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AEW's goal of attracting new eyes to the product and its efforts towards breaking into the mainstream domain have led to Shaquille O'Neal's renewed interest in pro wrestling. AEW has begun an angle featuring Shaq, the recently-signed Jade Cargill, Cody, and Brandi Rhodes. All roads seem to be heading for a match between Cody and Shaq, and the initial reactions to the storyline have been lukewarm, to say the least.
Shaq showed up on the last episode of AEW Dynamite for a sit-down interview with Tony Schiavone, and the segment ended with Brandi Rhodes splashing the NBA legend with water.
During a recent SK Wrestling Exclusive interview with Riju Dasgupta (Assistant Manager for Combat Sports), Darby Allin was asked about Shaq becoming a part of the pro wrestling landscape.
Darby Allin felt that Shaquille O'Neal put on an impressive performance on AEW Dynamite last week. The AEW TNT Champion was all in favor of having more crossovers as it would help bring more eyes to the AEW product.
Allin cited his examples of getting in the likes of Tony Hawk and Steve-O and was supportive of the idea of bringing in people from other fields of sports and entertainment.
RD: Another thing that happened this past week was Shaquille O'Neal became a part of the pro wrestling landscape. Do you have any thoughts on that as well?
DA: Yeah, I would say he kicked a**. I want to see more crossovers with other forms of media. I'm a big fan of all that stuff, which why I tried to bring in Tony Hawk and Steve-O or Travis Pastrana; as much as these guys get me hyped, I want to bring them into the world so that all the other wrestling fans can see what they do.
"Half the wrestlers are complete jokes" - The AEW TNT Champion's shot at the roster
Darby Allin also took a shot at the current crop of wrestlers by saying that half of the people are 'complete jokes.' Allin concluded by saying that he would love to see personalities from other walks of life step into the world of wrestling and take it seriously.
RD: So, you are okay with the idea of people who have never stepped into the ring before coming into your world and maybe bringing new eyes to the product.
DA: 'Absolutely, because half the people in the world are complete jokes. Half the wrestlers are complete jokes that don't take it seriously. So, I would love to have someone else step into our world and take it seriously and kicking a**.
Have you seen Darby Allin's comments about Sting possibly becoming his manager? If you haven't already, Darby Allin had much more to say about the Stinger and the possibilities that lie in the future.
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