Paul Wight: I Talked To Michael Cole About Doing Commentary In WWE For Years

Paul Wight has been interested in doing commentary for a long time.

Wight, formerly known as The Big Show, had a lengthy tenure in WWE, dating back to his debut in 1999. He left the company in 2007 and returned in 2008. Wight remained with WWE until his departure in February 2021. He them signed with AEW in 2021 and was part of the broadcast team for AEW Dark: Elevation. He has also occasionally called the action on AEW Rampage.

Bayley: This Year Cements My Legacy

Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Wight was asked whether commentary is something he has always wanted to do. He noted that he talked to Michael Cole about it for years, but the opportunity didn't present itself.

“Absolutely, yeah. It’s really funny how things transitioned. For years, I talked to Michael Cole about announcing. I talked to Kevin Dunne, I talked to Michael Cole. I would pick Michael Cole’s brain a lot. I always respected Michael Cole so much, just some of the little things he would tell me, the way he talked about my character when I was competing, just some of the stuff he did. So I always thought that that’s who I was going to cut my teeth under, so to speak, in announcing, aaa Michael Cole. That opportunity didn’t present itself. Now the opportunity to do commentary presented itself here in AEW. I’m working with Tony Schiavone, I’m working JR, I’m working with Taz, Excalibur. I’ve got so many great, experienced announcers that are giving me my own little thing. Is it a play-by-play thing? Is it more of a gorilla monsoon thing? I think what kind of works for me is, I’ve tried to roll into that. Just when I started to get my rhythm, but that’s business. I’m not mad about it. I know that I can take the time that I took on Elevation and process and the next time an opportunity presents itself, I’ll be ready to go," Wight said.

In an interview with Fightful, Wight reflected on his many heel turns. Check out his comments here.

Click here to see what advice Wight would give to young talent.

Wight recently recalled the time Bret Hart ribbed him for over an hour. More information is available here.

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

Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.