Welcome to another edition of
OFF-TRACK with A-TRAIN
where I revisit a story I thought was dead and gone
and out of my life forever
in this episode
SHAQ INSISTS IT WAS THE WWE'S FAULT
THE BIG SHOW MANIA MATCH NEVER HAPPENED
So you might remember that Big Show was supposed to wrestle Shaquille O'Neal at WrestleMania 33, and then Show slimmed down and got swole and it seemed like Shaq didn't want none, and the match never ended up happening.
What do you mean you don't remember?
I wrote like 73 articles on it. Well, they're all right here, in case you need a refresher. Show called O'Neal "Princess Shaq." It was a whole big thing.
#NeverForget
#PrincessShaq
Well, now, three weeks after the match never happened, we got Shaq's side of how things went down. This is from Shaq's podcast, which is called "The Big Podcast With Shaq," and it's transcribed from a discussion he had with his co-host John Kinkade and his guest, comedian Craig Gass.
So why didn't the match happen, Shaq?
O'Neal: "Because they kept playin'. First, they said it was me and Big Show. Then, they said it was going to be 3 on 3. Then, they canceled it so when they canceled it, I made other arrangements. And then they tried to call back and tried to get it done, and I just said, 'I'm not going to do it.' They messed it up."
Kinkade: "And my theory all along – this is not his commentary – I have a hard time believing that somebody would write a script where he would lose in anything."
O'Neal: "So you're saying I didn't want to lose? It's for the kids, John. I would have lost for the kids. For the kids."
Kinkade: "You are competitive."
Gass: "The man did Kazaam for God's sake."
O'Neal: "Exactly, yes. I would have lost."
So one of the big sticking points people assumed was that Shaq would refuse to lose to the Big Show--celebrities usually win their Mania matches, especially against the Big Show--but Shaq is saying that he would have agreed to job to Show.
But the really interesting part here is that at one point, there was a six man tag match as a possibility, presumably with Shaq and Show each heading up a trios team. Who was being discussed at their partners? Which team would be heel and which team would be babyface?
The world may never know.
But if we ever find out, we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.
