Shaquille O’Neal says that he’ll be back inside a wrestling ring soon. The NBA legend was asked on an episode of NBA on TNT when he’ll be wrestling again and he responded that he expects to wrestle again this summer.
“Soon. This Summer,” said the 49-year-old.
O’Neal has two official pro-wrestling matches on his record. He competed in the 2016 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32. It seemed as though his appearance in the match was to set-up a program with the Big Show. That program never seemed to develop, however.
O’Neal’s second official match in wrestling came just under 3 months ago in AEW. O’Neal teamed with Jade Cargill and defeated the team of Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet. The match took place on March 3rd’s “Crossroads” event. While Shaq’s team came out on the winning end of the match, he was sent through two tables and taken away in an ambulance. Cargill pinned Velvet to win the match for her team.
It is believed that Shaq had been training for the match for awhile. His preparation for Crossroads was addressed by Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live.
“I talked to several people and what I’ve gathered is that Shaq has been training for awhile,” Alvarez said on the show.
“I know there were rumors that he had been secretly training since the summer, I don’t know if it’s been that long,” Alvarez continued.