Paul Wight (Big Show) Reveals How Vince McMahon Reacted to His AEW Signing

After working for the WWE for 22 years, Paul Wight made the surprising decision to sign with All Elite Wrestling last month to work as both a commentator and wrestler. He appeared during a virtual media scrum on Sunday night following the Revolution pay-per-view and was asked about his decision to leave WWE — specifically how Vince McMahon reacted to it.

Wight said that there was no animosity from anybody in WWE regarding his decision, and that McMahon personally called to congratulate him once he heard about the deal.

“Here’s the thing, Vince actually called me the day it was announced that I had signed with AEW,” Wight said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). “He wished me a lot of luck. He agreed that I am going to be a fantastic asset to AEW, thanked me for all the years I had worked in WWE. There’s no animosity, there’s no anger, there’s no dirt so to speak. This just came down to, you know, contract negotiations and opportunities.”

“Let’s face it, over 20 years in WWE, I have done everything there is to do in WWE,” Wight said. “I needed a fresh start, and for me, I think Vince understands that and understand me as a talent, and this was that opportunity for me to do that. When you follow the rules, like, I couldn’t reach out to AEW or Tony Khan when I was under contract, and I didn’t. I came to terms of a mutual dissolution of services and I left WWE. There’s no anger in it. I needed the freedom to pursue different opportunities. When that contract came to an end, that was the thing where I took a big leap of faith, and hoped that my reputation in the industry and the work that I’ve done would earn me a meeting with Tony Khan. He would understand that I would be an asset to AEW.”

Check out the full results from Revolution below:

• (Buy-In) Dr. Britt Baker & Maki Itoh def. Thunder Rosa & Riho
• AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks def. Chris Jericho & MJF
• Death Triangle Wins Casino Battle Royale
• AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida def. Ryo Mizunami
• Miro & Kip Sabian def. Orange Cassidy & Chuck Taylor
• Hangman Page def. Matt Hardy (Big Money Match)
• Scorpio Sky def. Cody Rhodes vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rey Fenix vs. Max Caster vs. Ethan Page (Face of the Revolution Ladder Match, Winner Gets a TNT Championship match)
• Christian Cage Signs with AEW
• Sting & Darby Allin def. Brian Cage & Ricky Starks
• AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega def. Jon Moxley (Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch)