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Chris Jericho On His Reaction To Paul Wight Signing With AEW, MJF Reminding Him Of Kurt Angle

March 4, 2021 | Posted by Blake Lovell
Paul Wight AEW Big Show

In a recent interview on Rasslin’, Chris Jericho discussed Paul Wight signing with AEW, MJF reminding him of Kurt Angle, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Chris Jericho on MJF reminding him of Kurt Angle: He’s like a Roddy Piper or young Jericho or whatever you wanna say. The point is, he’s none of those things and all of those things. He reminds me a lot of Kurt Angle. What I mean by that is, he’s a guy that picked up wrestling so quick, not just in the ring, but character-wise. A lot of guys, 24 years old, don’t understand that character is the most important thing in wrestling. It’s more important than any move you can do or any match you can have, and Max gets that.

“Combine that with the fact that I think he was a child actor, he was in musicals, and all the sort of things that you need to expand on that character. He also doesn’t give a shit. He will do anything to where we have to pull him back because you can’t yell at the five-year-old kid at a signing and make him cry…..all the attributes he has at such a young age. That’s why I always say you’re not as good as you think you are because a year from now, he’s gonna be even better. Two years from now, he’s gonna be even better. He’s one of the most natural talents I’ve seen.”

On Paul Wight signing with AEW: “It’s funny because people say to me, ‘You can’t sign all these WWE cast-offs.’ We really haven’t. If you look when there was the big purge last year and they let a bunch of people go, I don’t think we hired any of those guys. Nothing against them, but a guy like Big Show transcends that. He’s one of the most recognizable pro wrestlers in the world. When you’re dealing with a new company, if we want to try and get a TV deal in India for example, who is on the show? Chris Jericho, we know him. Sting, we know him. Paul Wight, oh really, we know him. It’s the same thing I said before -those are the guys that can open the door to get people’s eyeballs on Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, Darby [Allin], Cody, and Ricky Starks.

“He is super valuable in that he has the one thing you can’t teach – two things because obviously you can’t teach someone be a giant – but you can’t teach someone experience. We’ve got a lot of big guys on our roster who need to think like big guys, and Paul can help with that. Paul can also be very funny and charming. I know more than anybody, a motivated Paul Wight is very dangerous. He doesn’t have to wrestle every week, nor should he, but when he gets the call and wants to be there and he wants to prove what he can do, he’s one of the best big man workers who has ever lived. He’s a great signing for AEW, and I think anybody who doesn’t know for sure will have their minds changed very quickly.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Rasslin’ with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.