"I'm sure he had heat" - Backstage reaction to Paul Wight's debut title win in WCW (Exclusive)
Former referee Nick Patrick has recalled how WCW stars reacted to Paul Wight’s World Heavyweight Championship victory on his WCW debut.
Competing as The Giant, Wight defeated Hulk Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1995 to become WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Wight, aged 23 at the time of the event, was the youngest person to ever win the title.
Patrick worked as a referee for companies including WWE and WCW between 1980 and 2008. He told Dr. Chris Featherstone on SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop that Wight’s title victory upset some of his co-workers. However, thanks to his relationship with Hulk Hogan, the WCW rookie did not have too many problems.
“I’m sure he had heat with some guys but nobody ever really openly displayed it because he was in the clique [friends with Hulk Hogan and top WCW stars] and part of the storyline of what was happening. Everybody, it was a team. Everybody wanted him to be successful. If he was successful, we were successful. That was kind of the attitude that was taken.
“There’s always gonna be some that resent that because they want to be in that spot thinking, ‘I’ve been doing this for 10 years, why am I not…?’ They’ve got the right, but they weren’t Paul. They weren’t The Giant.”
Nick Patrick also gave his thoughts on the match between Hulk Hogan and Paul Wight at WCW Souled Out 1997. Watch the video above to hear his take on the finish to that match, as well as Wight’s backstage reputation during that era.
Paul Wight’s WCW accomplishments
Paul Wight joined WWE in 1999 and began working as The Big Show. Prior to that, the seven-foot competitor appeared in WCW as The Giant. He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WCW Tag Team titles on three occasions (w/Lex Luger, Scott Hall, and Sting).
In February 2021, Wight left WWE to join AEW as a commentator and in-ring competitor. He will commentate on new show AEW Dark: Elevation, which is set to premiere on March 15, 2021.
Please credit SK Wrestling’s Inside SKoop and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.