Road Dogg has revealed the unusual request made by Shaq at WrestleMania 32 which he was forced to reject.
Even though Shaquille O’Neal had already made multiple appearances for WWE, WCW, and TNA through the years, the NBA Legend made his in-ring wrestling debut when he was unveiled as a surprise celebrity entry in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32. In his brief time in the bout, Shaq eliminated Damien Sandow before he and the Big Show were eliminated by rest of the wrestlers in the match.
Speaking on the latest episode of his “Oh You Didn’t Know” podcast, Road Dogg revealed that Shaq originally wanted to go through a table after the match, a request that Road Dogg had to deny. The former six-time WWE Tag Team Champion also stated how he never even conveyed the request to Vince, in fact he just pretended to do that in front of Shaq:
“When he [Shaq] came to WWE to that Mania, where he was in the Battle Royal and had a face off with Big Show. And I don’t remember which Mania that was, the one where Big Show and Shaq had that big face off. Shaq the whole time wanted to go through a table. He wanted Big Show to take him outside and put him through, choke slam him through the table. He really wanted to do that, like he was dying to do that. And so I had to act like I stepped away to call Vince to ask permission.
And then I just came back and said, No, you can’t do that. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a Battle Royale like what are you going through table for? To be quite honest I was worried about [safety]. Okay, I’m with Shaq. I’m a superstar whisperer, you know, or the celebrity whisperer this Mania. I don’t want him to get hurt. And I know Vince is gonna say no, because it just didn’t make sense. You know what I mean?”
Road Dogg then added how he is glad that the four-time NBA Champion eventually got fulfil his wish years later in AEW, when he and Cody Rhodes went through a table on AEW Dynamite.
“And so I kind of just came back and was like [no], he got the opportunity. He had a great time that night and did everything that was asked of him and did well. He got the opportunity to go through a table with Cody at AEW. His wish was still granted. He did awesome. But yeah, he’s a fun guy to hang out with to like he’s not he’s very down to earth man. And so very, it’s very cool to be next to that guy. Because he’s larger than life in every way you can mean it.”
Shaq’s mixed tag team match with partner Jade Cargill against Red Velvet and Cody Rhodes still remains as his final wrestling appearance. However, the “Big Shamrock” of Basketball has previously hinted towards a potential return to an AEW ring.
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