QT Marshall Admits He Lied to Shaquille O'Neal to Get Him to Do His AEW Dynamite Table Spot
NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal competed in his first match for All Elite Wrestling back in March, [...]
NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal competed in his first match for All Elite Wrestling back in March, taking down Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet in a tag team match alongside Jade Cargill. But while O'Neal was on the winning team, he wasn't conscious when the match ended. That was because Rhodes hit him with a diving crossbody while the big man was perched on the apron, causing both men to crash through a table set up outside the ring. The instantly iconic spot was the obvious highlight of the match, but it took a bit of fibbing to get O'Neal to actually agree to the spot.
QT Marshall, who helped train O'Neal for the match, spoke with Digital Spy's Stephanie Chase this week and said he lied about there being a crash pad under the table in order for the basketball legend to go through with the move.
"He picked up on it very quickly," Mashall said. "He's a wrestling fan, so the moment that you asked him what he wanted to do, he already had a whole list of things that were in his mind that he was going to do to somebody and it was just about teaching him the right way to do it without hurting himself."
"He said something about maybe going through some tables and I told him, 'Oh it won't be that bad, we'll put a really thick pad underneath,' which was not true. I just didn't want him to back out of it," he continued. "So it was a lot of fun, as soon as he came in the back, right away, he said, 'You lied to me! There was no pad under there!' That's wrestling, welcome to wrestling."
O'Neal was written off the show later in the evening but has kept the door open for a return to AEW to finally have his dream match with Paul Wight (fka The Big Show).
"I hear Paul Wight's still talking trash, so I'm going to work out really hard this summer, and maybe we could do something very, very soon," O'Neal said in an interview with Pop Culture back in June. "...Last time it was due out of bureaucracy and red tape, now there is no red tape. So, I'm going to go on because I'm still kind of sore from the table, so I'm going to go for it this summer, pump these muscles up here. I'll be waiting for you, Mr. Paul."
