Paul Wight Reveals He Was Originally Set To Team With Floyd Mayweather At WWE WrestleMania 24
Floyd Mayweather and Big Show almost teamed up at WrestleMania.
At WrestleMania 24, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather took on The Big Show in a crossover the likes of which we’d rarely seen before. While the ‘Show Of Shows’ had previous with celebrity involvement in matches, the clash in Florida has lived long in the memory of fans, not least due to the sheer size difference between the competitors. Now, ‘The World’s Largest Athlete’ has revealed the original plans for 2008’s WrestleMania.
Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Wight revealed he was actually supposed to team with Floyd Mayweather to take on Rey Mysterio and Batista at WrestleMania 24.
“That was a happy accident, too. Originally, that was supposed to be a tag. It was supposed to be Floyd and I against Rey and Dave. Unfortunately, due to injuries, Dave tore a lat or a bicep, and Rey messed something up, all before we got to the TV part to start the angle. Then they were like, ‘Will you work with Mayweather?’ I’m like, hell yeah! Split the payoff between two guys? Well, really, Mayweather got most of the payoff, and I got thanks for showing up. But anyway. I thought, Yeah, that’s great.”
-Paul Wight
Once it became a singles match, the focus shifted to making it a more believable contest. On this, Wight also revealed in the interview that he personally asked Mayweather to break his nose in the buildup to the match.
When we were doing that, we’re trying to talk to Floyd, there was such a size difference. I remember they were like, ‘How do we make this believable?’ I said, ‘It’s easy. I’ll get on one knee,’ because I’m so big and arrogant, I will get on one knee in front of him, and I said, ‘Yeah, just break my nose.’ They were like, what? I said, ‘Dude, I just spent the last year boxing, getting punched in the face. It’s not that big a deal.’ I told Floyd, because Floyd’s a pro. I said, ‘Don’t break the bone. Just give me a little tap.’ It’ll bleed because you get tapped in the nose, it’ll bleed. It’s not broken, it’s just cartilage. So he was like, ‘You want me to punch you?’ Yeah, man. I said, ‘Don’t shove it through the back of my head. But you got to. If we don’t make it look like something’s happening, nobody’s going to buy it. We need to get this off the ground and running, where people go, Oh, damn. That’s what we need.’ I said, ‘But when you bust me in the nose, and it bleeds, run, because there’s gonna be 5-10 seconds that I’m not going to be in the right frame of mind. If I get my hands on you, I might hurt you, and you’re worth half a billion dollars, so just make sure you’re not around.’ He got that point, and we went out there and did it, and just as soon as that hot blood hit the back of my neck, I was pissed. Even though I know it’s work, I was pissed.”
-Paul Wight
Although his tag partner Rey Mysterio was sidelined after bicep surgery at the time, Batista still made it onto the card. On the night, ‘The Animal’ defeated Umaga four matches prior to Big Show’s one-on-one clash with Mayweather.
As far as celebrity matches go, many look back fondly on Floyd Mayweather’s victory over The Big Show at WrestleMania 24, particularly as fans weren’t as used to seeing outsiders compete as they might be today. At WrestleMania 42, IShowSpeed will have his first match as the social media star is set to team with The Vision against The Usos and LA Knight at WrestleMania 42, while Pat McAfee will accompany Randy Orton as he looks to defeat Cody Rhodes.
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As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on The Big Show’s match with Floyd Mayweather at WrestleMania 24 as soon as we hear more.
