When fans descend upon majestic Camping World Stadium in Orlando to watch WrestleMania 33 on April 2, they will be treated to at least two potentially legendary matches. If things continue according to plan, Triple H and Seth Rollins will face off in an epic match that will feature no less than 12 kick-outs following Pedigrees in various spots throughout the venue, and Bill Goldberg and Brock Lesnar will once again try to make up for their universally-loathed WMXX match (even if their recent “rematch” was pretty close to perfect). And then there’s the third “locked in” match: The Big Show vs Shaquille O’Neal.
Yes, this is an actual wrestling match taking place at the WWE’s Super Bowl in the year 2017, and judging by the competitors’ social media accounts, they mean business. The trash talk kicked off two weeks ago, when a sweatier-than-usual Show checked in from the gym to show off his veiny guns.
Not exactly the most ruthless jibber-jabber that we’d expect from this intense rivalry that dates back to a 2009 episode of Raw, which Shaq guest-hosted, but I suppose it’s still better than The Big Emasculator calling Chris Jericho “Christina” and kissing him on the forehead. Shaq has obviously been dealing with other feuds, but he finally responded this week, and Big Show should be terrified … or something.
Vicious stuff. You can almost hear the cash register bell breaking from all of the people buying into this blood feud so they can watch Shaq ride a bike.
Looking back on that episode of Raw, the two large rivals first faced off in a battle of “Who wore it better?” before Shaq finally challenged Show to a match (remember Shaq Vs.?), but they couldn’t fight because David Stern would have Show killed. Instead, Show took on Cryme Tyme (LOL) in a handicap match, and expectedly clobbered them. But the Big Zebra came to their rescue and promptly embarrassed Big Show, and the crowd went wild. I’m surprised I even had to remind you, because it was such a legendary storyline.
The rivalry picked up again in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, when Shaq briefly teamed with Show to chokeslam Kane, before they got right back to business. Alas, they were both eliminated by the mob in the ring (or they were “double-teamed” as the Big Off-Brand Thesaurus put it), but Shaq vowed in his post-match interview with Renee Young to face Show anytime, anywhere. In 77 days, we will finally see what happens when these two monsters settle their beef.
Hopefully, it will end with them riding a tandem bike into the Florida sunset.
