{"id":42904,"date":"2025-04-22T14:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T13:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=42904"},"modified":"2025-04-22T14:23:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T13:23:40","slug":"it-was-a-sad-day-for-me-nba-legend-shaquille-oneal-reveals-the-2-wwe-hall-of-famers-who-destroyed-his-childhood-illusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/it-was-a-sad-day-for-me-nba-legend-shaquille-oneal-reveals-the-2-wwe-hall-of-famers-who-destroyed-his-childhood-illusions\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It was a sad day for me&#8217; &#8211; NBA Legend Shaquille O&#8217;Neal Reveals the 2 WWE Hall of Famers who Destroyed His Childhood Illusions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, having won four NBA championships, an MVP award, and a Finals MVP award. Shaq currently works with TNT for a famous show, &lsquo;Inside The NBA&rsquo;, but he also finds time to follow WWE. He has also guest-hosted WWE events like Monday Night Raw. <\/p><p>During his podcast show, the former Lakers superstar revealed the names of two WWE Hall of Famers who destroyed his childhood illusions. Shaq is a huge fan of WWE from his childhood days, but he felt heartbroken when he found out that the world&rsquo;s biggest wrestling event and its rivalries isn&rsquo;t real. He shared that Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair ruined the WWE for him.<\/p><p><strong>Also Read: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/lyra-valkyrias-mentor-turns-heel-on-her-after-losing-the-tag-team-title\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>Lyra Valkyria&rsquo;s Mentor Turns Heel on her after losing the Tag Team title<\/a><\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal Opens Up on Hogan and Flair&rsquo;s Rivalry, Talks About How WWE Stars Ruined His Childhood Illusions<\/h2><p>Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal has followed former WWE superstars Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair from his childhood days. These two wrestlers had a major rivalry in WCW, with Hogan winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Flair in 1994. Just one year ago, O&rsquo;Neal was named rookie of the year in the NBA.<\/p><p>During his podcast, The Big Podcast with Shaq, the basketball legend talked about a party he hosted at his home in Orlando. Shaq and Hogan were good friends, and the NBA superstar was shocked to learn the wrestler&rsquo;s other side at the party. Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal recalled how hosting WWE legends Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair became a &ldquo;sad day&rdquo; for him. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&ldquo;It actually was a sad day for me.&rdquo; <br><br>&ndash; Shaq when he realized the WWE wasn&rsquo;t real &#128148; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nd8CsRRDBd\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/nd8CsRRDBd<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Big Podcast (@bigpodwithshaq) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bigpodwithshaq\/status\/1914313661549588653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>April 21, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p><em>&ldquo;So Hulk Hogan came in, a couple other guys came in, uh, Ric Flair&hellip; and Macho Man and all these (wrestlers) start eating my hors d&rsquo;oeuvres and talking with each other,&rdquo;<\/em> Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal said.<\/p><p><em>&ldquo;Growing up, I always thought they hated each other&hellip; It actually was a sad day for me,&rdquo; <\/em>O&rsquo;Neal continued.<\/p><p><strong>Also Read: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/gunther-confront-commentators-attack-pat-mcafee-chaos-on-raw-on-netflix\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>Gunther confronts Commentators, attacks Pat McAfee, chaos on Raw on Netflix<\/a><\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Hulk Hogan Supported Shaq During His Struggle at Free Throw Line<\/h2><p>In the 1990s, Shaq reached out to Hulk Hogan and pleaded for his help when he struggling at the free throw line. Hogan attended the Magic-Bulls game with a seat on the courtside and his appearance motivated O&rsquo;Neal to perform better. <\/p><p><em>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not worried about the Three Stooges on Shaq&rsquo;s back. I&rsquo;m here to make sure there&rsquo;s a fair game. If the Bulls get out of the line, or the Magic takes advantage of the Bulls, I&rsquo;ll body slam both teams on the court just like I did Andre The Giant,&rdquo;<\/em> Hogan shared a story to TNT&rsquo;s Craig Sager. <\/p><p>In the mid-1990s, O&rsquo;Neal also served as a special guest for a matchup between legends Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair. The NBA legend delivers Hogan&rsquo;s signature line in the promo before the game, <em>&ldquo;What you gonna do when the Hulkamania runs wild on you.&rdquo;<\/em> Hogan went on to win the event and later, met Shaq in the ring to present the belt.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hulk Hogan celebrates with Shaquille O'Neal,Mr.T and Jimmy Hart after defeating Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in Hogan's debut match in WCW,at Bash at the Beach '94 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/KlcIUdP7Ra\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/KlcIUdP7Ra<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Rasslin' History 101 (@WrestlingIsKing) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WrestlingIsKing\/status\/1496980911249838082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>February 24, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Karlous Miller, Shaq&rsquo;s guest on the podcast, also expressed his thoughts on the current sports fans. He explained that fans don&rsquo;t see the post-game involvement where NBA players attend parties and exchange positive words off the court. <\/p><p>Also Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/shut-ad-down-shaquille-oneal-advises-mavs-to-follow-joel-embiid-route-for-anthony-davis\/\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>&ldquo;Shut AD down&rdquo; &ndash; Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal advises Mavs to follow Joel Embiid route for Anthony Davis<\/a><\/p><p><em>&ldquo;Fans see this as like a blood sport. But they don&rsquo;t even see the part like after the game, it&rsquo;s the afterparty, it&rsquo;s both teams in here and they kickin&rsquo; it,&rdquo;<\/em> Miller said. <em>&ldquo;They (are) the ones who make the rivalries, so once I saw that I was like &lsquo;Oh, they (are) buddies.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p><em>Image Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the 1990s, Shaq reached out to Hulk Hogan and pleaded for his help when he struggling at the free throw line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":42939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,438],"tags":[2548,4281,312,807],"class_list":["post-42904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-wwe","tag-hulk-hogan","tag-ric-flair","tag-shaquille-oneal","tag-wwe"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&#039;It was a sad day for me&#039; 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