Reason why WWE rejected Justin Bieber

Paul Wight (f.k.a. The Big Show) has revealed that WWE rejected Justin Bieber due to doubts over his appeal to the company’s audience.

In 2014, talks took place between WWE and Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, about the singer competing in a match at SummerSlam. If the deal had come to fruition, Bieber would have joined forces with John Cena and The Big Show to face The Wyatt Family.

Wight, who now works for AEW, appeared on the latest episode of Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast. He said a WWE official shot down the idea of a six-man tag team match:

“Years ago I had worked out for one of the SummerSlams in L.A... I had worked out with a very good friend who was working with Scooter Braun and Justin Bieber. It was gonna be John Cena, The Big Show, and Justin Bieber versus The Wyatts at SummerSlam. This deal was really… Bieber was on board, he was excited, he wanted to work out with John and I. This was a really, really big deal. This is when that app first came out, all that other cr*p, you know, and then one of the people that is making decisions said, ‘I just don’t see how Justin Bieber is going to relate to our audience.’ It’s like… does anyone not see the amount of eyes that Justin Bieber would bring to that match?”

There is a lesson to be learned in every failure (unicycles included!!). The lesson here may be U didn’t C ME! Congratulations on the new single! @JustinBieber pic.twitter.com/nnZsULcUjj

— John Cena (@JohnCena) January 7, 2020

Wight said WWE offered to help promote Justin Bieber’s album but there was no interest in having him wrestle. He added that WWE “jacked Scooter around for about two weeks” before talks came to an end.

Justin Bieber is not the only celebrity who WWE rejected

Chris Jericho joined rival company AEW in 2019

Like Paul Wight, Chris Jericho spent two decades of his wrestling career in WWE. In response to Wight’s Justin Bieber story, he said Will Ferrell was interested in appearing at WrestleMania several years ago.

The actor wanted to raise money for charity by taking part in a drum-off with his celebrity lookalike, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith.

"You are very handsome." - Will Ferrell, upon meeting Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith for the first time. pic.twitter.com/oauYBYpr2J

— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) August 23, 2020

Jericho thought a face-off or match between Ferrell and Smith would have worked at WrestleMania. However, he was told that WWE had no interest because the company “does not really pay our celebrities.”

Please credit Talk Is Jericho and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.