The war of words between Cody Rhodes and Shaquille O’Neal reached new heights on AEW programming this week. Things kicked off during the AEW Awards an hour before the show, where the NBA legend called out Rhodes before announcing the winner of the final award. O’Neal said, “Cody Rhodes, you little punk. You want to battle, you just name the time and the day. You little punk, with your blonde hair, you look like a little girl. You want some of the Shaq Attack? Name the place. Matter of fact, let’s do it in March. How about that?”

Rhodes initially responded on Twitter, writing, “(deep breath) Let’s be serious here…with the utmost respect, I would eat this guy alive in the ring.”

“The American Nightmare” then appeared on Dynamite to address the situation, saying that he’d love to book himself and Brandi Rhodes and O’Neal and Jade Cargill. However, due to Brandi’s pregnancy, that can’t happen. He then deferred the decision to Arn Anderson, who pointed out that while Cody’s focus may be split between the match and the birth of his first child, his father was able to balance both back in the 80s.

Anderson then brought down Red Velvet, who volunteered to be Rhodes’ partner for the intergender tag match. Tony Schiavone closed out the segment by saying “the ball’s in your court” to O’Neal and Cargill.

What do you think? Let us know and don’t forget to subscribe to The Nerds Take 2 YouTube channel!