this. Show was losing his hair so, ultimately, why not just shave it off and be done with it?

As far as the athletic ability goes, again, I agree. When you're someone Paul Wight's size, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain athleticism as you get older. The metabolism slows down, the joints start to stiffen & lose strength, it can sometimes be a pain in the ass just walking around let alone wrestling. When Wight made his debut in WCW, he was all of 23 years old and probably weighed somewhere around 340 to 350 lbs. Now 10 years or so later, the guy was just getting flat out lazy as his weight ballooned to the point where he legitimately weighed more than 500 lbs. but he lost a lot of weight and, legitimately, is probably in the 400-425 range.

As to where he'd be in WCW if he hadn't left for WWE, he'd have ultimately been little more than a footnote. His peak time in WCW was in the year from his debut in October 1995 to probably about the same time in 1996; he'd won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship by beating Hogan & Flair respectively. After he dropped the title to Hogan at the Hog Wild ppv in 1996, that was pretty much it for his time as a main eventer in WCW. The rest of the time, he usually wound up putting over the bigger names, or generally getting his ass handed to him by nWo members, or had 3 very forgettable tag title runs with Luger, Sting & Hall. If Wight had remained in WCW, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd suffer from the same atrocious booking decisions that ultimately destroyed the credibility and quality of the product.

Wight's time in WWE has had its share of successes and failures. To me, Wight will never be one of the all time great Super Heavyweights because, as a fan, it's kind of hard to take a guy seriously when he's impersonating Conan the Barbarian, dancing with Pee Wee Herman or bawling his eyes out while begging to not be fired. But, he also accomplished a lot in WWE and ultimately took the bad with the good like a pro. He won 5 World Championships in WWE, held the Intercontinental Championship & United States Championship and won 8 Tag Team Championships. Ultimately, he's had a career that genuinely qualifies him to be in the HOF at some point and he's ultimately gone on to make a lot of money in WWE.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think he made the correct choice when he joined the WWE, The fact that he's been featured quite highly on the cards in the WWE for nearly 20 years now he must have made great money during all those years, If he had of stayed in WCW there was so many main eventers there at that point I believe he would of been mainly used as a jobber maybe only getting the occasional small push for an upcoming match there seemed like too much politics and too many guys complaining their not getting used right as well as some that had creative control so its hard to see the guy ever getting ahead again and think when WCW collapsed I think his reputation would have been so damaged by that point that the WWE wouldn't have had the same interest at bringing him in.

 

[Lowdown]

Big Show would've just been another one of the dudes lost in the shuffle if he'd decided to stick with WCW. He left them for a reason, and while I've never liked the constant turns he's done since coming to WWF, at least he's had a few moments where he stood out. There was too much politicking going on during the NWO days, and I believe it wouldn't have changed to benefit him had he re-upped in '99. He made the right call.

 

[jpickens]

Don't know after the NWO's disbandment and Hogan's departure he might have made a comeback either as a key main eventer or a top uppercard guy with a couple of strong US title or TV title runs or maybe a good run with the tag belts if given a good partner.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Paul Wight made two great decisions in his life... getting his pituitary sorted young and joining WWE.

The first mean that he has avoided a lot of the problems that Andre and Khali have faced, once he "stopped growing" he took care of it so the bones would stop.. That's given him a much better longevity... Khali only got it done a while back... and he was a wreck after it.

As for WCW, they never actually knew what they had... touting him as "Andre's Son" proved it. Making him wear the awful Andre singlet and the rooftop told him all he ever needed to know.

That's not to say Vince has always been better, at times he too has squandered Big Show's potential but in the main he's had an excellent career there...

He did have a wobble when they sent him back to OVW and it worked for him... he sorted his attitude, which was his only real hangover from WCW and became a team player.

Had he not moved when he did, he would have been a spent force in wrestling by 2001... and someone Vince probably wouldn't have picked up as there would have been no rebuilding him in the eyes of the fans.

Show is pretty unique in that he can be pushed, de-pushed and not actually lose anything from it. In WCW he'd have jobbed to Hogan, then Goldberg...and it would have been impossible to bring him back from it cos neither would have put him over strongly enough.

 

[Chris1-16]

To be honest even when he went to WWE he didn't get to the level that was expected of him. Within a year he was sent to OVW for being out of shape again and he clearly didn't care at that point. That was pretty much the difference between WCW and WWE, WWE punished him when he wasn't trying. He began having the same attitude late in his WCW run yet they just kept pushing him and didn't encourage him to lose weight or anything.