“Shaquille O’Neal Looks Like Jabba the Hutt”: When The Big Show Decided to Trash Talk Shaq

Shaquille O’Neal, one of Basketball‘s greatest entertainers, had once delighted wrestling fans with an appearance in WWE. He stunned the fans and wrestlers alike when he came into the ring during the third André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.

No sooner did Shaq enter the ring, he exchanged a stare with The Big Show. After a few seconds, Kane intervened but got a rough treatment from the two big men. The Big Show and Shaq brought down Kane with a double chokeslam.

Shaquille O’Neal was to fight more in WWE but it didn’t pan out

After a cameo at the battle royal, there were talks of him being a part of the WrestleMania 33. However, things did not pan out as expected.

In March 2017, The Big Show criticized O’Neal’s lack of desire to get in shape and train for the potential match.

“It’s on Shaq,” he had said, according to ESPN. “He has to figure things out in his own camp. Maybe he is just too scared to show up because he’s too busy riding around singing karaoke with John Cena and going to Krispy Kreme and getting fatter every week.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to put on spandex and show the entire world that Shaquille O’Neal, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, looks like Jabba the Hutt,” Big Show said. “It’s on him. He has to weigh these consequences in his own mind. Does he want the world to know how fat and out of shape he is? Or does he want to sit back and talks— into a podcast?”

However, O’Neal soon said that it was the WWE that “messed up” the scenario.

“They kept playing. First, they said it was me and Big Show. Then they said it was going to be 3 and 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,” Shaq said on a podcast.