During the latest edition of the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, Paul Wight commented on his relationship with Vince McMahon, how it changed, and more. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether he talked to Vince McMahon before leaving WWE: “Vince and I didn’t talk. I dealt with Mark Carano, and we went back and forth a little bit. I wanted to leave and the money was OK. The years were a little light. It felt more like they weren’t looking at me as a talent they want to invest in again. When they offer you a year, you’re not investing too much in me because a year goes by pretty quick. The writing’s on the wall. They’re moving on, and I need to, too. So, when I came over here to AEW, and we finally made the announcement, Vince called me. That was the first time I’d spoken to him in six months because at the TVs that I went to before, he was unavailable, or he wasn’t there. I just really didn’t get a chance to sit down and talk to him.”
On how his relationship with Vince changed: “I knew the writing changed for me and Vince in our relationship. For years, I was always ‘Show’. In the last year, it’s been ‘Paul’. So, that’s a subtle thing in his mind where he’s already shipping me off to Shady Pines. Paul’s just a guy. Paul is his friend. There’s no animosity, and there’s no heat there at all. He called me, and he said congratulations. He said you’re going to do fantastic over there. You’re really going to help their company. It was a very classy move. We do have a long relationship, and I think that’s one of the things that hurts a lot because I’ve been through so many things with him. My first media training when I first went to WWE, I was in a limo with Vince in New York doing radio stations with him. He was on my media day. I learned about so many things, and that knowledge that you get from him, if you spend any time around him, the dude is brilliant.”
On his memories of working with Vince in WWE and Vince pulling pranks on him: “We’ve had a lot of good times, all the trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was always good seeing him in that environment because that alone time with Vince, you got to see Vince the guy, not the Chairman of the Board and all that other horseshit that he has to do. Vince will step on your shoe and say, ‘Flat tire.’ I mean, what are we, in eighth grade? He’ll short-sheet my bed. I go to get my bed and my bunk in Iraq, and the bed’s short-sheeted. One night, he turned the heater on in my room because I hate being hot. We’re gone all day, and we come back that night. I walk into my room, and it’s hot in the desert, and I’m ready for this ice-cold room, and it’s 100 degrees. He walks by, ‘Something wrong with your heater pal?’ Come on, man. We’ve been going 15 hours, man. We’ve had five helicopter rides. We’ve met over 7,000 troops today. I just wanted my room to be cold, and he just loves that stuff.”
(h/t – 411 Wrestling)
