There have been a number of celebrity guests in professional wrestling over the years, as everyone from Karl Malone and Stephen Amell to Mike Tyson and Rob Gronkowski has popped up in a wrestling ring over the years. That continues to this day, as Johnny Knoxville is making the rounds in WWE, and last year it was Shaq making his presence felt in a feud with Cody Rhodes. That ended up leading to a match between Rhodes and Shaq, one where Shaq went through a table, and during a recent interview with Josh Martinez of Z100 New York, Tony Khan had nothing but positive things to say about the NBA Legend, indicating that he may very well be the best celebrity guest they’ve had in AEW thus far.
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“We’ve probably never had a better guest in AEW than Shaq. He was so great on every level to us. Not just a hard worker and put in a great wrestling match, but also backstage the most humble person we’ve ever had in the history of the company in terms of coming in,” Khan said.
“He went around and thanked every wrestler and it was unbelievable to all of these pro wrestlers to have Shaq coming up to them and saying nice things but also saying, ‘I did my best out there, I hope I didn’t embarrass anyone. I just want to make wrestling look good because I like wrestling.’ To hear that from Shaq of all people, one of the biggest sports stars of all time, one of the greatest athletes ever, that was so cool,” Khan said.
Shaq was teamed up with Jade Cargill in his feud with Cody and Brandi Rhodes, and the match was just as entertaining as you’d expect. After being put through the table Shaq was taken to an ambulance but then later had disappeared.
Since then Shaq has teased a return to the ring, saying that he would be wrestling again soon and in the summer, but that was last year and nothing has come of it yet. Shaq’s been busy with his NBA on TNT duties and all the other projects he has in the works, so perhaps 2022 will see the return of Shaq to the ring.
Rhodes meanwhile has been keeping busy, becoming the TNT Champion once again and then losing it to Sammy Guevarra. He’s also delivered some amazing promos regarding his free-agent status and what he means to AEW, with many expecting a full heel turn at some point down the line. We’ll have to see if that actually happens though.
Do you want to see a rematch between Cody and Shaq? Let us know in the comments!
H/T Fightful
