Paul Wight is an American wrestler. He has stated, "I'm 7 feet and Andre was approximately 7ft 1, 7ft 2," and when someone claimed he was 6ft 7 and 325 pounds, he answered, "Actually I am seven feet tall." I am 452 pounds. He also claimed to have "always been a bit taller than 7 feet."
In addition, Paul Wight claims that during his time in Japan, he met another professional wrestler named Andre The Giant who lived next door to him in North Carolina. They became friends and often worked together as tag teams.
Wight said of Andre: "We were both really big fans of what the other one did on the mat so we decided to get into wrestling together."
He continued: "We had some success and eventually moved over to France where we stayed for about three years."
After that, Wight returned to America where he and Andre formed a tag team again. This time they reached the top of the pro wrestling business in the form of World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Andre The Giant appeared at WrestleMania II in New York City wearing a flagrant five-star shirt with the motto "The Giant Has Come To Town". He went on to say after the match: "I'm from France, you know. I like baseball too.
Big Show is 7'0" tall and weighs 441 pounds. He is the closest a wrestler has ever come to being Andre's height and weight, so much so that WCW claimed he was Andre's son when he initially debuted. They dubbed him the Giant, and he absolutely deserved it, just as Andre did.
During his time in WWE, Big Show released several albums that all reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. His first album, The Great American Bash 2001: A Wrestling Mega-Show, sold over 9 million copies worldwide and included the hit singles "The Friggin' Affair" and "You Got Served." His second album, The Day After Tomorrow, was even more successful than its predecessor with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. It included the hits "I'm Not Going Out Without Putting One Last Dance On The Menace" and "Brainstorm". Big Show has also had many other songs go top 10 such as "Break Them Down", "Crazy", "Dirty Work", "Fall Down", "Gonna Get My Wish", "Hollywood", "Losing My Grip", "One More Time", and many more.
After leaving WWE, Big Show started his own wrestling promotion called World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Pro. The first event took place on September 14, 2003, and featured eight matches including one where the winner would become the new Big Daddy of the business.
Andre was popularly referred regarded as the world's eighth wonder, and the moniker fit him. Andre was 7'4 and weighed up to 550 pounds at the height of his career. The Big Show is no slouch in terms of size, however Andre was much greater. That's just over 100 pounds less than Andre! Although Show has been reported to weigh 600 pounds, this seems unlikely given Andre's size.
Andre first gained attention when he appeared in a 1976 television commercial for Jell-O. The ad made him an instant celebrity and soon after, so did Andre himself. He became one of the most recognizable faces in sports marketing and even today, 30 years later, people remember that ridiculous face mask he wore on camera. Big Show has also become a pop culture icon thanks to his involvement with World Wrestling Entertainment. He currently plays a major role in the company's reality show, "The Biggest Loser."
Physically, they're quite different. Show has been reported to have had 36 teeth removed because of injuries he received during wrestling matches. This does not seem like something that would be done for cosmetic reasons. Andre didn't wear his hair long because it looked cool; he did it because products could get into his hair when it was long. He also wore a mask because of skin problems caused by the weight he carried around his neck all the time.
But it's true: Show was a rising basketball star in high school and college. According to his Wichita State University player profile, Big Show (actual name, Paul Wight) stood at 7'1" and weighed 325 pounds as a high school and college student. He dropped out of school to pursue a pro career in Japan where he was reportedly paid $150,000 per year.
Show also admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, he said, "I took [drugs] every year and every season. It was such a long season. You needed something to get you through it."
He is now 35 years old and playing in the Japanese professional league where he makes about $500,000 per year.
In conclusion, Big Show was born in Puerto Rico to a family of performers who worked on cruise ships. At a very young age, he moved with his family to Florida where he started developing his body in sports schools before joining the NBA. Although he claimed in interviews that he used drugs, we will never know for sure because he stopped talking after admitting it. All we know is that he was paid well to play a game he probably didn't learn from childhood.
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