Paul Wight Says Xavier McDaniel Was First To Tell Him To Wrestle, No Future In Hoops

Paul Wight is returning to the ring Wednesday evening … one thing that may by no means have occurred if not for former NBA star Xavier McDaniel, the primary particular person to inform the Famous person previously generally known as Huge Present to enter skilled wrestling!

Wight dropped by the TMZ places of work on Tuesday and sat down with Babcock on the TMZ Sports activities TV present — forward of AEW Dynamite’s Like A Dragon Gaiden Road Combat match — the place the fellows mentioned the 7-footer’s begin within the sport to his in-ring comeback.

The Wight the Wrestler origin story is fairly loopy.

Paul was a middle on the Wichita State basketball group within the early ’90s, however wasn’t precisely Shaquille O’Neal on the courtroom.

Due to his play on the hardwood, McDaniel, a Shockers alum who’d turn out to be an NBA star after being drafted with the 4th general decide in 1985, gave Wight some invaluable recommendation … and maybe paved the way in which for him to turn out to be a titan within the wrestling business.

“X was always pestering me, and he kept telling me I should go into wrestling. 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,'” Wight recounted telling McDaniel (this story begins across the 14-minute mark).

“[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.'”

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

Shortly after, Paul linked up with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff … and the remaining is historical past.

Now, Wight’s wrestling once more at 51 years previous (it has been a bit since he is carried out within the Squared Circle, although he is been signed to AEW since ’21) … and he is teaming up with Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Chris Jericho to tackle Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, and Brian Cage.

How for much longer will he wrestle? Take a look at the complete interview — we requested him.