AEW CEO & General Manager Tony Khan revealed Wednesday that Paul Wight has signed a long-term deal with the company and will serve as a commentator on a new series.
Wight, 49, is joining the company as both a commentator for AEW’s newest show, AEW Dark: Elevation, while also indicating in the press release that he will be wrestling.
As 2021 shapes up to be the year for AEW’s biggest shows yet, today the promotion announced that wrestling legend Paul Wight signed a long-term deal, adding yet another universally regarded name to AEW’s roster of stars, legends, and upcoming talent. Wight will have an extensive role within AEW, and on top of his return to the ring, he will serve as a commentator on AEW’s newest show, AEW Dark: Elevation.
Furthermore, Paul enters AEW as a licensed wrestler, and he’s very much looking forward to studying our talent firsthand from the commentary desk in preparation for his return to the ring!
AEW Dark: Elevation will be airing Monday nights at 7 pm ET on the promotion’s YouTube channel. The show will feature AEW’s established and rising talent along with independent wrestlers with wins and losses being tabulated for their records.
Wight’s broadcast partner for the series will be revealed on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
From Wight:
It’s been amazing to watch what AEW has built in just a couple of years. AEW Dark is an incredible platform to hone the skills of up-and-coming wrestlers, but I also love that established AEW talent can build out their personalities and showcase themselves in new ways on Dark. It’s no exaggeration when they say that AEW is boundless.
After beginning in WCW in 1995, Wight made the jump to the World Wrestling Federation in February 1999 where he signed a lucrative ten-year contract. His tenure with the company would extend to 22 years with highs and lows during that extensive run. Wight first won the WWF Championship in November 1999 at the Survivor Series and won it again at the same event in 2002 where he was the first person to pin Brock Lesnar since his on-screen debut earlier that year.
Wight’s biggest program occurred in 2008 when he was paired with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the key drawing match for WrestleMania 24 that year that did 1,058,000 buys on pay-per-view. The following year, he stepped in for an injured Edge (Adam Copeland) to team with Chris Jericho with the two having a very strong run as a team.
Wight would hold just about every title, including two reigns as the World Heavyweight Champion and the ECW Championship in 2006. His character was flawed by incessant turns that eventually became a running joke, even by Wight himself, where he would be a babyface one week and a heel the next.
Over the last several years, Wight had become a key ambassador for the company and branching out into film and television, including “The Big Show Show” which ran for one season on Netflix last year.
