Shaquille O’Neal has made appearances in multiple fields after announcing his retirement from basketball in 2011. He had a splendid career in basketball and is considered one of the greatest to play in the NBA.
Even though Shaq is a well-known basketball player, he has quite a buzz around the professional wrestling industry. He has appeared once in WCW and TNA along with making multiple appearances in WWE.
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The most memorable WWE appearance of Shaq is in 2009 when he appeared as a guest host on Monday Night RAW.
Shaquille O’Neal towers Dwayne Johnson’s cousin Manu and Ted DiBiase Jr.
Everyone knows the WWE appearances of Shaquille O’Neal after his basketball retirement. However, O’Neal appeared on one of the flagship shows of WWE Cyber Sunday in 2008.
Surprisingly, he was only in the backstage area and did not appear on the Live show. After the show was over, O’Neal clicked pictures with several WWE superstars backstage. One of the pictures was with Legacy team members Ted DiBiase Jr. and Manu aka Afa Anoa’i Jr.
Shaquille O’Neal is a huge human being and can be seen towering DiBiase and Manu in the picture. The picture is of 2008 with Ted DiBiase Jr. holding the WWE Tag Team Championship. This was the period when the stable ‘Legacy’ was in the initial stages to be formed.
The Legacy was a group led by Randy Orton that contained the tag team of Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. Two other wrestlers, Manu and Sim Snuka, were briefly members of the stable as well. The name The Legacy was a reference to their extensive family histories in wrestling.
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Before clicking a picture with Manu and DiBiase, the NBA legend met MVP as his we can see Shaq wearing his locket. Shaq did not appear on the show ringside, but enjoyed the time he had at the backstage.
Has Shaq wrestled a match?
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Shaquille O’ Neal is an avid lover of pro wrestling and is a huge fan of WWE legend Hulk Hogan. In fact, Shaq’s first-ever appearance on a wrestling show was on WCW Bash at the Beach in 1994, where he presented the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Hulk Hogan.
Shaq has appeared in WWE twice, once in 2009 as the guest host for a live broadcast of WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Also, once a participant in Andre the Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33.
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Apart from WWE, he has appeared backstage at Impact Wrestling for a segment with Hulk Hogan. His most recent appearance was at AEW Dynamite in March 2021, teaming with Jade Cargill to defeat Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet.
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