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Originally billed as the son of Andre the
Giant, Paul Wight debuted in 1995 in World Championship
Wrestling (WCW) as the Giant and immediately began feuding
with Hulk Hogan. The two met at Halloween Havoc
where Hulk Hogan threw the Giant off
the top of an arena only to have the Giant return later that
night for a match with Hogan. The Giant won the match AND
the WCW Heavyweight Title by disqualification (normally the
title cannot change hands by DQ but Hogan's manager Jimmy Hart
had betrayed Hogan by placing a clause in his contract that
stated the title could change hands by DQ). However due
to Hart's misconduct, WCW officials held the title up.
In the meantime,
the Giant began to amass an impressive win streak in
WCW. In 1996 he defeated Ric Flair for the WCW
Heavyweight Title and continued to steamroll over
opponents. However in the summer of 1996, the Giant lost
the belt to the recently turned heel Hulk Hogan at Hog
Wild (largely in part due to the interference of Hogan's
comrades in The New World Order) Several weeks later,
the Giant joined the New World Order (NWO) and
continued to run roughshod over WCW wrestlers. The
Giant's run with the NWO was short-lived and four months later
he was kicked out of the group.
The Giant
resumed feuding with Hogan and the NWO, teaming up with Lex Luger to defeat Hulk Hogan and
Dennis Rodman, and later on winning the WCW Tag Team Titles
once with Sting, and later with Scott Hall. The Giant
also feuded with Kevin Nash over who was the real giant in
professional wrestling.
In
1999, fans were shocked when Paul Wight smashed through a ring
apron during a cage match between Vince McMahon and "Stone
Cold" Steve Austin and threw Austin through the cage, giving
Austin the win. The next night on RAW, Vince debuted
Wight as The Big Show but the Big Show refused to follow
McMahon's orders.
The Big
Show quickly scored championship gold by teaming with the
Undertaker to win the WWF Tag Team Titles on two
occasions. Later that year at Survivor Series, the
Big Show defeated Triple H and
the Rock to win the WWF Heavyweight Title. He would hold
the belt for several months before losing it to Triple
H.
In a controversial
decision, the Big Show lost the 2000 Royal Rumble to the
Rock but still managed to participate in the four way World
Title match at Wrestlemania 2000. The Big Show was
unsuccessful in regaining the title and he soon found that his
troubles were just beginning. Plagued by fitness
problems, the Big Show found himself demoted to Ohio Valley
Wrestling (OVW) where he was told to shape up.
At the 2001
Royal Rumble, the Big Show returned to the WWF but he
would have to wait until the 2002 Survivor Series before
he regained the WWF Title from Brock Lesnar. The
Big Show teamed with Paul Heyman and feuded with Lesnar
for the next few months. During a match on Smackdown,
Lesnar superplexed the Big Show causing the ring to
collapse!
Around the summer of
2004, the Big Show was suspended from the WWE after
choke-slamming Smackdown's General Manager Kurt Angle off of a
ledge, severely injuring the Olympic Hero. During his
suspension, the Big Show had much needed knee surgery.
Since then the Big Show has returned to the ring
and recently feuded with Kurt Angle after having his head
shaved. The Big Show is currently involved in a
feud with Carlito Caribbean Cool and his bodyguard Matt
Morgan.
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