Summary

Paul Wight says one of the most memorable spots from his 2002 match with Rey Mysterio is still hard for him to watch.

Speaking on *Insight with Chris Van Vliet*, Wight looked back at their WWE Backlash match, where Mysterio was strapped to a stretcher after the bout and swung into the ring post. Wight explained that the moment went wrong when the stretcher slipped out of his hands, turning what was meant to be a dramatic visual into something that genuinely scared him.

Wight said he was so worried about Mysterio after the spot that he drove to the hospital, fearing he had seriously hurt him. He eventually found Mysterio relaxed and unharmed, which brought the panic to an end.

Quote from Paul Wight

"I hate that spot! That gives me nightmares. That went so bad. Oh, that went terrible because it was my idea, because Rey was tied in it, and then I thought I'd rib him in the afternoon, whereas I'll just pick him up scare him. Oh, I can [pick him up]. This isn't that tough. So what about swinging the pole? My God, that'll look crazy. But the whole thing was, I was gonna swing him on the pole, swing him on the pole again, and I was gonna shove him back in the ring. Somewhere, somebody before us, because it sure as hell wasn't me, the guys used to put this conditioner crap on their hair, and sometimes it would get on the ropes, and it makes your hands so slimy, like even if you grab the top rope, getting out of the ring, your hand just comes right off. So when I swung Rey into that pole, that thing popped right out of my hands, like it squeezed, like a hard-boiled egg or something. It just popped right out, then I saw Rey go, and I went, Oh, I just killed Rey. Oh, Jesus. So I'm freaking out on the inside, but we're still doing our thing. He's moving. Oh god, they're putting him in the ambulance. Oh my god. So I ran back to the locker room, grabbed my clothes, threw them in the car, and drove to the hospital in my rental car, because I'm thinking, man, if Rey's seriously f*cked up, I'm done. I'm quitting. I'm done. Because I really cared about taking care of the other guys. I get there and Rey sits in the hospital bed with his hands behind his head, just chilling. 'Hey, man, that was good, huh?' I'm like, 'You're okay?' [He says] 'Oh yeah, man, I'm fine.' I'm like, 'You know what I went through driving over here worrying?!'"

Wight later went on to say:

"Rey used to love in the house shows when he worked, he used to love to sit on the top turnbuckle and have me chop him in the chest. And he would bump from the top turnbuckle to the floor, and it looked like he got assassinated. There's a loud smack, and then boom, there's no more Rey. He just disappears and goes down. Arn Anderson was the agent. Arn said, 'You know, when I see you do that to Rey, I want to call the police on you.' It's not me. It's his idea. That's not me doing that. That's Rey. That's getting me in trouble."

Backlash aftermath

The match took place at WWE Backlash 2002. Wight defeated Mysterio, and the stretcher attack followed after the bell. Despite how dangerous the moment looked, Mysterio did not miss significant time and was back working house shows within two weeks.

What this means for Paul Wight and Rey Mysterio

Wight's story underlines how much trust was involved in some of WWE's bigger spectacle spots from that era, especially when Rey Mysterio was taking punishment that relied on perfect timing. It also adds more context to Wight's long-running respect for the wrestlers he worked with, something that still comes through in his more recent comments about wanting to spend his remaining AEW contract time helping younger talent, as he said in another recent interview discussion.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.