Paul Wight appears as Captain Insano at CMA Awards

The Country Music Association (CMA) Awards was a “big show” indeed Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee, as AEW’s Paul Wight made a surprise appearance.

Dressed as his Captain Insano character from the 1998 Adam Sandler movie “The Waterboy,” Wight was on stage during Bailey Zimmerman’s performance of “New to Country.”

Wight was part of the set, standing near a beer pong table. Zimmerman got on his shoulders at the end of the song as the two walked around.

It’s unknown if there’s a connection between Wight and Zimmerman and what the impetus was for having him in his Insano outfit. He has wanted to bring the character into AEW and did appear once in character in a backstage segment.

Wight, who was last in action in January as part of the Jericho Cruise, said as recently as this past September, he hopes to return to the ring “real soon” after recovering from partial knee replacement surgery. The 52-year-old has targeted February’s Grand Slam in Brisbane, Australia, as a show he would like to compete at and said his next run will be the last of his long career.