Paul Wight: Doctors Told Me If You Don’t Get This Surgery, You’ll Probably Be Dead By The Time You’re 45

Paul Wight talks about his acromegaly. 

Paul Wight is one of the biggest giants seen in wrestling. A major reason Wight had such a huge frame is that he had acromegaly, a hormone disorder in which the body produces too much growth hormone. 

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Wight opened up about his acromegaly diagnosis. 

“I was 19. I went my whole life. … I thought I was just gifted because I had incredible endurance. I ate whatever I wanted. I could run all day, [be] strong and all that. Then, I went to Wichita State, and the doctor there had worked at the Mayo Clinic and was familiar with.  He looked at my hands, and there’s different things. Like the roof of my mouth is very high, jawline, sinuses, and stuff like that. 

He says, ‘I think you have acromegaly.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ Then, within a week, I was at the Mayo Clinic, and they’re telling me they got to do this pituitary surgery. What, I had a tumor? This is why I’m this way? … I would have been big anyway. I would have been probably 6’7″, 6’8″, anyway, because my family’s big. … I got the benefits of it, but I didn’t have a lot of the trauma that a lot of people that get acromegaly go through because they weren’t made to be bigger people. So they really got the bad end of the deal for the bone growth and other problems.” 

Wight said that he almost didn’t get this surgery, even when doctors told him about his life expectancy.

“That was just a figure that I was told because I almost didn’t get the surgery. They were telling me, ‘Well, if you don’t get this surgery, you’ll probably be dead by the time you’re 45.’ Because this will shut down, this will happen. I remember thinking like, ‘45’s a long time away. I don’t know.’” 

Elsewhere in another interview, Wight said he’d love to work with Darby Allin. Fans can check his comments here. 

If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit the original source with a h/t and a link back to Fightful for the transcription.