Newly-signed AEW superstar and AEW Dark: Elevation commentator Paul Wight (fka The Big Show) took part in a post-AEW Revolution media scrum and revealed that WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon called him personally to congratulate him when it was revealed that Wight had signed with All Elite Wrestling.

“Vince actually called me the day that it was announced that I had signed with AEW, wished me a lot of luck, agreed that I am a huge asset at AEW and thanked me for all the years that I worked in the WWE. There’s no animosity, there’s no anger, there’s no dirt so to speak, it just came down to contract negotiations and opportunities. Let’s face it, over 20 years at WWE, I have done everything there is to do and I needed a fresh start. For me, I think Vince understands that and that for me, as a talent, this was the opportunity to do that, but you follow the rules.

I couldn’t reach out to Tony Khan or AEW while I was still under contract, I came to terms with a mutual dissolution of services when I left the WWE, there’s no anger, I needed the freedom to pursue different opportunities and when that contract came to an end, that was the thing where I took the leap of faith and hoped that my reputation and the industry in the work that I’ve done would earn me a meeting with Tony Khan and just to be able to talk to him and hope that he would understand that I can be an asset for AEW and when my contract expired, I had a chance to drive up to Jacksonville, meet with Tony and I had a meeting at 10 at night in his office.

We talked about wrestling and psychology and what I wnated to do in AEW and one of the big passions that I’ve had for a long time is getting into color commentary and trying to bring my experience from the ring, like Gorilla Monsoon or Jesse Ventura would bring to commentary, to bring the talent in the ring forward and help tell the stories and also have it be an opportunity for me to compete with some fresh talent, some people I haven’t had the opportunity to work angles with and some people that I can also help get better.

A new environment, a new place to work helps reinvigorate yourself. Believe me, leaving WWE was a little bit scary, because I had so much tenure there and so much experience and had basically already paid every due that I needed to pay in WWE. To leave that stock and put a lot of faith in yourself and say, if you’re really passionate about this and you want to do this, then you’ve got to put your big boy pants on and give it a shot and I’m grateful and thankful it all worked out.”