The Biggest Highlights Of Paul Wight's Basketball Career

These days, "The Big Show" might be used to hearing big pops from the crowd every time he returns to a professional wrestling ring. But the first time he heard a crowd cheer for him was on the basketball court, where the seven-time world champion first fell in love with athletics in the seventh grade. 

"There was probably like 60 people there but for me, at the time it might as well have been Giants Stadium," Big Show, a.k.a. Paul Wight, once told Sports Illustrated. "It got me hooked."

Wight went on to excel at hoops throughout his youth. "Athletics gave me a chance to make friends and I guess find my 'cool' vibe if there's such a thing when you're in high school," the current AEW star added. The future pro wrestling legend kept up with basketball, growing to become more than seven-feet tall and landing a spot on Wichita State's collegiate basketball team as a backup center.

Wight wound up finding minimal success with The Shockers, averaging just 2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game as a backup to starting center and leading scorer John Smith, according to Sports Reference. Wight said he was used to being the big guy in high school and had a tough time adjusting to college-level defenses. "I wanted to post up," he told Sports Illustrated. "Just throw me the ball and I'll put it in the hole. And I was like a black hole. If you threw the ball in, obviously the defense would collapse and I couldn't do anything with it."

Eventually, during the next season, Wight transferred to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and scored just 39 points during his final season of NCAA ball. Wight's athletic career may not have been as fruitful as he imagined when he was dominating the court during grade school and high school, but his later fame as one of the greatest big men in professional wrestling history ultimately landed him a spot on SIUE's all-time team in 2006.

"I started out thinking I was going to play in the NBA, now I travel the world as a WWE Superstar," he told Sports Illustrated. "Life changes."