“Don’t Disrespect Shaq and Kobe Like That”: Fans Call Out Media House for Absurd Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn Claim

Many WWE stars are often subject to comparison from fans with their counterparts from other sports or pop culture. The impact of many WWE wrestlers draws this comparison and since they enjoy a global fandom, people are keen to compare two entities from different sporting spheres.

FOX TV home to WWE SmackDown cheekily tried to do this before the final SmackDown of the year with their biggest star Roman Reigns. On their Instagram page, they posted a photo of Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn above a picture of NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

However, this attempt to compare their in-ring stars with basketball greats backfired. The fans were critical of this comparison by the network and accused them of disrespecting Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Moreover, as Reigns and Zayn lost their match on SmackDown, the comparison became even more absurd for the fans.

Fans angry over Roman Reigns and Zayn being compared to NBA icons

The last SmackDown show of the year featured John Cena wrestling for the first time in 2022. The main event featured Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn teaming up to take on Kevin Owens and a returning Cena. WWE hyped up the match a great deal and did well to promote it throughout the week.

Meanwhile, FOX TV also joined on the hype train as the network did its best to garner fan interest. They posted a collage image on their Instagram page which featured the Undisputed Universal champion Roman Reigns and Sami Zayn on top and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal at the bottom in their Lakers jerseys.

The network drew a comparison between the WWE stars and the two NBA greats.

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In the caption of the post, they wrote, @RomanReigns and @SamiZayn pulling up to tonight’s main event! Clearly, it was meant to draw a rather outlandish claim of Reigns and Zayn being similar to Bryant and the Big Diesel.

Although the two WWE stars have their own legacy inside the ring, the comparison here seemed a bit far-fetched. The Black Mamba and Shaq have won a total of nine NBA championships between them and are global icons.

The fans too didn’t take kindly to it and criticized FOX for this post. One fan wrote, “Don’t disrespect Kobe and Shaq like that.”

 Another fan also commented, “How dare y’all compare them to Kobe and Shaq. Don’t do the GOATS like that.”  Here are the other reactions from fans angrily lashing out at this post.

“Don’t EVER compare Roman to SHAQ!”

“Don’t ever compare these 2 whack jobs to Kobe and Shaq. Seriously.”

“How dare y’all compare them to Kobe and Shaq. Don’t do the GOATS like that.”

“Fox was drunk to early for new years or maybe it was me had technical issues.”

“Don’t disrespect Kobe and Shaq like that.”

“Omg don’t compare them to Kobe and Shaq.. wtf is wrong with you.”

“Reaching. You still got time to delete this.”

“Don’t you compare the late great Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to the Tribal Trash Booman Lames and Sami Zayn.

“Hell naw disrespecting kobe like that.”

It didn’t also help FOX that Reigns and Zayn lost their match to Owens and Cena in the main event later.

Sami Zayn has established himself as one of the most entertaining wrestlers in WWE recently. His work with The Bloodline has made for some really good TV and fans have loved him.

Also, Roman Reigns is on a whole other level at the moment. He is in true ‘God mode’ and has held the world titles for over 900 days and appears untouchable and stands out as WWE’s biggest star of the current era.

But still, comparing them with Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant at the moment may be a case of reaching out too far on FOX’s part.

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