Dwayne Johnson has been a perfectionist when it comes to playing with words. With an innate ability to crack puns and leave the listeners in fits of laughter, the ‘Black Adam’ star is thus the ruler of numerous hearts. One such conversation left the basketball fame – Shaquille O’Neal, thrashed on a live television program.
Back in 2015, Shaquille O’Neal was present on the set of ‘Inside The NBA.’ After chit-chatting for a long time, the host dropped in a few names and asked Shaquille if he could beat them in a wrestling match. Hulk Hogan, Chris Jericho, Big Show and Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock were the ones named and Shaquille seemed quite confident in beating them.
However, Shaquille O’Neal’s face turned pale as Dwayne Johnson surprisingly appeared live on the big screen behind them. “Shaq is one of the most dominating players of all time. I believe, four World Championships; gold medal on top of that. He made Kazoo. I’m sorry what it is? Kazam. It doesn’t matter what it is,” said The Rock. The banter left the show’s hosts gasping for air.
Shaquille O’Neal’s 1996 movie – Kazam was a box-office disaster. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the comedy film made around $18,880,508 at the Domestic Box Office and couldn’t satisfy the fans. Moreover, the audience was so disappointed by the movie that it was rated 3.1 out of 10 on IMDb’s charts.
Did Dwayne Johnson accept Shaquille O’Neal’s challenge?
Dwayne Johnson did not stop here and told Shaquille that he made a Tooth Fairy and he would beat him to it. All of Dwayne’s banter left Shaquille O’Neal seemed quite embarrassed. He then took no time to challenge The Great One on the then-upcoming April 19th. However, The Rock had a rather interesting reply to his challenge.
“Let me tell you something. There’s a reason why that they call me the jabroni beating pie-eating trailblazing eyebrow-raising ready to flip Shaq’s a** in a second,” said The Rock and immediately declined the challenge. All the stars present at the TNT studio could hardly control their laughter.
@SHAQ Hows your lips Shaq? Cause next time I see you, I'm slapping them off your face. #TeamBringIt #ByeByeLips
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 3, 2012
Despite the two pulling each other’s legs, Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Johnson are good friends. Neither of the two misses any opportunity to thrash the other, bringing in a lot of fun for the audience. Shaquille O’Neal made himself popular inside the WWE ring too after he appeared at WrestleMania 33’s stage and left the audience astounded.