BREAKING NEWS: (If you are reading this story on the day of posting – December 9th, 2020 – the events of the story are happening TONIGHT. You may want to check it out!) We’ll update you on this developing story as details come in. Meanwhile, here are the details we have at this time…
Is the Big Man making a move on professional wrestling? Seems like it! After some hints and rumors from both inside and outside the ring, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) says Shaquille O’Neal will indeed appear on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite. As mentioned at the top of this post, that’s coming up tonight, so you may want to set the DVR to catch it. AEW officials confirm Shaq will appear alongside Tony Schiavone for some kind of interview and / or big announcement.
Tonight’s event comes a few weeks after AEW newcomer Jade Cargill teased the NBA giant’s arrival, confronting Cody Rhodes in her debut appearance on Dynamite. Cargill criticized former TNT Champion Rhodes for calling himself AEW’s giant-killer, saying her “giant” was the real star, dropping Shaq’s name as she made her exit.
In true AEW style, that led to a verbal spat with Brandi Rhodes soon afterwards, with Jade attacking the AEW Chief Brand Officer in a backstage segment on the next week’s installment of the program.
So far, it’s only rumors and guesses as to how Shaq might fit into the overall programming plans for All Elite Wrestling. There have been some hints that we could see a real match, a mixed-tag event that would see a face-off between Cody and Brandi against O’Neal and Cargill.
Seems Shaq is interested, for sure. He was backstage at the Full Gear 2020 pay-per-view on 7 November.
Shaq’s addition completes a Dynamite card loaded with huge names. Tony Schiavone will interview wrestling legend Sting following his Winter Is Coming debut (also on the program tonight, as of this writing). Also, Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle could split in their ultimatum segment (that’s the rumor, anyway). The Young Bucks face The Hybrid 2 in a non-title bout, and MJF and Orange Cassidy will contest the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
As we said, stay tuned for more details! What do you think of Shaq appearing in the ring? No matter what, it should be exciting…