10 Terrible Wrestlers With One Incredible Match

A preposterously entertaining match that over-reached and over-delivered in order to over-achieved, Shaquille O'Neal's second official wrestling match obliterated his efforts in his first and made good on decades of teases.

Controlled masterfully by an in-form Cody Rhodes, the match brought together four wildly different entities to make for one magnificent whole. Rhodes and Shaq had rather listlessly traded barbs as part of the build, the the 'American Nightmare' having more back-and-forth banter with newcomer Jade Cargill than the former basketball star. She brought with her an amazing look, but was completely unproven and untested at this level. Meanwhile, Red Velvet - subbing for a pregnant Brandi Rhodes - had more in-ring time on the clock but a lot less stature in AEW, especially compared to those she shared this sizeable stage with.

The results were impossibly brilliant. Cody and Shaq's exchanges immediately - immediately - hit big with a socially distanced Daily's Place crowd, and O'Neal's powerbomb was almost graceful in its fury. A fireworks factory that kept the sky alight for 12 absorbing minutes before Velvet fell to Cargill, the peak was reached when Cody launched himself into Shaq and through a table. The improbable had been made possible by a company desperate to roar back from the throes of the pandemic's worst restrictions.