Big Show

Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name **Big Show**.

## Biography

Wight began his career in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he was known by the ring name The Giant, initially introduced as "the son of André the Giant". In 1999, he signed a contract with World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Between WWF/WWE and WCW, he is 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 (he is the only man to have held all four of those particular titles). Wight has also found success in the tag team division, having been an 11-time world tag team champion, holding the WWF/World, WWE and WCW World Tag Team Championships multiple times with various tag team partners. 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 has also won 60-man battle royal at World War 3 and the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 31. Wight 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 the 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. In 2010, he had his first lead role, in the comedy film Knucklehead, which was produced by WWE Studios.

### Early Life

Paul Donald Wight II was born on February 8, 1972 in Aiken, South Carolina. Wight used to have acromegaly, a disease of the endocrine system.[13] By the age of twelve, Wight was 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall, weighed 220 lb (100 kg), and had chest hair. In 1991, as a member of the Wichita State University basketball team at age nineteen, Wight was listed at 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m). He underwent successful surgery in the early 1990s on his pituitary gland, which halted the progress of this condition. His shoe size is 22 5E, his ring size is 22, and his chest is 64 inches (1,600 mm) in circumference. In 2005, Wight leased a bus and hired a bus driver because of the practical problems his size presents to air travel and car rental.

Wight 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 (a Ford Econoline) was driven by "a mom who was deaf in her right ear and chain-smoked".

While at Wichita State University, Wight played basketball. Prior to attending Wichita State University, Wight attended Northern Oklahoma Junior College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, competing on the basketball team. At Northern Oklahoma, his 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. Wight 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, Wight scored a total of thirty-nine points for the Cougars in limited action.