Paul Wight says the primary reason he signed with AEW in 2020 was the opportunity to still compete in the ring. He adds that his greatest value to the promotion comes from being physically present with younger talent rather than coaching from the outside.
Wight spoke to Joey Franchize on YouTube.
I started with AEW and Tony Khan, the biggest thing was I could compete. That was the biggest hang-up for me. I wanted to still compete. There’s a lot of guys that are great trainers and great guys. Billy Gunn, amazing trainer. QT Marshall, amazing trainer. Despite QT’s character on TV, the guy is a great trainer and can work his butt off. There’s great producers backstage. Bryan Danielson’s around there a lot. Adam and Christian, there’s a lot of great minds back there. That’s not my gig. My thing where I can help out is being in the ring with guys.
He went on to explain why in-ring mentorship carries a different weight than backstage coaching.
You understand, when I worked and did my best work, was working five days a week for 25 years, working with all the young talents that were coming through from Kofi and Woods and Big E. All those guys, Rusev and Cesaro, all those guys I was on the road with them five nights a week. We were working and I was in there with them mixing it up, and we were learning about timing and presentation. While we’re in the heat of the moment, I’ll notice, ‘Hey, did you feel that? Did you hear that? This is why we did this.’ When you’re on the outside of the back, young guys listen constantly in the back and they’re nice, but they really listen when you’re in the ring because there’s a connection. And I think that’s where I have a lot of value.
Wight recently signed a new deal with AEW and has been working toward a ring return while documenting his weight loss journey on social media, targeting 350 pounds before competing again.
