The very first match that the WWE announced for "WrestleMania" this year was a battle of the big men between The Big Show and NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal. The angle started out at the ESPY Awards when Big Show challenged Shaq and the big man agreed. However, in an interview with WWE.com, Big Show said that it looks like Shaquille is trying to back out of the match. Big Show also said that this year's "WrestleMania" might be the last one he ever takes part in.
WWE: Big Show vs. Shaquille O'Neal
The feud between Big Show and Shaq has been built up well.
There was the moment at the ESPY Awards and then earlier this year, O'Neal was a special guest entrant in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal in 2016. He eliminated Damien Sandow and then confronted Big Show before everyone ganged up on him and eliminated him. This wasn't his first wrestling event. He showed up in WCW back in 1994 when he presented the world title to the winner of the Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair match. He also hosted an episode of "WWE Monday Night Raw" in 2009 and even appeared in TNA Impact Wrestling in 2012 with Hulk Hogan.
Big Show WWE special matches
Big Show has become a special attraction for the WWE in his later years. The seven-time world champion wrestled Floyd Mayweather at "WrestleMania XXIV," a match he lost after Mayweather used a chair.
Mayweather even broke Show's nose in the lead-in to the "WrestleMania" match. Despite this, Big Show calls it one of his favorite WWE moments and has no problem with putting people over if it means entertaining the fans. He hasn't appeared much over the last year, but did wrestle on "Monday Night Raw" this week against the giant Braun Strowman, putting the new WWE giant over.
Big Show retiring from the WWE
The big thing in the interview was when Big Show said that he was probably fighting at his final "WrestleMania." At the age of 45, he is still well over 400 pounds and can't keep putting this kind of pressure on his body. If the match with Shaq falls through, that could be devastating for his final big match opportunity.
In the interview, he said that he has worked hard to get into the best shape of his career to fight O'Neal and he doesn't think Shaquille is taking the "WrestleMania" match seriously. He said that he just wants to do this for Shaq and entertain the fans and he wants to make sure that Shaquille O'Neal is taking it seriously too.
