Over the last few weeks, I've weighed in on what to watch. But I'm taking a break from that for this week, bceause I gotta talk about Shaq.
All Elite Wrestling has been teasing some sort of wrestling encounter between Cody Rhodes and Shaquille O'Neal for months. One night, they announced that there would be an actual tag team match on March 3. It was really going to happen. Shaq was about to step into a wrestling ring... for a wrestling match.
Hooooooooly crap, that sounded like an awful idea on paper.
If you're wondering, "Isn't Shaquille O'Neal like... old?" you would be absolutely right! Shaq is a spry 50 years old! Full-time wrestlers probably shouldn't even be going at that age, much less a retired basketball player whose last few years in the league were remembered for him being woefully out of shape. There was no way this was going to be good.
And as it turned out, as a wrestling match, it was bad, bordering on really bad. But as an entertainment spectacle, it turned out to be a lot better than anything I could have hoped for. Shaq is still charismatic as all hell, even at his advanced age. He pulled off a hell of a powerbomb, looking like a giant monster. And, hot damn, he took a big bump through a pair of tables! Look at that big man... lay there!
All things considered, Shaquille O'Neal in a wrestling ring should have been one of the biggest trainwrecks of the year. Instead, it was entertaining as all hell. It wasn't always for the right reasons, mind you. Cody Rhodes bodyslamming him like this was Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant was a laughable image. But hey, I had fun with it. So good on them.
Elsewhere in IT'S STILL REAL TO ME, DAMMIT!
- Congrats to Bobby Lashley last Monday for becoming only the third Black world champion in WWE history. (The Rock and Kofi Kingston being the first two.)
- NXT is moving to Tuesdays, apparently, and thank the good lord, because I hated missing it to watch Dynamite.
- Shaq wasn't the only old dude working Dynamite this week. 1980s star Tully Blanchard worked a match at 67 YEARS OLD and hit a perfect slingshot suplex on that tiny little shit Marko Stunt. Awesome!
- I can't end one of these wrestling bits without declaring my totally heterosexual man love for "Platinum" Max Caster.
Here we go! Who earns this spot? @CasterShow? Or @Pres10Vance?
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 4, 2021
Watch #AEWDynamite NOW on @TNTDrama
REMINDER: The Countdown to #AEWRevolution begins immediately following Dynamite pic.twitter.com/ezWNQUGrHu
That guy's great. He's going to be a superstar. And these music videos are dope.
Have a good one, all. I'll have something to watch on TV next week.
