WWE Star Jade Cargill Reflects On Teaming With NBA Legend During First Match In AEW

Current WWE Women's Champion Jade Cargill has achieved a lot in her short time in the wrestling business. She was the inaugural AEW TBS Champion, had an undefeated streak in AEW that lasted over two years, and has already won both singles and tag team gold in WWE, but one thing that Cargill will never forget was her in-ring debut. Cargill's first match ever was unlike any wrestling debut that had ever happened before as she teamed up with NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal to take on Cody Rhodes and Red Velvet on the March 3, 2021 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

Cargill was asked about her debut during a recent appearance on the "Going Ringside" radio show, where she pulled back the curtain on whether she or Shaq were nervous. "I remember actually before going on stage I asked him if he was nervous, and he was like 'I'm Shaquille O'Neal. I can go out there and I can trip and I'll make something out of it. It's what I do, I entertain. That's what I do.' I took that and I was like 'You know what? People are here to see you and they're here to see Cody, but they're going to remember me. This is about me.' But I took that as like, you just have to show up and show out."

While she took the idea of having no fear from her match alongside Shaq, it was more how the wrestling business would perceive Cargill that made her nervous, especially considering that the most in-ring experience she had before that episode of "Dynamite" was a four-minute practice match. "This was something that I wasn't accustomed to. It was kind of something that I wouldn't even say I was prepared to do, but I went out there and did it." Cargill rounded off by saying that while Shaq did make her feel comfortable in the ring, it was the realization that she could swim in the deepest of waters that made her the most comfortable she had ever felt in a wrestling ring.

Please credit "Going Ringside" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.