10 Biggest Unsolved AEW Mysteries

4. What Happened To Shaq?

Full Gear Set
AEW

On the strangest and one of the best episodes of AEW Dynamite ever, Shaquille O'Neal, Tully Blanchard, and Ryo Mizunami somehow conspired to appear on the same show.

Shaq teamed with a debuting Jade Cargill to defeat Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet. The match was built, brilliantly, around Shaq's limitations and Jade's brash power game. When Jade wasn't celebrating every bomb by channelling Scott Steiner's awesome '90s energy, Shaq unleashed a sensational powerbomb of which any great working hoss would be proud, created a sense of chaos by randomly annihilating Austin Gunn in his beloved capacity of enthusiastic plant, and took a massive bump through two tables. It was an expertly arranged celebrity match in which Shaq committed to the bit hugely and allowed Jade the headlines and statement win.

After taking that nuts table bump, he was carted off on a stretcher before it was revealed that he had disappeared from the ambulance.

He hasn't been seen since in AEW canon, and given that both Cody and Jade have since jumped, Shaq is more likely to rock up in WWE should he return to wrestling.

This one is considered an unsolved mystery, but realistically, it was an offscreen angle designed to protect an athlete with a strength and powers of recovery that bordered on the mythical, supernatural.

The next very real mystery was significantly harder to solve...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!