When you’ve won at least one three-peat in your career, you get the privilege of taking shots and calling names. Shaquille O’Neal just got on the receiving end of that. He’s getting called out by a former teammate with one more championship ring than him. But in a completely different arena. This is the NBA-wrestling crossover universe’s OG comeback kid, Dennis Rodman who’s made a challenging claim against Big Diesel.
The Worm has returned to pro-wrestling after 15 years. The only way to spice up a comeback is to issue a challenge to a former teammate. Is Shaq going to respond?
Dennis Rodman reminds fan of “whooping” Shaquille O’Neal
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15 years after he last dabbled in pro-wrestling and 25 years after he donned the Chicago Bulls jersey, Rodman made his AEW debut at Chicago’s iconic United Center. He was on AEW Collision on September 2 hyping the crowd for a Labor Day extravaganza. And he took the chance to take a jab at an old rival.
AEW stars were trying to get Dennis Rodman on their team. When he refused, Jeff Jarrett began talking smack at the seasoned trash-talker. So Rodman fired back by invoking another NBA legend’s name.
“When I was playing basketball, Shaq was that big and…” He directed at the biggest wrestler there. “… I whooped his a*s.” He only needed to drop the mic then to complete that jab. But Rodman was going for a bigger impact.
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Rodman was challenging the AEW pros that he could take them on the way he could take on Shaquille O’Neal. Fans nonetheless latched on to that claim. It’s been going all over social media and fans either want Shaq to respond or meet the challenge.
.@shaq has 24 hours to respond to Dennis Rodman pic.twitter.com/WvkcYmeVlt
— Superdrunkmark69 (@cjzer0) September 3, 2023
It hard’s to picture 6’7″ Rodman taking on 7’1″ O’Neal in a wrestling bout. Moreover, Shaq is no slouch in the wrestling ring either.
Shaq didn’t hold Rodman in high regard
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Shaquille O’Neal and Dennis Rodman suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers together in the 1998-99 season.
Rodman had enough championship rings to cover one hand and Shaq had none. But the Lakers’ Dennis the Menace phase was not pleasant and 1 year ago, O’Neal bluntly said that Rodman is the “worst teammate” he ever had.
Part of the reason was because Rodman would infamously ditch practice for different reasons, including for wrestling appearances. Big Diesel is also a wrestling fan who had appearances in WWE, WCW, and more. He had some epic in-ring moments against other pros. But basketball was his priority for as long as he was playing.
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After his jab at Shaq, Rodman knocked over Sonjay Dutt. He needed the Acclaimed combination to save him after that. Rodman is now going to be on The Acclaimed’s corner at AEW All Out. It could go from 3vs3 to 4vs4 if Shaquille O’Neal showed up.
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