Hack-a-Shaq llega a All Elite Wrestling.
Shaquille O’Neal can again include some deliberate punches in their tag team match this week. The 7-foot-1 basketball Hall of Famer has a chance of handing out retaliation – perhaps a hit, side bracket, or clothesline – when he steps into the ring for his first game with AEW.
“Oh, I’m winning,” said O’Neal. “Guaranteed”.
O’Neal says he’s a lifelong wrestling fan and has ripped off a list of favorite wrestlers, from Tony Atlas and Junkyard Dog to Andre the Giant and Brock Lesnar.
Big boys. Rude guys.
Just like Shaq.
O’Neal is ready to perform in his first competitive fight when he enters All Elite Wrestling with Jade Cargill on a mixed label opposite Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida on Wednesday’s episode of “Dynamite”.
The seeds of a dispute were laid in November last year Cargill appeared in “Dynamite” and Rhodes talked about bullshit that O’Neal was the real giant killer of professional wrestling. O’Neal responded to “Inside the NBA” and told Rhodes to name the place.
“I’m the type, I can never come back from a challenge,” O’Neal told The Associated Press. “I am not a professional fighter, but I have been in a match before. I have a lot of moves in my arsenal. When you enter someone’s world, you have to hold on to what you are master at. I am not acrobatic. I’m not jumping off the ropes. I come with the power game. When I get my hands on it, I will show this power. “
O’Neal visited Nightmare Factory’s wrestling training facility in Norcross, Georgia, but otherwise has limited professional wrestling training.
“I’m the type that when I look and see you doing it, I understand,” said O’Neal.
O’Neal was crushed as a teenager when Hulk punched Hogan and defeated Andre the Giant in the main event of WrestleMania III.
Once he became an NBA star, Shaq Diesel, a nickname made for professional wrestling, finally had a talk with the Hulkster.
‘I said to him,’ You broke my heart when you hit Andre the Giant, ‘said O’Neal. “I cried when I was a child. Really. “
It was all – for the most part – forgiven seven years later, in 1994, when Hogan defeated Ric Flair in Bash at the Beach and celebrated with O’Neal. O’Neal has traveled within the square circle as much as some of his favorite stars. He was on Hogan’s side in both World Championship Wrestling and Impact Wrestling, and even took part in Andre the Giant’s battle royale at WrestleMania in 2016.
O’Neal, who boxed Shane Mosley in 2010, watched the 7-foot Big Show during WWE’s Battle Royale before double-strangling Kane together. The remaining fighters conspired to throw O’Neal over the ropes and eliminate him from the fight.
“I wanted to get my hands on the Big Show,” said O’Neal.
O’Neal could get his chance after Show left WWE after spending more than 20 years there and is ready to make his AEW debut on Wednesday.
What a coincidence!
O’Neal, 48, who has won four NBA titles during his Hall of Fame career, is the latest in a long line of active and retired athletes struggling in attraction games. Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone wrestled for WCW in the 1990s, Lawrence Taylor wrestled in the main event of WrestleMania XI, and Mike Tyson performed for WWE and AEW.
“This one will beat them all,” said O’Neal.