To say Paul Wight switched between heel and face and back to heel again regularly would be an understatement. While he was more than capable in either role, it did become comical at times, with fans just waiting for his next turn. In fact, someone even attempted to log how many times he turned, and calculated it to be 36 times which is likely a record among wrestlers. Now in an interview with Inside The Ropes, Wight has revealed that he was frustrated with this and noted it really affected his merchandise sales.
I think it’s super frustrating. One of the things that turning did is made it hard for me to develop a consistent identity, you know, to sell merch. Merchandise is a huge part of our industry and you either have to have a solid run as a really dominant heel where people want to buy your stuff because you’re the antihero and they like it, or you need to have a solid run as a babyface where they love your stuff and everybody wants to buy it. When you’re flip-flopping, a lot of times, you’re pissing people off—you’re constantly dividing your audience.
Paul WightWight is currently on one of his longest runs without a turn, having joined AEW as a babyface in February 2021. While Wight was signed by AEW mainly to be a commentator, and so they could capitalize on his fame, he has stepped into the ring to compete on occasion, having wrestled QT Marshall at All Out and a couple of 3-1 handicap matches for Dark Elevation. Whether Tony Khan intends to turn Wight heel in the future remains to be seen. Still, seemingly Wight is just happy having some consistency.
