Although Shaquille O’Neal has focused his career on the sport of basketball, he has also shown interest in other sports. In fact, it might interests fans to know that Shaq once met a legend from the world of WWE called Dusty Rhodes. The former wrestler is considered by many to be one of the greatest wrestlers ever. After all, he was involved with the WWF before it became the WWE.
In any case, Since Shaq is looked at as an NBA legend himself, their meeting caused quite a lot of interest and drew the attention of fans. With that being said, let us take a closer look at what happened and how fans reacted to pictures of their encounter.
NBA fans were shocked to find Shaquille O’Neal towering over Dusty Rodes
In all fairness, there are very few people in this world who stand taller than Shaq, who is listed as 7’1. Legends from other sports look nearly miniature when placed next to the 4x NBA champion. While Rodes was certainly considered to be larger than life himself, the photos of his interaction with Shaq indicated that he was nowhere close to O’Neal in terms of height.
Shaquille O’ Neal and Dusty Rhodes pic.twitter.com/tl57SBzbNv
— Allan (@allan_cheapshot) April 10, 2023
Dusty Rhodes is listed at 6’2 and is estimated to weigh around 275 lbs. Therefore, fans are used to seeing him stand taller than the people around him. However, even Dusty had to look up at, or at least raise his head when talking to Shaq given their extreme height difference.
Dusty makes Shaq’s hand seem only giant and not gargantuan
— Casey James Tartuffe (@casey_cunniff) April 11, 2023
Shaq has always shown a flair for drama and entertainment. That was something that could not be achieved enough when playing in the NBA. Therefore, he has looked at other sports like Wrestling and respected the competitors for showing proficiency in the same sphere that O’Neal admires. We can tell from the pictures that Shaq was quite young when he met Dusty, given the amount of hair on his head.
Not all fans will be aware that Shaq has been associated with the wrestling world for a while now. He even made a few guest appearances, which undoubtedly shocked the audience at the time. He even squared against Dusty’s son Cody Rhodes. Therefore, it really isn’t too much of a surprise that he was on good terms with Dusty Rhodes.