Summary

Paul Wight says he went into his audition for *The Waterboy* expecting Jim Duggan to get the Captain Insano part instead.

While discussing the film appearance, Wight explained that he had heard Duggan read for the role in Orlando and assumed the part was all but his. Instead, Wight said a casting director asked him to try it, and his one-take audition got him the job.

Quote from Paul Wight

Speaking on *Insight*, Wight said:

"One take, and that was just me blatantly ripping off Hulk because I wasn’t even going to do it. They were doing interviews at Orlando and I heard Jim Duggan had gone and read for it. I was like, Oh, well, Duggan will get it. He’s amazing. Captain Insano, Jim Duggan, yeah, he’ll get it. Then the casting director, she saw me, ‘Would you please just come read?’ I was like, Sure, okay. So I just took the verbiage and did Hogan, ripped him off, and then she said, ‘Oh, my God, that’s what we’re looking for. That’s it. Congratulations. You’re Captain Insano.’ I’m like, Okay, what did I just do? I didn’t know."

Wight later went on to say:

"Funny thing about Adam Sandler, too, that whole group, his whole crew, dude, they’re so amazing. They were so nice to me and Adam’s mom. I would run into them at the Super Bowl, this little Jewish lady comes up and she grabs my hand and she says, ‘You’re in a movie with my son.’ I said ‘I was?’ [She said] ‘Yes, yes, my son, Adam.’ Oh, you’re Adam Sandler’s mom. Yes, ma’am, I sure was. ‘You’ve got to come say hello to Adam.’ So she held me by my hand and took me over to where Adam’s people were at the Super Bowl, nd she’s like, ‘This is Adam’s big friend Paul. He’s a pro wrestler.’ But she was so darn sweet, you know? Adam was like, Hey, man. I said, Dude, it’s awesome. But all those guys were super cool. That was a great, great moment, and then I did Jingle All the Way."

Captain Insano’s place in Paul Wight’s wrestling legacy

Captain Insano became more than a movie cameo for Wight. The character stuck to his public image long after *The Waterboy*, and Wight has even brought Captain Insano back during his AEW run.

That gives the story some extra wrestling value beyond a movie anecdote. For many fans, it is one of the clearest examples of Wight turning a pop culture side role into something that remained part of his wrestling identity years later.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.