Paul Wight Calls Kane One of the Smartest Wrestlers He’s Ever Worked With

Paul Wight has been around professional wrestling long enough to have seen just about everything, and the names he singles out as the sharpest minds in the business carry real weight. In a recent interview, the veteran big man praised Kane as one of the most brilliant people he has ever encountered in his career.

Wight also highlighted Adam Copeland and Billy Gunn among the wrestlers he considers exceptionally intelligent, rounding out a list that reflects the breadth of his experience across multiple decades and promotions.

That experience is considerable. Wight broke into the business in the mid-1990s with WCW, where he debuted as The Giant before eventually moving to WWE — where he became widely known as The Big Show — and later signing with AEW. Across those stops, he has shared locker rooms and rings with an enormous cross-section of the industry, which makes his assessments worth paying attention to.

Kane, of course, built one of the most durable careers in WWE history, portraying a complex character over more than two decades while earning respect backstage as a serious student of the business. He has since transitioned into politics, serving as Mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. Copeland, meanwhile, remains active as a performer, and Billy Gunn has carved out a second chapter of his career in AEW. Wight’s praise underscores how much goes on behind the scenes in professional wrestling that fans rarely get to see — the strategic thinking and ring psychology that separates good wrestlers from all-time greats.