The Orlando Magic WrestleMania
Shaquille O’Neal is Hulk Hogan
By Philip Rossman-Reich
The best place to start is with the most iconic name on the Orlando Magic and in professional wrestling. And their personalities and larger-than-life personas are actually a perfect match for each other.
It is hard to think of the Orlando Magic without first going to Shaquille O’Neal. Even decades after he left the team (more on that), he is the icon for the team and perhaps its greatest player. Few players define their franchise in this way.
O’Neal had the Magic at their highest when they made their run to the 1995 Finals. He had a magnetic personality and drew people to him. He knew how to play the crowd and had everyone in the palm of his hands.
Orlando Magic
He was the ultimate babyface — wrestling parlance for the good guy.
And much like O’Neal was the face of the magic, Hulk Hogan was and is the face for professional wrestling. Undoubtedly, he is the first person many think of when they think of the WWE or professional wrestling in general. He was probably one of the first wrestlers with genuine crossover appeal and fame outside of the wrestling world.
In his heyday, Hogan was the truest babyface. The All-American hero with patriotic theme music and a never-say-die attitude and gimmick that made him the rage through the 80s.
But like O’Neal, Hogan had a dark side in him and would find a way to make his fans angry.
In Orlando of all places, Hogan made one of the greatest heel turns in wrestling history in forming the New World Order (nWo) and becoming Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
The parallels with Shaq write themselves as he insulted his way out of Orlando and became the WCW’s chief villain.
O’Neal was all that and more in Orlando for several years after he left the Magic and won his titles with the Los Angeles Lakers, seemingly going out of the way to needle the Magic and his former franchise at every turn.
It only took retirement — or in Hogan’s in-ring life semi-retirement (Hogan is currently persona non grata for racist statements he made in a leaked video) — for him to become something of a hero again.
But both are the icons who define their teams.