Big Show on the status of his match with Shaq at WrestleMania, how John Cena inspired his weight loss

WWE star Big Show spoke with Brian Fritz of Sporting News and was asked for an update on his match with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal at WrestleMania. “It is a little frustrating because my contract ends in February 2018,” Show said. “So I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. I don’t know if there will be an opportunity for me next year at WrestleMania or not. I don’t know because there’s a lot of new Superstars breaking out and I’ve done my time. This was my perhaps my last opportunity to have a featured match at WrestleMania. And I would have had a good time working with Shaq. But this is a situation where, obviously, it’s above my paygrade. It’s between Shaq and WWE. Whatever their situation is, who knows.”

Show also spoke about how John Cena inspired his weight loss. “I was having a conversation with John Cena,” Show recalled. “I was making a joke. I have a self-deprecating sense of humor sometimes so I was trying to make John laugh. I said who would want to see a giant with abs? And he got real serious and he looked at me and said, ‘yeah, who would want to see a giant with abs.’ And he walked off. It was kind of like a shot but the way he said it was a challenge and it made me think that I could do it. Or he just pissed me off enough that it motivated me to do it. So I spent some time with my trainer Dodd Romero and Dodd and I came up with a training plan that was very challenging between bike rides and swimming and weight training and cardio boxing and nutrition as far as meal plans.” Read the full interview at SportingNews.com.

Powell’s POV: Yeah, who wants to see a guy who balks at working a mixed tag match at WrestleMania in favor of something bigger? Anyway, the Cena inspiration story was cool. The Shaq match has felt odd from the start. It started with the oddball announcement online that felt more tongue in cheek than real, and WWE never made a big fuss over it. Show also spoke about his recent match with Braun Strowman, why you shouldn’t expect to see him performing moonsaults despite his weight loss, his high turn count, and much more in a good interview. By the way, Brian Fritz will be joining for Dot Net Weekly on Friday, and I’m sure this interview will be among the topics of conversation.