Paul Wight wants to wrestle.
Wight hasn't wrestled in AEW since November 2023, when he teamed with Kota Ibushi, Chris Jericho, and Kenny Omega to face Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Brian Cage in a Street Fight.
In recent months, Wight has been vocal about his current condition, stating that he isn't feeling any pain after having his knees and hips replaced. While speaking toFightful and Downunder The Ring for a new interview, Wight joked that Tony Khan is paying him a shit ton of money to not do shit inside of the ring.
"God, I hope so ‘cause Tony Khan paid me a shit ton of money to get in the ring, and so far I haven't done shit."
Wight then said that he got his knee replaced after Powerhouse Hobbs slammed him onto a car during the Street Fight in November 2023.
"I did, I did. Then right after that, I went and got my knee replaced. Thanks, Will Hobbs."
Wight went on to praise Hobbs, saying that he's one of the nicest and most humble human beings he's ever met.
"Will Hobbs is amazing. I have nothing but nice things to say about Will. One, he looks like an absolute monster. Two, he is one of the nicest, humble human beings and I've met a lot of people in this business. Will Hobbs is top three most humble, nice people I've ever met. When you talk to Will Hobbs and you give him advice from your perspective. ‘Cause I tell talent all the time, ‘You can take in information, process it. It may work for you, it may not, but listen to it.’ You give Will Hobbs advice on something, ‘Hey, man, in my opinion, this, this, and this,’ he'll go out and try it and he'll change it and he'll make a change immediately. Sometimes you tell talent things and they're not looking for information, some talent. They're looking for atta-boy and a pat on the back. I don't do atta-boys, I don't pat you on the back. Most everybody that knows me, when they come to me about business, I'm just as brutal and hard to them as Undertaker was to me when I started. ‘Cause I didn’t get pays on the back from Undertaker."
Wight went on to recall a moment where Undertaker told him to quit the business.
"‘Taker used to tell me all the time, ‘Take three weeks off and quit the business.’ ‘Cause I went out for an atta-boy once. I was like, ‘Hey, man, I just see anything I can improve on?’ That they're typical young guy bullshit. He goes, ‘Yeah, I know something you can do. You can take three weeks off and quit the business.’ I was like, ‘Okay, note to self, don't bother him with silly stuff like that.’ I think it's important to give a talent and honest feed. That doesn't mean you have to tear him down and point out everything they do wrong. ‘Cause if you've been in this business long enough, you can expose stuff in your own work and everybody else's work after it happened. It's giving them the situations to understand why something happens and to make a change to better their character."
Wight continued on about Hobbs, praising him for making changes.
"So I always appreciate Will Hobbs ‘cause Will Hobbs thinks about things and then comes to me with something. On a few occasions [he’s] come to me and we've had good conversations and I've seen him go out and make changes. It's usually just little character stuff, because let's be honest, I don't know a wrist lock from a fucking headlock. I'm not a Bryan Danielson or somebody like that that's gonna really know. Jon Moxley, believe it or not, who's an incredible technical wrestler. That's not my M.O., that's not my gift to life. But knowing your character, I do understand knowing the character, and that I can help with."
Wight then talked about working with Satnam Singh and how he wants him to become a little bit meaner.
"Sure, sure, sure, sure. I think there's a lot of opportunity to work with a lot of big guys there. Satnam is our big guy there, and I love Satnam. My biggest thing with Satnam right now is I just want him to get a little meaner. He's such a nice, humble, good kid, and great family. He cares very much about his dad and his sister. He's just a really good person. He comes from a really good family. I'm trying to incorporate to him that being a giant, sometimes you have to learn to be nasty. You have to be mean. You have to lose empathy. When people throw stuff at you, whether it's batteries or spit on you or throw a rock through the windshield of your car when you're leaving the arena because they hate you so much, then you're doing your job as a giant. Because I mean, the oldest story in the world is small guy versus big guy. How many times have you heard stupid say—I don't know, maybe in Australia you haven't—‘It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.’"
Elsewhere in the interview, Wight talked about the authenticity that comes out of AEW and how it excites him. Learn more about those comments by clicking here.
Fans can check out Paul Wight's full interview with Fightful and Downunder The Ring by checking out the video linked above.
Downunder The Ring is Pro wrestling from the perspective of Australian Pro Wrestler, The Warship and a life long fan and award winning podcaster Phid McAwesome.
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