Big Show vs. Shaq (Wrestlemania XXVIII)
The chemistry was undeniable. On July 27, 2009, only one month after being traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers, basketball great Shaquille O’Neal hosted Monday Night Raw. At the show’s conclusion, the seven-foot-one, 325-pound beast stood toe-to-toe with the seven-foot, 425-pound Big Show. Shaqamania ran wild as he tore off his T-shirt and shoved the former WWE Champion. Big Show grabbed The Big Aristotle by the throat to attempt a chokeslam, which Shaq did right back. After powering out of the hold, the four-time NBA Champion shoulder blocked The World’s Largest Athlete out of the ring, leaving the crowd thirsty for more.
For years, a potential matchup between the massive athletes was rumored, and two and a half years later, it looked as though the collision might finally become a reality. On no fewer than four occasions, the hoops legend insisted it would happen.
In December 2011, Miami-based broadcasting personality Rodolfo Roman questioned Shaq about a possible match against Big Show, with Shaq simply responding, "I’m gonna see Big Show again." Less than two weeks later, Shaq announced on "The Abe Kanan Show" that he was engaged in discussions with WWE to potentially compete against Big Show at WrestleMania XXVIII. At the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards on Feb. 18, Shaq told HollywoodLife.com that he would indeed be at WrestleMania, but wouldn’t disclose any other details. And during an appearance on ESPN’s "Mike and Mike" radio show three days later, Shaq stated he would be competing at the event against Big Show.
Later that day, this website released a statement confirming that O’Neal was not scheduled for the card, and the match never took place, leaving the WWE Universe to continue wondering what might have been.
John Cena vs. Jay-Z....then John Cena vs. Fabolous - Battle Rap (Wrestlemania XIX)
"On television, I issued an open invite to anyone to add celebrity status to WrestleMania XIX. Knowing my experience, I certainly was setting myself up for failure, but also setting up a nice little entertaining WrestleMania segment. Jay Z and Beyonce were rumored to come to WrestleMania. They had to cancel, but with long enough lead time for us to still find a replacement. Fabolous was slated to be there and cancelled the day of. And it wasn’t out of emergency reasons. He had just chosen to go to another function. So that upset the WWE higher-ups. I think he chose to go to Spring Break instead, so they kind of let me tee off on [a cardboard cutout of] him."
"I regret that it didn’t happen, because I’m a big hip-hop fan and I’m very rarely star struck. I not only admire Jay Z’s music, but I look up to him as an entrepreneur. I was asked by a major journalist a question that you often get asked: 'If you could sit down at dinner with three people, who would it be?' I said, 'John D. Rockerfeller, FDR and Jay Z.' I really admire what he’s done, what he continues to do and how he continues evolving. Hip-hop is a young man’s game yet he always is on top of the mountain. I would truly love to meet him. He is one of those people I wouldn’t know what to say to."
"I don’t miss being The Doctor of Thuganomics. Like I said, it’s a young man’s game. I sometimes feel awkward in denim shorts at 37. I would definitely feel awkward trying to spit street slang. That’s something you do with the guys and you just try to hold your own. That’s the extent of my hip-hop these days." — JOHN CENA
Kane vs. X-Pac (Wrestlemania 2000)
"I had this big idea where Kane and I would have a Barbed Wire Cage Match with big ol’ explosives. They weren’t really feeling it. One day, they tried to do some explosion thing to test it out and they were like, "Nah, it’s not gonna work." And next thing you know we’re in a tag match, opening up the card, which I was thankful for, just to be on WrestleMania. But it was just not as hot of a match. Looking back, I tried to stretch out the rivalry with Kane way too long, but I loved it. He was great to wrestle against and he was my favorite partner, too." — SEAN WALTMAN (X-PAC)
"I broke my hand leading into WrestleMania. I did the flying clothesline off the top rope and just landed on my hand and had a spiral fracture in one of my metacarpals. That threw the whole thing off. I kept on wrestling afterwards, but I couldn’t really perform that well, because I only had one hand. I was absolutely disappointed it didn’t happen, because it was a big match and we had history. It was going to be the culmination and it just didn’t happen."
"X-Pac and I complemented each other. He was one of my favorite tag team partners. I really like big guy-small guy matches. I know a lot of people want to see two big guys, but I like the big guy-small guy stuff because you really see a contrast of styles and that’s what we had. We weren’t even a team for that long, but people think we were a tag team for years. That was when people saw a different side of Kane than they’d ever seen before. People realized I’m not just a monster. I had emotions and feelings. And it was Sean who was able to bring that out. Yeah, he was one of my favorites." — KANE
Mankind vs. Vader (Wrestlemania 13)
"I know there was a plan for Vader and I to wrestle each other and take advantage of the real-life event that had cost me my right ear 20 years ago, because WCW opted not to capitalize. I was in the one line of business where losing an ear is not necessarily a bad thing, and yet they couldn’t find a way to take advantage of that. I think it was intentional, because I think that the idea that me cutting an emotional interview about the loss of my ear would have overshadowed what was supposed to be on the top of the card."
"1997 ended up being me and Vader vs. Davey Boy [Smith] & Owen [Hart]. That was my first WrestleMania, and I was really hurting with sciatic nerve pain. I just laid in my bed for four days and I was lucky I could even make it. I thought I was going to be done, because I was having a lot of trouble. This was from August ’96 through spring of ’97. I had a lot of difficulty getting around. Luckily, I was fortunate that a tour of the Middle East was cancelled. I was able to get two weeks off and the incredibly agonizing pain went away. I was always with some degree of discomfort, but the type of pain that made me think I couldn’t go on anymore went away for several years." — MICK FOLEY
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan (Wrestlemania X8)
When Hulk Hogan returned to WWE under the black and white colors of the nWo in 2002, fans began to salivate at the thought of The Immortal One finally clashing with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Each competitor represented distinct eras in the historic timeline of WWE — Hogan as the driving force behind WWE’s 1980s pop culture boom and Austin as the brash mouthpiece of the uncensored Attitude Era. They were the two most important Superstars of WWE’s two most important periods and it was a clear match made in heaven. But it never happened."
"He was open to having a match, me not so much," Austin said on a recent episode of WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross’s podcast. "I thought the styles would clash. I didn’t think it would be that great of a match. With The Texas Rattlesnake unwilling to agree to the bout, The Hulkster ended up facing off against The Rock in a now legendary encounter at WrestleMania X8. But that bout, billed as Icon vs. Icon, could have easily featured The Texas Rattlesnake instead.
"I guarantee you, if my head had been at a little different place, then by all rights, a [match] should have happened," Austin told JR. "Physically and mentally where I was at, I could go. I think Hogan probably would have been a step or two behind that. That wasn’t acceptable to me, and I didn’t want to slow myself down. I say that with all due respect to Hulk Hogan, because he had a hellacious run. That was my thought process back in the day. I didn’t think we could deliver."