So, on Wednesday we had a huge announcement that NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal will be on AEW TV soon starting a feud with ‘The American Nightmare,’ Cody Rhodes.
Now, the promo’s done by Jade Cargill and Brandi Rhodes were both good, yet Brandi outshined Jade pretty easily, so I think their feud, which will be linked to the feud of Cody and Shaq will be dominated by Brandi on the mic. However, Jade is just getting started in her pro wrestling career and has ample to time to improve, so putting her against the best female on the mic, will help that growth. So, I’m fine with those two being the female counterparts to this feud.
However, I have a few issues with Cody vs Shaq. Firstly, I personally don’t like having outside personnel coming into wrestling shows as I think it takes away from the actual talent that the company can build up if given screen time. However, I understand it, as it draws new people to watch the show due to fans of said person wanting to follow what they do outside of their sport or main job. So that’s not my biggest issue with this.
My main issue is that I don’t get the dynamic of Shaq vs Cody. When WWE had the mini feuds with Big Show and Shaq back in 2009 and 2016, it made sense because they’re both 7ft giants and in both wrestling and basketball, they were known for their dominance due to their size. I don’t understand the link or the driving force to get Cody and Shaq into a feud, there’s no common factor between the two.
Finally, the match won’t be good. I can guarantee that if these two get in the ring together the match will be boring. I know Cody can carry practically anyone to a decent match but this one is different. Shaq is 48 and if you saw his last 3 seasons in the NBA, he had the mobility of a bus. I love Shaq and I’m a huge fan of what he’s done but this match reminds me of those generic WWE big man vs typical indie star matches that are never good.
It’s going to happen anyway, but I’m not sure in how this will work and I’m sure it simply just won’t work.
TheWrestlingFallacy 