Paul Wight Says Xavier McDaniel First Told Him To Get Into Wrestling

Paul Wight credits Xavier McDaniel for first telling him he should get into the wrestling business. Wight spoke with TMZ ahead of his in-ring return on tonight’s AEW Dynamite and talked about how McDaniel suggested he get into wrestling back when he was playing basketball at Wichita State.

“X was always pestering me, and he kept telling me I should go into wrestling,” Wight recalled. “I said ‘Man, listen, I’m gonna play in the NBA. That’s what I’ve trained for since I was a kid. This is what I do.’ [Xavier] says, ‘Man, you’re gonna be the only 7-foot dude who gets cut by the Japanese team. He goes, ‘I’m telling you what you need to do. You need to go into pro wrestling and be Andre The Giant’s son.’ He says, ‘Man, you look like Andre. That’s what you need to do.'”

WIght concluded, “Xavier McDaniel saw the vision on the wall long before it ever happened.”

Wight is set to team with Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Chris Jericho to against Powerhouse Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, and Brian Cage on tonight’s show.