Why Paul Wight Was Originally Given The Role Of Andre The Giant's Son In WCW

When Paul Wight first burst onto the scene in WCW back in 1995 as The Giant, he did so as the kayfabe son of wrestling legend Andre the Giant. The idea — which supposedly came from the mind of Hulk Hogan – stuck with Wight throughout his rookie year as a member of the Dungeon of Doom. It also likely played a factor in him winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice. The connection between Andre and Wight would later be dropped when Wight went on to join the NWO late in the summer of 1996.

During an appearance on T95: The Rock Station recently, Wight was asked about his brief time portraying as Andre's son. During the conversation, he shared that the decision to connect him with Andre was largely a product of how WCW — and wrestling in general — approached introducing new talent at the time.

"That's how they did things back in the day," Wight said. "When you get introduced, you've got to have some kind of legacy and validity of who they are. And that was one of the ways they did it. Arn Anderson wasn't really Ole Anderson's nephew — stuff like that."

"There was a lot of that going on. 'Somebody related to somebody. That's why they're here.' So they billed me as Andre's son," he continued, "and we were off and running after that."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "T95 The Rock Station" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription