Posted January 20, 20169 yr comment_5722043 http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2016/1/20/10785762/paul-wight-wwe-boxing Worked on this for months and thrilled with how it came out. Hope everyone enjoys it.
January 20, 20169 yr comment_5722054 A fantastic read! I had no idea about any of this. The mention of T.J. Wilson threw me off at first, as I thought initially that Tyson Kidd was somehow involved in all of this, but it became quickly apparent that you were referring to a different T.J. Wilson entirely. Hulk Hogan becoming a standoffish dick to his longtime friend is sad but probably not particularly surprising. I really have to wonder what either of them were thinking getting involved in this whole mess. I know Show needed the money, but still... Thanks for writing and posting.
January 21, 20169 yr comment_5722302 I enjoyed reading it too. I've seen the Show/Mayweather match a few times and later wondered if it ever occurred to Wight to shoot on him. That whole trial-and-error process of trying to become a boxer himself is what likely put it out of his mind, and I'm sure Mayweather and his people were well aware of that.
January 21, 20169 yr comment_5722311 That visual of Wight's hand being almost the size of Floyd's face almost had me convinced he should have pursued boxing more. Well, that and the guaranteed huge payday he would have had for at least his first couple of fights. I'd be curious to hear Bix's opinion on the whole thing since the article was non-biased journalism. Was Hogan playing with his friend's wellbeing in order to make some money? Does SoBe have a case and does Wight owe them a ton of money? Are Hogan and Wight no longer friends?
January 22, 20169 yr Author comment_5722364 That visual of Wight's hand being almost the size of Floyd's face almost had me convinced he should have pursued boxing more. Well, that and the guaranteed huge payday he would have had for at least his first couple of fights. I'd be curious to hear Bix's opinion on the whole thing since the article was non-biased journalism. Was Hogan playing with his friend's wellbeing in order to make some money? Does SoBe have a case and does Wight owe them a ton of money? Are Hogan and Wight no longer friends? I think Hogan was genuinely deluded about how well Wight could do, but I don't think that really helps much. That said, he clearly had access to Barker being willing to fund whatever for him even before that and didn't seem overly concerned with signing a contract or anything like that. My read of it all (including stuff I cut for space and flow) is that he was just concerned that Wight ending the experiment would risk his relationship with Barker. The Enquirer stuff shows Hogan thought he outsmarted Barker and had found himself a benefactor who would buy him whatever he wanted to help his "friend." SoBe doesn't have much of a case, as most of it (all counts against WWE and most against Wight) has been dismissed. The contract related stuff didn't have much teeth, and the whole thing got so complicated that it's way above my pay grade, but WWE did a strong job proving the signed deal itself was invalid, in part because "Hulk Hogan Promotions" was on it, didn't sign it, may not have existed. etc. I believe that the monies for Wight's home, which always appeared to be the one legit claim SoBe/Barker had. Barker never made any efforts to communicate that Wight was still bound to perform for SoBe until he sent a cease and desist the weekend of the Mayweather match. It seems like Hogan and Wight are no longer friends, but it wouldn't shock me if they reconciled (at least to a point) during the period where Hogan was trying to make amends with his enemies because he decided he was too old for that kind of thing.
January 22, 20169 yr comment_5722574 you know, we could have a thread on wrestlers with interesting stories in boxing just off the top of my head we have wight, JW storm, derrick dukes...plus guys with legit success in the sport like mero. count me as another who never knew about this whole story. great work!
January 23, 20169 yr comment_5722599 you know, we could have a thread on wrestlers with interesting stories in boxing just off the top of my head we have wight, JW storm, derrick dukes...plus guys with legit success in the sport like mero. count me as another who never knew about this whole story. great work! Paul Roma was another who flirted with boxing and I've vague memories of Brian Adams too.
January 23, 20169 yr Author comment_5722600 you know, we could have a thread on wrestlers with interesting stories in boxing just off the top of my head we have wight, JW storm, derrick dukes...plus guys with legit success in the sport like mero. count me as another who never knew about this whole story. great work! Paul Roma was another who flirted with boxing and I've vague memories of Brian Adams too.Adams was gonna have his debut on a major PPV undercard but the fight was cancelled and he never fought.
January 23, 20169 yr comment_5722603 Konnan was a boxer in the army. My memory is terrible so I don't remember if Vampiro wanted to box or if he actually boxed. This would have been during one of his many retirements from lucha to become an actor/singler/something else before failing and returning to wrestling.
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