Eric Bischoff Says Paul Wight Never Clicked In WCW

On the latest episode of the 83 Weeks Podcast, Eric Bischoff discussed Paul Wight never being a top guy in WCW alongside the cruiserweights being small guys who just could not be main eventers.

On the cruiserweights

“On one hand I understood how a lot of the cruiserweight’s felt, that they didn’t want to just be cruiserweight’s, they wanted a shot to be in the main event. That’s a natural thing for a performer who has the drive and ambition and vision for himself or herself to be the biggest star they can be, it’s a natural thing. I don’t think anybody gets into the entertainment business and says I’m going to be really happy being a co-star, even though being a co-star for a long period of time in your career can be financially beneficial than being a star for a short time, nobody goes into it thinking that.

It was a source of frustration amongst certain people that were cruiserweight’s, Eddie Guerrero being one of them, Chris Jericho being another. They didn’t want to be confined to that cruiserweight division. I had a hard time understanding that because in my mind, I’d be willing to pay them more money as cruiserweight’s. I had to be able to justify it, I couldn’t just do it because I wanted too.

It’s my belief that had certain talent decided I’m going to be the best cruiserweight there’s ever been in the history of this industry, they would’ve made the money they wanted to make. They might not have made Hulk Hogan money, but not many people did or do. They would’ve made a lot more money than they did had they decided to kind of s--t all over the cruiserweight division because they wanted to aspire to be something else"

On The Big Show never being a top guy in WCW

“Giant never really clicked. He never clicked in WCW, it just wasn’t there for some reason. Despite the fact that he had a successful and long career in WWE, he was never the face, he was never the guy that was in 3-4-5 main events a year. He just wasn’t that guy.

“He was an important guy, a talented individual and a good human being, but he just didn’t have that star power.”