Shaq, Kobe's 'blood feud' takes center stage in exclusive tease for The Grudge

03/25/2025 02:34 PM

A new trailer for the upcoming series The Grudge follows the feud between Los Angeles Lakers legends Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

VICE Sports dropped a new teaser for The Grudge, which ClutchPoints is proud to break exclusively. The series will premiere on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 10:00 p.m. ET.

The Shaq-Kobe feud is the highest-profile one shown in the series. It will also chronicle the rivalries between Aaron Rodgers and Brett Farve, as well as Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza. Additionally, the storied history between the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche will be featured.

In the clip, Howard Beck breaks down Shaq and Kobe’s feud’s “breaking point.” It occurred when Bryant told O’Neal, “This is my motherf**king team.” O’Neal didn’t stand down, saying, “No, no, this is my motherf**king team.”

The two then had to be separated by Olden Polynice, who later recalled the moment on Fair Game. The clip shows him discussing it, saying, “This big dude, [O’Neal], he would have hurt Kobe. He really would have if I had let them go.”

Beck concludes, “At that point, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal hated each other with the passion of a thousand white hot suns.”

What is The Grudge?

The Grudge is a new series from VICE Sports. It will consist of 12 half-hour episodes, which will air weekly on Wednesdays beginning on March 26.

Bussin’ With The Boys host Will Compton narrates The Grudge. He revealed his excitement for the upcoming series, dubbing the series as “everything you want.”

“I couldn’t be more fired up to be teaming with VICE Sports for The Grudge,” he said in a statement. “Witnessing the chaos in NFL locker rooms and being a massive fan of the rivalries that unfold in sports — this show is everything you want. They are some of the most iconic stories that take a deeper dive into the passion, hate, and bad blood that fuel the need to win.”

Plenty of former athletes and celebrities will be featured in the series. Rachel Bonnetta, Steve Smith Sr., Darren McCarty, Bobby Valentine, and Howard Beck will also be featured in the series.

VICE TV president Pete Gaffney also weighed in on The Grudge. He praised the series as “fast-paced, entertaining” and promised that they would continue making more series like it in the future.

“Every episode of The Grudge is a fast-paced, entertaining exploration of the hard feelings and bitterness that fuels the grudges carried between major sports personalities and teams,” he said. “We plan to keep building our programming roster with compelling series like The Grudge and live sports events, like AF1 football and BKB Bare Knuckle Boxing[,] until sports become synonymous with VICE TV.”

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant’s feud

While teammates on the Lakers, O’Neal and Bryant had a storied rivalry. They won three consecutive NBA championships from 2000-02, but they still did not always get along.

Eventually, it came to a head. Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat before the 2004 NBA season. Meanwhile, Bryant was re-signed to the Lakers. He never played for another team besides the Lakers.

In the years since, O’Neal has changed his tune on his late teammate. On The Big Podcast with Shaq, the four-time NBA Champion downplayed there being a “feud.”

“The respect has to always be there,” O’Neal said. “We don’t see eye-to-eye. But it ain’t a feud. It just looks like a feud… When I’m getting doubled, he’s the first dude I’m looking for.”

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