Paul Wight II is an American professional wrestler, actor, and American football player best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation, later renamed World Wrestling Entertainment.
Born in Aiken, South Carolina, he was raised in Manchester Township, New Jersey before finishing high school in Tennessee at Huntland Junior/Senior High School.
Early Life of Paul Wight II
Wight was born on 20 February 1972 in Aiken, South Carolina. He was born with acromegaly, a disease of the endocrine system that causes accelerated growth. At the age of twelve, he was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall, weighed 220 lb (100 kg), and had chest hair.
In 1991 as a member of the Wichita State University Basketball Team at age 19 he was listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and weighed 295 lb (134 kg).
As a student in South Carolina, he joined the basketball and football teams at his high school. He played basketball and American football in high school at Wyman King Academy in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina. He was a standout centre for the basketball team and a tight end for the football team. He quit football after his freshman year because of disputes with the coach.
He continued to support the team by joining the cheerleading squad as a sophomore, partly from spite. He later called it “the greatest experience of my life.
He attended Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, where his basketball averages of 14 points and 6.5 rebounds earned him full conference honours and helped the team win the division.
He had also attended Wichita State University, where he also played basketball.
He also attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1992 to 1993, was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Cougars basketball team, and is a member of the Xi Beta Chapter. of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity in southern Illinois.
The career of Paul Wight II
He joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999, where he was billed as The Giant and was initially introduced as “the son of André the Giant”. However, his WCW experiences made him ineligible to be labelled as such; World Championship Wrestling owned the merchandising rights to the name. The WWF instead promoted him as simply The Giant, a name later agreed upon by both parties when he signed with Vince McMahon’s company.
From 1999 to 2021, Paul Wight was one of the most recognizable stars in WWE. He captured multiple singles titles, held the tag team titles on multiple occasions, and even captured the main event of WrestleMania 2000 in a Triple Threat match against Triple H and Mick Foley.
Big Show is a seven-time world champion, having held the WCW Championship twice, the WWF/E Championship twice, the World Heavyweight Championship twice and the ECW Championship once. He has also won the Intercontinental, United States and Hardcore championships, making him one of only 24 men to ever win both the Triple Crown (senior) and Grand Slam (junior) awards.
Today, Big Show is still active, just not on WWE television. He was released from his WWE contract in 2021 due to budgetary cuts. This led him to All Elite Wrestling where he has used his name.
Apart from Wrestling he also appeared in feature films and television series such as Jingle All the Way, The Waterboy, Star Trek: Enterprise, and two USA Network’s comedy-drama Royal Pains, Psych and the action-drama Burn Notice. He had lead roles in the WWE Studios comedy film Knucklehead and the Netflix sitcom The Big Show Show.
Personal Life of Paul Wight II
Wight has been married twice. His first wife was Melissa Ann Piavis (1997–2002). They have one daughter, Isabelle Cierra Wight (born 1998). His second wife is Bess Katramados. Together they have two children.
In March 2018, Wight was named as a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics International. He is also a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. In June 2017, Wight was inducted as a member of the WWE Hall of Fame by Goldberg.
In December 2017, he was recognized by the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons for his work with the Special Olympics and presented with a team jersey and sport ball.
Net Worth of Paul Wight II
If you are looking for the net worth of The WWE wrestler called Big Show, it is $25.5 million. He is considered one of the highest-paid wrestlers in WWE history.
