Big Show

Having also won the Intercontinental, United States and Hardcore championships, he is the 24th Triple Crown and 12th Grand Slam winner in WWE history.

He also won the 60-man battle royal at World War 3 and the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31.

Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor.

He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as a wrestler and was a commentator for its web television show, AEW Dark: Elevation, under his real name of Paul Wight.

Wight was born February 8, 1972, in Aiken, South Carolina.

He was born with acromegaly, a disease of the endocrine system that causes accelerated growth.

By the age of twelve, he was 6ft 2in tall, weighed 220 lb, and had chest hair.

He underwent successful surgery in the early 1990s on his pituitary gland, which halted the growth.

His shoe size is 22 5E, his ring size is 22, and his chest is 64 in in circumference.

In 1991, as a member of the Wichita State University basketball team at age 19, he was listed at 7ft 1in.

He also attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1992 to 1993, was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Cougars basketball team, and is a member of the Xi Beta chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

During his one year at SIUE, he scored 39 points for the Cougars in limited action.

After graduating, Wight worked various jobs including bouncing, bounty hunting, and answering phone calls.

Wight paid $5,000 to train at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory, but due to Sharpe's gout at the time, he was only very minimally trained (Johnny Polo taught him the collar-and-elbow lockup).

Wight began his wrestling career in 1994.

Wight wrestled the first match of his career on December 3, 1994, at a World Wrestling Association (WWA) show in Clementon, New Jersey; he lost by countout to WWA Heavyweight Champion Frank Finnegan.

Wight attempted to inquire about joining the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during an autograph session at the Rosemont Horizon.

Promoter and scout Bob Collins turned him away after he admitted he had no experience.

While attending the Monster Factory, Wight made an audition tape and gave it to Mike Chioda, whom he had met in a Philadelphia bar.

Chioda forwarded it to Pat Patterson, who did not bother watching it because he assumed Wight was another wrestler, Kurrgan.

Only when he later saw The Giant debut in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) did Patterson realize his mistake, much to Vince McMahon's displeasure.

While answering phones for a karaoke company, Wight met Danny Bonaduce in a live microphone amateur contest on his morning radio show.

Bonaduce introduced Wight to his friend, WCW wrestler Hulk Hogan.

He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1995 to 1999 as The Giant and his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) from 1999 to 2021 under the ring name (The) Big Show.

Wight played college basketball at Wichita State University before transferring to other schools.

In 1995 he signed with WCW, where, due to his very large frame, he was known by the ring name The Giant (and was initially introduced as "the son of André the Giant").

He has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WCW and WWF/WWE since 1995, including the 2000 edition of WWE's premier annual event, WrestleMania.

Outside of professional wrestling, Wight has appeared in feature films and television series such as Jingle All the Way, The Waterboy, Star Trek: Enterprise, and two USA Network's comedy-dramas Royal Pains, Psych and the action-drama Burn Notice.

He had lead roles in the WWE Studios comedy film Knucklehead and the Netflix sitcom The Big Show Show.

In early 1999, he left WCW to join the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

Between WWF/WWE and WCW, he has held 23 total championships - including being a seven-time world champion, having held the WCW World Heavyweight Championship twice, the WWF/WWE Championship twice, WWE's World Heavyweight Championship twice and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once, (making him the only wrestler who has won all four titles), and an 11-time world tag team champion, holding the WWF/World, WWE and WCW World Tag Team Championships multiple times with various partners.

In 2005, he leased a bus and hired a bus driver because of the practical problems his size presents to air travel and car rental.

He played basketball and American football in high school at Wyman King Academy in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina.

He was a standout center for the basketball team and a tight end for the football team.

He quit football after his freshman year because of disputes with the coach.

He continued to support the team by joining the cheerleading squad as a sophomore, partly from spite.

He later called it "the greatest experience of my life... Everybody else was riding a bus with sweaty equipment, and I'm in a van with seven cheerleaders who are all learning about life".

The van was driven by "a mom who was deaf in her right ear and chain-smoked".

He played basketball at Wichita State University.

Before that, he attended Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, where his basketball averages of 14 points and 6.5 rebounds earned him all-conference honors and helped the team win the Western Division of the Oklahoma Bi-State Conference.