Paul Wight, also known as “The Big Show,” recalls telling boxing star Floyd Mayweather to break his nose for a WWE storyline.
The pair were pitted together at Wrestlemania XXIV after the original angle of Mayweather facing Dave Batista, and Rey Mysterio fell apart.
Since moving to AEW, Wight told Submission Radio that he worked the match with Mayweather and wanted it to be as realistic as possible.
FLOYD MAYWEATHER
“It was a shoot. Floyd punched me in the nose, and I told him to break it,” Wight confirmed to Submission.
“I mean, I don’t know how you work that. Like, I mean, I’m sorry, I guess I said, ‘Yeah, go ahead and punch my nose.’ I said not to shove it down the back of my head, but if you can tap it, [go ahead].
“I mean, to get a chance to work with probably one of the greatest fighters of all time. He’s certainly one of the greatest defensive fighters of all time.
“To work with Floyd [Mayweather] and to have that opportunity for that spotlight at WrestleMania. I mean, that whole thing changed.”
On getting the call up from Vince McMahon when his colleagues had to withdraw, Wight added: “Originally, I think that was supposed to be Floyd against Batista and Rey [Mysterio].
“It was supposed to be a tag originally, and then there were injuries. I think Dave [Batista] got hurt really bad, either tore a lat or a bicep, and the same thing happened with Rey. All this happened before we got to kick the angle off.
“So when they presented the opportunity, hey, will you work with him one-on-one? I’m like, hell yes, I’ll work with him, whatever you guys want to do.”
WRESTLEMANIA
In the end, Wight left the arena happy with the outcome.
“There are certain times in this business where you have to whether you take one for the team. Or take one for the fans, or take one for your career, or however you want it,” he explained.
“But I knew at that moment that to get the kind of attention that we needed, we needed to do something that people would talk about.
“And that would be to have him get on one knee and have him light my nose up, like, no pun intended ’cause it was in downtown Las Vegas.”
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