AEW’s Paul ‘The Big Show’ Wight on wrestling’s Wembley Stadium takeover, London’s own Will Ospreay — and the most celebrity filled game of Dungeons & Dragons of all time

He’s one of the biggest stars in wrestling — both figuratively and literally — and now Paul ‘The Big Show’ Wight is heading back to London for a giant show as part of the AEW All In London event at Wembley Stadium this August.

The 7 foot 2 inches wrestler has been a staple of the scene for more than 30 years, standing tall alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and John Cena as one of the most recognisable athletes in the sport, with stints with WCW and WWE before taking on his latest role as promoter, commentator and — still! — on/off choke-slammer in the ring with AEW.

We caught up with Wight as he prepared to once again face the raucous London crowds — among Wight’s favourite audiences in the world.

“If they love you, they love you. If they hate you, they hate you — if they call you a ‘fat wanker’, then you know you’ve still got it!” he laughs.

With a personality as big as his stature, he’s not averse to a super-sized tangent. From the art of wrestling to finding socks for big feet, to buying Bitcoin, and an ongoing game of Dungeons & Dragons stacked with so many A-List celebrities you wouldn’t believe it exists, here’s Shortlist’s big chat with the one and only Big Show.

Big Show’s epic feats of strength: WWE Playlist - YouTube

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Shortlist: How's it going Paul?

Paul 'The Big Show' Wight: I love being here. I got to have a proper English breakfast this morning.

What was in your breakfast?

Oh, the fucking eggs, the beans, the hash browns, the sausages, toast. I didn't do anything crazy. Coffee — coffee hits a little different over here. I'm old school — I go back to when coffee was free and complimentary, you know? Not like you have to mortgage your house to get some kind of frappe latte…

We’re very excited to meet you, Paul. We used to play Wrestlemania on the Nintendo 64, a gang of us huddled around the screen…

One of those games I had it out with one of the game designers, because they had Chris Jericho with a strength rating of 94 and me at 81! I was like ‘have you lost your fuckin’ mind? I think Chris was a unified champion or something at that point. ‘Well, it's just he’s champ…’ or something they said and I was saying, ‘In what world is he stronger?’

No way, that doesn’t work out!

The other one was, they did that big Smackdown vs Raw game and they wanted me to give feedback at home, and I said ‘No, I'm not gonna go home and play work! I get screwed over enough with the story lines at work, why would I do it at home?’

You can take control in a game though, right?

It's too many button presses! I go back to the old school, like, Street Fighter stuff…Oh shit, I love your socks, what are they?

Ha! Erm, I think they are whiskey-themed freebies from an Elijah Craig bourbon event…

They don't make cool socks like that when you have gigantic feet. If I wore those they’d be like ankle socks. Sorry, my ADHD just kicked in big time there, something shiny…

No problem, the bounce is good! So the AWE All In London event at Wembley felt like a landmark show. What did it mean for you personally to see a show of that scale succeed here in the UK?

It was one of my big missions when I first started with Tony (Khan, AEW CEO). The first meeting with Tony, one of my emphatic ‘Hey, we need to do this’ suggestions was to bring AEW to England. My suggestion at the time was that we’ve got to get into the O2 arena, because I've been fortunate enough to compete so many times there, since WCW. I've got, like, generational fans. And of course, Tony being a billionaire, he skipped out the arena and went straight to Wembley and sold 87,000 seats. So what do I know!

Was that a surprise? Or did it feel natural? Because it’s massive, Wembley is as big as it gets here…

At first I was like ‘Wow!’ because we're such a new, young company, and we don't have that history of television being on over here.

But then again, I didn't take into account the tenacity of wrestling fans. If they like your product, they'll find it. I mean, back in the day, they used to be the bootleg wrestling tapes. It was a big underground market. You would go to towns that you know didn't have your TV show, but they knew all the songs, they knew all the ring entrances, they knew all the wrestler’s names.

There's an underground thing similar with social media now, with all the places and services that people can see events. We're able to build that fan base over here, and to make that big of an impact at Wembley was a fantastic accolade for AEW. Wembley has kind of become our international home. We can come back here, we put on a tremendous show every year for Wembley, and it's been great.

Do you feel the centre of gravity for wrestling is shifting? Traditionally, it's a US centric sport, but something like Wembley suggests that might be changing?

I feel like it's a great landmark moment for the industry as a whole. With the variety of platforms that wrestling can be found and enjoyed now, I think you will see wrestling globally grow all over I think — and AEW has just begun to dip its toe into international waters. I'm sure there will be bigger shows coming in. I would be surprised if we're not in Japan pretty soon.

Definitely, London is a great place to start and set a good foothold and build the brand. There's opportunities for us in Spain and Germany, pretty much all over. But having London and having the UK in your back pocket is a good thing. I would like for AEW to come through Newcastle, Birmingham, Dublin, Glasgow, all the different places all throughout the UK. Again, it's still a new company, and it's growing and the logistics and all that and working out. But I think that's a possible future.

For me personally, I know those international events are some of the greatest experiences for the talent. When you left the US and you came to the UK, it was a really good barometer of how your character was doing worldwide. If a local audience knew what was going on, then you had crossed that gap. It's easy to be semi-famous in the US, but when you start crossing the pond and people in the UK know who you are, then you're doing something with your brand.

If you put a US audience next to a London audience, what's the difference?

It depends on which US audience you're going for! Some of the New York crowds are insane. Some of the crowds in Texas, Atlanta, Chicago, St Louis — there's so many places in the US that are great.

London will always be uniquely specific for the type of energy they bring. They are very passionate about who they like. They're very passionate about who they DON’T like, and you also bring your own flavour and energy to the matches and the chants. I think the first time I heard ‘You fat wanker!’It was very hard to be a bad guy and keep a straight face, but I knew I’d made it as a bad guy here then.

In London especially, they get that they're also part of the show, too. That's the thing — you have the talent, you have the referee, the commentator, then your fourth participant is the crowd.

I suppose we have a tradition of theatre which I don't think you really have in America, of pantomime, right? ‘He’s behind you’ and all that…

Yeah, it's just a different energy when you come here. It's a… I don't want to use the word ‘passion’, because that's subjective, but there's a different energy that's really intense here. As talent, when you operate in front of a hot crowd, whether you're heel or face, then you're on the right track, it's a good barometer. There's a few places in the world that have it, and London is definitely one.

We've got a local hero as well on the roster too in Will Ospreay. How's he doing? And would you say there are any special characteristics defining the UK wrestling talent coming through?

The UK wrestling talent, from what I've seen, understand the wrestling mechanics a lot quicker. Our business has a predetermined outcome, there's an execution of certain moves in the ring to tell your story. I find that with a lot of UK talent that’s outstanding. UK talent is very crisp in everything that they do. If they do a Lariat, it is a crisp Lariat. They have a way of tightening the gaps that some American wrestlers miss. The holds they're taught over here when these guys are training, are different than holds that are taught in the US. So it brings a different look, in a different style. You look at William Regal, Fit Finlay, how they work, it’s a better class, with a better presentation to it. Your great UK stars have that same gift, training, whatever it is, whatever's in the soup, so to speak.

The London and UK wrestlers are more physical, more intense with what they're doing, the aggression sometimes is there in a more authentic way. When you have a guy that's struggled in life and gone through hard times and is playing the role of a bad guy, or a fire’d-up good guy, and needs to put foot to ass, there's just more believability to it. Whereas in America, they're known for the flamboyance and the showmanship — and that's all great, and that's part of the show, and that's a unique talent its own — but there's a lot of UK guys that get it done between the ropes that I have a lot of respect for.

Brits got grit!

Brits got grit! Next time I get asked that question, I'm stealing it. Well done — I took 30 minutes to answer and you just summed it up.

Glad we can be of service. So it’s considered another boom period in wrestling, right? How does this era compare to previous highlights, say the Attitude era?

Well, the Attitude Era was a little bit different, because you had a lot of guys that were so seasoned. When I started, I was in my early 20s, and most of the guys that worked on TV were in their 30s and 40s. They were all experienced. They all knew who their characters were. They knew what they're about. And they were aggressive businessmen. The willingness to share information wasn't as popular as it is now. You had to be friends with someone and earn someone's respect before they pulled you aside and actually worked with you and gave you advice.

The environment has changed with the viewing platforms, with the multiple successful companies for talent to grow, make mistakes and learn. I think this period of time, if you look at women's wrestling and look at men's wrestling, there has never been a collection as a whole of the amount of pure athletes we have now. If you watch wrestling now, most everyone that's on TV is a tremendous athlete, which, when I started, there were a lot of guys that were great wrestlers but weren't really tremendous athletes. Now it's gone into the athletic performance, the athletic presentation, and it's a faster world now — most things are on clips and short videos, and the match style is going to change. The fan base is going to change, with this younger influence of so much younger talent. There's not a lot of long in the tooth guys like me hanging around now.

I've been really accepting of the fact that there is no one answer for wrestling. It's what the fans want, what the fans make a connection to. That's the way to go. There are some nuts and bolts, things that are standard, that you can do to help guide a younger talent, but you have to let the talent express themselves and be authentic. And that's one of the things that I truly appreciate about AEW, because it's pretty raw and it's pretty authentic.

You're a survivor then, in that case, right? You've been here across the eras?

Well, Jim Duggan has been a hell of a lot longer, I'm like a rat…

But you shared the ring with so many different iconic names over the years.

I’ve been very, very lucky.

Is there any moment that you look back on in particular and you're like, ‘Wow, I can't believe that that was me.’

It happens all the time.I get grief from friends and family members because I don't really remember a lot of stuff that I did — not because I have mental problems, I’m just really a ‘what's today? What's tomorrow?’ kinda guy, I really move forward. Sometimes somebody will send me a video or something, and I'll look back, like, ‘Oh yeah. I kind of remember that. I can remember going to the gym with Randy Savage. I remember hanging on the beach and drinking beer with Randy Savage. I remember talking philosophy with Randy Savage’.

I wrestled against Randy, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, John Cena, Randy Orton. Anybody that's ever been anybody in this business, in the past 40 years I've had a chance to be in the ring with them.

So it's humbling to look back and see that and laugh and remember those times. I saw a clip the other day of Scott Steiner giving me a suplex. And I remember that because it was one of the first big bumps I'd ever taken, right? I just remember Scott — and I knew how to take all the moves — snatched me so quick. I don’t remember seeing my bootlace go over my head that quick. I saw it back, I was like, it's fantastic, then I remember in that moment, there's a memory of my bootlaces going by my face that fast.

What would you say was your proudest moment, or most embarrassing? Or both?

Proud is objective. I've been very lucky to have some great experiences. You know, winning a championship against Brock Lesnar was a really incredible moment. Competing in different arenas around the world. I wrestled John Cena in China. You know, those moments were all crazy. I wrestled Hulk Hogan in the Superdome, you know, on a Nitro show. I believe those moments are all tremendous.

As far as embarrassing goes, I think at the time, because I was younger, there were things like, ‘oh man, that looked silly’, or ‘that looked bad’. Now I look back with a more romantic attitude if I see those things like, that it was great for the fans, that it wasn't as detrimental to my career, like the Eddie Guerrero burrito thing — you know, you can't half do something. So if you're given an opportunity you think at the time, ‘oh, this is the worst thing. This would be silly. People will laugh’. You gotta understand, like, okay, there's an opportunity to do it, put your whole heart in and do it. And I was lucky enough that some of the silly things that I've done in my career, I just went out and did it, and turned it over to the process. And I'm very happy that I did that way, because if you half commit, that makes it bad for everybody. Just have fun with it. You know, that's the big thing. It's not real.

So we see the spectacle right from this side of the fence. But like, what? What about the realities? What's like a behind the scenes story for you that captures, like, what goes into making a wrestling show?

The goal is to go out there and give the best entertainment you can give for the fans, give them the best wrestling that you can give. You know, I think I went a couple years of my career, maybe won two matches, maybe like four. But I don't think anybody gives a crap now. When you're younger in your career, you think, ‘oh, I never win, people are gonna think I'm weak or I'm washed up’. No. It doesn't matter. Wisdom has given me in time that I'm able to help with the younger athletes that it doesn't matter — you have an opportunity to compete in front of a live audience, either on TV or at a pay-per-view or in a live event. You have an opportunity to showcase your talent. Just go out there and put your heart into it, and you’ll be fine.

It must be gruelling as well — the training, the touring?

I look back now, I went, I think, 20 years, made every European tour, the full two week tour, Spring and Fall. I think somebody just called me ‘Big Show All The Shows’, because I worked all of them. And I worked on Raw and Smackdown. I remember going to a show one time and asking Vince McMahon [WWE co-founder] ‘didn't I get drafted to SmackDown?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, you're a giant. You work both shows’. So I had about a day and a half off a week for 12, 13, years. But at the time, it was okay, because I was doing something that I love doing. I was making a great living, and I was with a bunch of people that all worked hard. So do I want to work that hard now? Nooooo!

How would you say your role feels now at AEW? How do you feel it differs from your career previously?

Before I was one of the Clydesdales pulling the wagon. Now, I get to do some of the things that I think I'm suited for. I have experience to share with the younger talent. I have good stories, and also have some valuable lessons to share. I get to help use my limited fame to help bring awareness to the younger talent and our AEW brand. And I still get to be a part of the industry, and every now and every now and then I get to get in the ring and have some fun.

So for someone who wants to start a career in wrestling now, either behind the scenes or in the ring, what's the first thing they should do if they want to get going?

You have to know the product. You have to know what you're getting into and know who's involved and listen. Listen a lot — a lot of times when people first start, they want to ask all these questions. Just listen. If you listen, your questions probably get answered for you. And don't be afraid to explore your options. You don't want to be the next Paul Wight or the next Will Ospreay or the next Kenny Omega. Be the next you as a talent.

And be open to change, because you might get in this business and want to be a wrestling talent, but that might not be your future. You might be better at communicating lessons that you've already learned, like being a trainer. You might be better at refereeing, you might be better at production. If you love the business, you'll find a way to be in it.

Would you say there's one UK gym or boot camp that people should check out if they want to work in the ring?

I’m not getting paid to endorse anybody's training camp! But I will say, figure out who you like if you're in the UK — who do you respect, who has a style that you think you want to steal something from. Because that's what wrestling is. We all steal stuff from each other all the time, and then figure out where they learned, or how they learned.

Now there's the internet — when I started, it was like the Mafia. You had to know somebody to even get trained. You had to know somebody to vouch for you before they let you into the secret brotherhood.

Nowadays everything's online, so just do your homework and be smart, simple, stupid, keep it between the ropes, learn your fundamentals. More is not necessarily better. If you can do a few things, then do a few things really well, and that's it.

There's nothing that I can tell you that's going to make you an instant star overnight, because there's no such formula. There's an open opportunity for anyone — any size, shape, colour, creed, to be a star. It's making a connection with the audience. That's the thing. If you can do that, you'll be fine.

To wrap then, if you could give yourself one piece of advice to your younger self, what would you have said?

Buy. Bitcoin. You. Dumbass.

Of course!

Years ago, somebody came to me and couldn't explain it to me — I had a chance to buy Bitcoin when it was $1,500, I had a guy trying to get me to buy 80 grand worth of Bitcoin. And I was like, ‘What is this? Digital?’ And here's my logic. I said, ‘is the government taxing it?’ He goes, ‘No’, I’m like ‘Fuck that, dude. It's not legal then, because if Uncle Sam can't get his hands on it, it's not real. It's Monopoly money. Fuck that.’ Yeah… I kind of wish I had dropped money years ago!

I'm always like, why are you coming to me with it? Like ‘do I just look stupid, with more cash than I got sense?’ I'm good. I didn't buy Bitcoin. I bought gold.

That's no bad going. When all the servers in the world are taken out by some electro-pulse bomb or whatever, the gold's still there…

Are you a reader? There's a great sci-fi book called Lucifer's Hammer. It’s basically this reporter, working with NASA stuff, who found out that there was a meteor heading for Earth called ‘Lucifer's Hammer’, and they were not allowing anybody to talk about it. Government suppression, the whole nine yards. So this guy took his whole life savings, he built a bunker in the mountains. He bought all the cigarettes, all the whiskey that he could find, guns and ammo, and learned how to make beef jerky. His family thought he flipped his nuts. And then after it hits, that's how he survived and used gold as currency. Post apocalyptic survival, people are gonna want antibiotics, cigarettes and whiskey, if you got those to trade…

Did you watch Fallout? You might like that…

Yeah, I am such a dipshit. I don't watch much TV. I really don't. I play Dungeons and Dragons like a nerd and I read a lot.

We didn't talk about Dungeons & Dragons!

You play Dungeons & Dragons?

The video games!

Baldur’s Gate yeah? Awesome. Now I'm running a Paladin. My first character was by Mike Mearls. I was a half stone giant. That was with Joe Manganiello, Jack Black, Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, Dan Weiss who wrote the Game of Thrones TV show.

That’s a star studded team.

Yeah, we're running a game, but I'm a Paladin now. I was a Cleric for a while, and then my Cleric got dusted. So I got tired of being the party healer, because I'm too aggressive to be the party healer, so I aggressively got myself killed.

Netflix is making a new Dungeons & Dragons TV show you know? Would you go back to doing some more TV work? Get on that cast?

I'm actually working again on that. I'm taking acting classes, I'm still reading for parts. Hollywood's a more difficult beast than a lot of them — they don't give a shit what you did, it's are you what they’re looking for? But Dungeons & Dragons, I know some people producing on that, so we'll see…

We’d love to see you in that!

I think I could pull off a barbarian giant. I'll talk D’n’D all day. You gotta be careful!

AEW: All IN London at Wembley Stadium takes place on Sunday, 30th August 2026. Get tickets here.

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