Wrestlemania 28: 5 Weeks out & No Shaquille O'Neal, Is He Wrestling?

NOTE: The following article contains ***SPOILERS*** Stop reading now if you like to be surprised.

Shaquille O’Neal has never wavered from his claim: He is going to Miami on April 1 and he will be competing at WrestleMania 28. 

While Shaq swears that we’ll see him in a WWE ring for the first time since 2008, WWE.com released the following statement on February 21: 

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Despite Shaquille O’Neal’s claim that he will compete at WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, WWE  officials have informed WWE.com that the 15-time NBA All-Star is not scheduled to appear on the card. 

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But the tricky wording there, such as “not scheduled to appear,” has led many to believe that the WWE is trying to avoid potentially spoiling the storyline here. 

After all, the WWE thrives on blurring the line between what’s scripted and what’s real, between what’s a work and what’s a shoot. It could be that Shaq may not be “scheduled” to appear but will show up at Mania anyway, perhaps for a confrontation with a man he has a lot of history with, The Big Show. 

Despite reports to the contrary, the chances that we’ll see Shaq actually compete in a WWE ring at WrestleMania 28 simply aren’t very good, though. 

Now, be warned because I’m about to reveal some major spoilers from Tuesday’s Smackdown tapings here, but it will be revealed on Friday’s episode of Smackdown that The Big Show will be challenging Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship in Miami. 

That news right there should pretty much lay to rest any speculation that Shaq will be wrestling at Mania. 

The only match featuring Shaq that probably ever would have gotten any real consideration is “The Diesel” taking on “The World’s Largest Athlete.” With Big Show now busy, the odds of bringing Shaq in for the show keep getting worse. 

At this point, the best we can hope for is a “surprise appearance” from O’Neal. If he were going to be involved in a major feud at the pay-per-view, there’s no doubt that he would have already appeared on WWE TV by now. But just a little more than a month away from WrestleMania, there’s been absolutely no sign of Shaq on Raw or Smackdown. 

Shaq is busy picking NBA All-Star teams and analyzing professional basketball. Even if he were slated to wrestle at one point, the fact that he went around promoting his match before it was announced on TV will probably prevent that from happening. 

Richard Gray of WrestlingNewsWorld.com reports that Shaq is “likely out” for Mania, and whatever the reasoning is for that, I think he’s probably right.

Although Shaq would have been a big asset to the WWE at it’s biggest pay-per-view of the year, something somewhere along the way fell apart and barring a last minute change of plans, I wouldn’t expect to see him in a WWE ring anytime soon, much less competing in it. 

I guess The Big Show will just have to lose to Cody Rhodes instead.

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.