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Paul Wight Tells Jericho About Nixed WWE Match with Justin Bieber, Cena in 2014
March 17, 2021
AEW star Paul Wight, who previously wrestled in WWE as Big Show, revealed this week that he was supposed to be part of a match involving Justin Bieber at SummerSlam in 2014.
Appearing on Talk Is Jericho with fellow AEW star Chris Jericho (h/t WrestlingInc.com's Jason Ounpraseuth), Wight said:
"Years ago, I had worked out, for one of the SummerSlam's in L.A., with a very good friend who was working with Scooter Braun and Justin Bieber, and it was going to be John Cena, The Big Show and Justin Bieber vs. The Wyatts at SummerSlam. Bieber was on board. He was excited. He wanted to work out with John and I. This was a really really big deal, and this is when that app first came out and all that other crap."
Wight noted that the match didn't happen since WWE wavered on the idea and the notion of paying Bieber for the match, leading to Bieber's manager working out something else for his client outside of WWE:
"And then one of the people that are making decisions said, 'I just don't see how Justin Bieber's going to relate to our audience.' It's like, does anyone not see the amount of eyes Justin Bieber would bring to that match? I think WWE offered to help promote his album. You're dealing with Scooter Braun. Scooter Braun's all about cash, and they jacked Scooter around for about two weeks. And Scooter's like, 'Listen, it's not going to happen. I got the kid a million dollars to watch a soccer game, and they're flying down him down on a private jet.'"
With Bieber out of the picture, the other Superstars who were supposed to be involved in the match were placed in significantly different spots.
Bray Wyatt would beat Chris Jericho, Brock Lesnar decimated Cena in the main event to win the WWE Championship and Wight was not on the card.
Former WWE writer Kevin Eck was the first person to go public about the plans for a Bieber match at SummerSlam 2014 when he wrote about it on his website in 2015.
Unlike Wight, Eck didn't say why the match didn't come to fruition, but he did reveal how the booking may have gone.
Eck said the proposed creative direction was for Cena, Bieber and Big Show to win the match, only for Cena to hit Bieber with an Attitude Adjustment afterward due to Bieber obnoxiously trying to take credit for the win.
Pro wrestling purists are likely happy the match didn't happen, although there is no doubt Bieber's involvement would have increased mainstream interest in SummerSlam.
Failing to come to terms with Bieber clearly didn't sour WWE on using celebrities in big angles, though, as rapper Bad Bunny is currently a regular character on WWE programming and seems likely to team with Damian Priest against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37 next month.
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