WWE News: Shaquille O'Neal Not Expected to Wrestle Big Show at WrestleMania 28

Shaquille O’Neal has been asked the same question dozens of times, and he always gives the same answer: He’s going to compete at WrestleMania 28. 

Yet, here we are rapidly approaching the pay-per-view, and there’s been absolutely no sign of Shaq on WWE programming. 

There seems to be a reason behind this because, according to a report by Richard Gray of WrestlingNewsWorld.com, “Shaquille O’Neal is likely out” for Mania. 

I can only speculate as to exactly what happened that will likely prevent Shaq from wrestling or even appearing at WrestleMania 28, but I’d guess that a few factors played into the WWE’s decision not to bring him in. 

For starters, he stated on a number of occasions that he was going to wrestle at WrestleMania 28 without so much as a mention of him on WWE TV, and we all know that Vince McMahon loves to change storyline plans when they leak out on the Internet. 

That could be what’s going on here, or perhaps the creative team realized that Shaq just doesn’t fit into creative plans at the moment. 

It was likely that Shaq was going to come into the WWE as a baby face, and that his opponent would be The Big Show. But Show’s needed as a top face on SmackDown at the moment, so it would have been a dumb move to turn him just for a celebrity feud. 

Not to mention that Show just started a feud with Cody Rhodes that will likely result in an Intercontinental Championship match between the two at WrestleMania 28. 

And, of course, The Rock can be considered this year’s celebrity for Mania because he’s now just as big (if not bigger) in the acting world than he is in professional wrestling, meaning that the WWE doesn’t feel it’s necessary to shell out a ton of money to bring in Shaq as yet another celebrity. 

Combine all those factors, and it looks like there will be no Shaq at WrestleMania 28. I guess it’s time to focus on the guys who actually wrestle for a living.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter and ask him any wrestling-related questions on Formspring.