Big Show

Paul Donald Wight II was born on February 8, 1972 in Aiken, South Carolina. Wight used to have acromegaly, a disease of the endocrine system. By the age of twelve, Wight was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall, weighed 220 lb (100 kg), and had chest hair. In 1991, as a member of the Wichita State University basketball team at age nineteen, Wight was listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m). He underwent successful surgery in the early 1990s on his pituitary gland, which halted the progress of this condition. His shoe size is 22 5E, his ring size is 22, and his chest is 64 inches (1,600 mm) in circumference. In 2005, Wight leased a bus and hired a bus driver because of the practical problems his size presents to air travel and car rental.

After school, Wight worked various jobs including bouncing, bounty hunting, and answering phone calls. Through doing the latter for a karaoke company, he met Danny Bonaduce in a live microphone amateur contest on his morning radio show. Bonaduce introduced Wight to his friend, Hulk Hogan. They had an informal basketball game, as part of a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotion for an upcoming show at the Rosemont Horizon. Hogan liked how Wight worked the crowd and recommended him to World Championship Wrestling's vice president, Eric Bischoff. Wight went to the Horizon show, and was invited into the locker room, where he met Ric Flair, Arn Anderson (his boyhood hero) and Paul Orndorff. He later met Bischoff there and came to a deal. Wight had previously wrestled one match: on December 3, 1994, at a World Wrestling Association show in Clementon, New Jersey, he lost by countout to WWA Heavyweight Champion Frank Finnegan.

In 1995, Wight signed with WCW, first appearing at Slamboree, and was then billed as the son of Andre the Giant (although this was later dropped) and accordingly used the ring name The Giant as a member of Kevin Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom stable. Wight made his professional in-ring debut at Halloween Havoc against Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. He won the match after Hogan's manager, Jimmy Hart, purposely got Hogan disqualified and then turned on him. The next night The Giant showed up on WCW Monday Nitro wearing the championship belt; Hart, who became The Giant's manager, revealed that he had put a stipulation in the contract for the match that if Hogan lost via disqualification, he would lose his championship. WCW responded by nullifying the title change due to the circumstances surrounding it and the championship was vacated.

The Giant then entered the sixty-man battle royal contested for the vacant championship at World War 3 in November 1995. He was one of the final six combatants, being eliminated simultaneously with Sting and Lex Luger by Hogan. The Giant did not leave the ring upon being eliminated and pulled Hogan underneath the ropes while Randy Savage was eliminating the One Man Gang from the match. The referee did not see The Giant's actions, only that Hogan was on the floor, and thus awarded the match and the title to Savage. The Giant teamed with Ric Flair to defeat Hogan and Savage at Clash of the Champions XXXII, but was decisively beaten by Hogan in a cage match at SuperBrawl VI. After a short feud with Loch Ness, The Giant regained the World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Flair. After Hogan formed the New World Order (nWo), he defeated The Giant for the title at Hog Wild following interference from Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

Wight is also well-known for his frequent turns between face and heel throughout his career, to the point it has become a running gag among wrestling fans. One wrestling site has estimated that through 2018 Wight has done about 34 turns since his WCW debut in 1995, four of those alone coming during his first year with the WWF. Wight himself acknowledged that while the frequent turns may have hurt his legacy and his mystique, he was also honored with the fact that he can play both roles well and fit in wherever he is needed to put younger talent over.

In 1997, The Giant began a feud with nWo member Nash, who constantly dodged the Giant, including no-showing their scheduled match at Starrcade. In 1998, at Souled Out, the two finally met in the ring, with Nash accidentally injuring The Giant's neck when he botched his signature jackknife powerbomb finisher. The botch was worked into a storyline, according to which Nash had intentionally dropped the Giant on his head in order to break his neck. When Nash left the nWo and formed his own stable, the nWo Wolfpac, The Giant rejoined the original nWo to oppose Nash and his allies. While back with the nWo, The Giant won two more Tag Team Championships, once with Sting as an unwilling partner (as the match was signed before The Giant returned to the nWo) and once with Scott Hall. In the interim between those two reigns, he lost his half of the titles to Sting in a singles match where only the winner would remain champion and could choose a new partner.

Wight married his first wife, Melissa Ann Piavis, on February 14, 1997. They separated in 2000 and their divorce was finalized on February 6, 2002. Together, they have a daughter. On February 11, 2002, he married his second wife, Bess Katramados. Together, they have two children.

On the October 12, 1998 episode of Nitro, Bill Goldberg defeated The Giant in a no-disqualification match. In a show of strength, Goldberg executed a delayed vertical suplex before executing the Jackhammer on The Giant. After the nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac stables merged again in January 1999, Hogan declared that there was only room for one "giant" in the group, forcing Giant and Nash to wrestle for that spot. Nash defeated Giant following a run-in by Scott Hall and Eric Bischoff. The Giant was then attacked by the entire nWo. On the "Building An Army" episode of the Monday Night War feature from the WWE Network, Wight stated that he was making a fraction of what the main eventers were making and his salary was not increased after he requested it be by Eric Bischoff; as a result, Wight allowed his WCW contract to expire on February 8, 1999, his 27th birthday.

Wight signed a ten-year contract with the World Wrestling Federation on February 9, 1999, debuting under the name of Paul Wight as a member of Vince McMahon's stable, The Corporation, at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House. During McMahon's cage match against Steve Austin, Big Show tore through the canvas from underneath the ring and attacked Austin, establishing himself as a heel. After he threw Austin into the side of the cage, the cage broke, causing Austin to fall outside to the floor, meaning he won the match. Wight subsequently served as McMahon's enforcer.

In March 1999, Wight was charged with assault by Robert Sawyer, who alleged that Wight had broken his jaw during the summer of 1998 in the course of an altercation at Marriott Hotels & Resorts in Uniondale, New York. Wight claimed that Sawyer had verbally abused, threatened, and shoved him, and that he had responded by punching Sawyer. After three days, Judge Thomas Feinman delivered a verdict of not guilty.

On the October 7 episode of SmackDown, Big Show returned and became number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship after he attacked Mark Henry and chokeslammed him through the broadcast table. At Vengeance, Big Show fought Henry to a no-contest after the ring collapsed following a superplex from Henry, similar to his match with Brock Lesnar in 2003. This time, less damage was done, and the damage mainly occurred around the lower right-hand ring post. Big Show ended up being taken out on a motorized cart with a flatbed. Big Show faced Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship once again at Survivor Series winning via disqualification when Henry hit Big Show with a low blow, afterwards he leg dropped a chair on Henry's leg, much like what Henry did to Big Show months before.

On the June 27 episode of Raw, Big Show was drafted to the Raw brand in the 2005 WWE draft lottery; preventing him from participating in a scheduled Six-Man Elimination match for the SmackDown! Championship. He successfully pinned Gene Snitsky in a tag team match, which turned into a singles match when both men's partners brawled backstage. After squashing his scheduled opponents for several weeks, Wight returned to his rivalry with Snitsky. On the August 22 episode of Raw, he foiled Snitsky's harassment of backstage interviewer Maria. The following week, Snitsky hit Big Show with the ring bell immediately after Big Show had won a match. As a result, Big Show and Snitsky were placed in a match at Unforgiven, in which Big Show defeated Snitsky. On the September 26 episode of Raw, Big Show defeated Snitsky again in a Street Fight.

Subsequently, Big Show was one of eight participants in the 2006 Road to WrestleMania Tournament, the winner of which would receive a shot at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 22. On the February 16 episode of Raw, Big Show faced Triple H in the tournament semi-finals in a match that ended in a double count-out. As a result, Big Show and Triple H faced Rob Van Dam (the winner of the opposing semi-finals) in a Triple Threat match to determine the winner of the tournament on the February 20 episode of Raw. The match was won by Triple H after he pinned Van Dam.

At Cyber Sunday, Show faced John Cena and King Booker in a Champion of Champions match. The fans voted for King Booker's World Heavyweight Championship to be on the line. However, Big Show failed to win the match, which was won by King Booker after pinning Cena following interference from Kevin Federline, who was just beginning a feud with Cena himself at the time. At Survivor Series, Big Show competed in the traditional 10-man Survivor Series tag team match which he lost after being pinned by Cena, the final survivor of the match along with Bobby Lashley. Big Show then began a feud with Lashley, who left SmackDown! to join the ECW brand to participate in the Extreme Elimination Chamber match at December to Dismember for the ECW World Championship. At December to Dismember, after busting Big Show open by breaking one of the plexiglass pods with his face, Lashley defeated Big Show to win the ECW World Championship. Following an unsuccessful rematch on the December 5 episode of ECW, Big Show took time off from the ring to heal injuries he had sustained on ECW. After two months of inactivity, Wight's contract expired on February 8, 2007.

After a two-month departure from WWE, Wight replaced Jerry Lawler when the WWE withdrew him from a match with former nWo partner Hulk Hogan at the PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007. Wight was introduced as Paul "The Great" Wight. He stated that "Big Show" was his slave name and that he didn't want to be owned anymore. Hogan won the match after he bodyslammed Wight and pinned him following the leg drop.

On February 17, 2008 at No Way Out, Big Show made his return to WWE television, attempted to attack Rey Mysterio after his World Heavyweight Championship match with Edge but got into a physical confrontation with boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. after Mayweather came from the crowd to challenge Big Show. The confrontation ended with Mayweather breaking Big Show's nose with a punching combination. Big Show lost to Mayweather at WrestleMania XXIV by knockout after a shot to the jaw with brass knuckles. He turned face soon after.

Big Show then began feuding with Mark Henry after he attacked and injured him on the June 17 episode of SmackDown, as Big Show's frustrations and anger towards Del Rio was redirected unintentionally to Mark Henry. Henry retaliated by attacking Big Show during his match at Capitol Punishment and attacking him with the World's Strongest Slam through an announce table, causing Big Show to lose to Del Rio by knockout. Henry did the same thing on Kane through the broadcast table the next night on Raw after their arm wrestling match, and again on the June 27 episode of Raw when Henry then broke the cage door during the steel cage match between Big Show and Alberto Del Rio, allowing Del Rio to escape. He then attacked Big Show with the cage door, breaking the cage viciously. On July 17, 2011, at Money in the Bank, Henry defeated Big Show. After the match, Henry fractured Big Show's fibula, keeping him out of action for almost three months.

Big Show has been featured in infomercials for Stacker 2 with former NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace and Scott Wimmer, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Elliott Sadler, retired crew chief turned Fox Sports broadcaster Jeff Hammond, and 2002, 2005, and 2011 Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart. In addition, Wight appeared on the "Thong Song" remix music video by Sisqó and Foxy Brown. Wight was featured on the game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, winning $15,000 for his chosen charity, United Service Organizations. He is the only contestant to appear on two versions of the game show in two different countries. On March 31, 2012, Big Show won the first-ever Slime Wrestling World Championship at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, defeating The Miz after throwing him into a tub of slime.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Show teamed with Rey Mysterio to unsuccessfully challenge Cody Rhodes and Goldust for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a four-way match, also involving RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel), and The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger). On the January 6 episode of Raw, Show confronted Brock Lesnar after Lesnar attacked Mark Henry. There was a short physical confrontation between the two, starting a feud which was settled at the Royal Rumble where Show lost to Lesnar after being brutally assaulted with numerous chair shots before the match started. Big Show participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, being the last person eliminated by winner Cesaro. On July 26, 2014, Big Show made his return at a live event, defeating Cesaro. He made his television return on the August 8 episode of SmackDown, teaming with Mark Henry to defeat RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel). On the September 26 episode of SmackDown, Show started a feud with Rusev when he defeated Rusev by disqualification. At Hell in a Cell, he was defeated by Rusev via submission. The following night on Raw, Henry turned on Show and attacked him, during their match with the WWE Tag Team Champions Gold and Stardust. On the November 3 episode of Raw, he defeated Henry via disqualification when he was slammed onto the steel steps by Henry.

At Survivor Series, as part of Team Cena, Big Show turned on and knocking out Cena, causing his elimination. However, Show shook hands with his former rival Triple H and left intentionally getting himself counted out, turning heel in the process. The following night on the November 24 episode of Raw, Big Show explained his actions, stating he has a family to care for and the Authority had created issues for him in the past, thus he had to make that tough decision. He was interrupted by Erick Rowan who referred to him as a bully and igniting a feud for turning his back on the team. Big Show faced Rowan in a first-ever Steel Stairs match at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs pay-per-view, which he won. Later in the event, Show attacked Cena during his match with Seth Rollins but was then confronted by Roman Reigns, leading to Cena winning the match. This started a feud between Show and Reigns, which resulted in Reigns defeating Show multiple times by count-out and disqualification. On January 25, 2015, at the Royal Rumble, Big Show entered the Royal Rumble match at #29, eliminating five superstars before being eliminated by Reigns, the eventual winner. At Fastlane, Big Show, Seth Rollins and Kane defeated Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback when Kane pinned Ziggler. Big Show won the 2nd Annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. Show later reignited his feud with Roman Reigns after attacking him during his triple threat match against Ryback and Randy Orton on the April 6 episode of Raw and chokeslamming him on a taxi cab on the April 13 episode of Raw. However, Show lost to Reigns in a Last Man Standing match at Extreme Rules.

On July 19, Big Show was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2016 WWE draft. During this time, Big Show begun competing mostly on the live event circuit rather than Raw and SmackDown, as he transitioned into a part-time role as WWE officials wanted to focus on the new era of WWE programming. On the December 5 episode of Raw, Big Show was revealed as Seth Rollins' surprise opponent, chosen by Kevin Owens. During the match, Owens would interfere, leading Big Show to chokeslam him, and intentionally counting himself out. On January 29, 2017, at the Royal Rumble, Big Show entered the Royal Rumble match at number 9, but was eliminated by Braun Strowman. At Fastlane, Big Show defeated Rusev. On April 2 at WrestleMania 33, Big Show competed in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, from which he was eliminated by Braun Strowman. On the April 17 episode of Raw, Big Show wrestled Strowman, where the ring collapsed after Strowman executed a superplex on Big Show, resulting in the match going to a no contest, similar to his matches with Brock Lesnar in 2003 and Mark Henry in 2011, respectively.

On the May 22 episode of Raw, Enzo Amore was found unconscious backstage after being attacked from behind by an unknown assailant, and again the following week. On the June 5 episode of Raw, after Big Cass, Amore's tag team partner, was attacked backstage, Big Show would fill in for him as Amore's tag team partner to defeat Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Big Show also appeared a week later, aiding Amore after Cass was once again attacked backstage and forced to face Gallows and Anderson on his own. On the June 19 episode of Raw, general manager Kurt Angle held a meeting about the attacks on Amore and Cass, then Cass admitted that he was behind the attacks on Amore. On the July 10 episode of Raw, Big Show attacked Cass, after he gloated over his attack on Amore. On the August 7 episode of Raw, Big Show and Amore lost to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, after a distraction from Cass. After the match, Big Show giving the KO Punch to Cass, with a match between Big Show and Cass was scheduled for SummerSlam, while Amore was suspended above the ring inside a shark cage. At SummerSlam on August 20, Big Show was defeated by Cass. On the September 4 episode of Raw, Big Show was defeated by Braun Strowman in a steel cage match, being thrown through the cage post-match, and was then aided backstage. It was reported the attack was used to write Big Show off television as he required hip surgery. On April 6, 2018, Big Show inducted his long-time friend and rival Mark Henry into the WWE Hall of Fame.

On October 7, 2018, it was announced that Big Show would return on the October 9 episode of SmackDown Live, against Randy Orton. It served as a qualifier to determine entry into the inaugural WWE World Cup at Crown Jewel event, where he was subsequently defeated by Orton in the main event. The following week, on the 1000th episode of SmackDown, Big Show helped The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defeat The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, thus turning heel in the process. A week later, Big Show confirmed his alliance with The Bar, later facing Kofi Kingston in dominating fashion after a flurry of chokeslams. At the Crown Jewel event, Big Show helped The Bar retain the titles. On the November 27 episode of SmackDown Live, Big Show and The Bar's alliance ended, after Big Show performing a KO Punch on Cesaro backstage. Following this, Big Show was written off television due to him suffering a hamstring injury.

WRESTLING BIRTHDAYS Happy 45th Birthday to Big Show February 8 2017 Posted by on Instagram WWE WWERaw BigShow | Meme on ME.ME

WRESTLING BIRTHDAYS Happy 45th Birthday To Big Show February 8, 2017 Posted by @TheWWENewsPage on Instagram WWE WWERaw BigShow from Instagram tagged as Meme