Paul Wight hoping to be back in AEW ring ‘real soon’

Paul Wight is hoping to get back into the ring soon for one final run to close out his career.

It’s been eight months since the former Big Show has wrestled a match. He’s been recovering from a partial knee replacement surgery but is progressing in the gym and is not experiencing any pain. With the surgery, Wight has now had both of his knees and both of his hips replaced.

While doing media to promote next February’s AEW Grand Slam Australia event, Wight appeared on Downunder The Ring and was asked about returning to action.

“God I hope so, because Tony Khan paid me a sh*t ton of money to get in the ring and so far I haven’t done sh*t,” Wight responded.

The 52-year-old Wight said he’s hoping to be back “real soon” and wants to compete at Grand Slam Australia. The show, which will be AEW’s Australia debut, is taking place at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on February 15, 2025.

There have been plans for Wight to portray Captain Insano — his character from “The Waterboy” — in AEW. Wight told Downunder The Ring that it will be the last run of his career before he rides off into the sunset.

“Captain Insano was a pretty cool gift. Tony Khan worked it out, got the intellectual property rights for me. So we’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on that,” Wight said. “Just to be honest, a lot of it’s been my fault. Having surgeries and stuff like that. So it’s about me getting in the gym, training, getting ready [to] where I feel comfortable. Because it’s basically a one-shot run. You know, I can’t pull the trigger on this half-assed and go out and fail. When I pull the trigger on Captain Insano, it’s got to be 100 percent we run that until the wheels fall off and then we ride off into the sunset.”

Wight said that, when he is ready for this run, he wants to be able to do anything Khan asks of him, whether that’s tag matches, singles matches, or wrestling multiple times per week. He’s aiming to end his career like Sting did, working with the young talent on the AEW roster.

“That’s why I really haven’t been doing a lot of things on AEW, because being the awesome boss that Tony Khan [is] he’s giving me the time to basically get my sh*t straight and get ready for it,” Wight said. “Believe me, there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure on myself to get this done and get this in a way where the fans are appreciative of seeing me compete again. And not like an, ‘Oh, that’s sad. Shoot him, put him out of his misery.’ Like Old Yeller, take me out back and put me down. I don’t want to get put down yet. I kind of want to go out like Sting did. Have a nice little run, have some great matches, work with some of this amazing young talent we have in AEW, and then slide out.”

A six-man tag match on the Chris Jericho Cruise this January was Wight’s last match before having knee surgery. In November 2023, he teamed with Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi & Chris Jericho in an AEW Dynamite street fight against Powerhouse Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher & Brian Cage.

Wight signed with AEW in 2021 and has worked in a variety of roles including wrestling, commentary, and community outreach.