Orlando Magic Daily
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WrestleMania losing its Orlando Magic connections

By Philip Rossman-Reich

Feb 13, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Shaquille O'Neal during the NBA All Star Saturday Night at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 13, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Shaquille O'Neal during the NBA All Star Saturday Night at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Orlando Magic were going to have a few connections to the WrestleMania show heading to Camping World Stadium. Those appear in jeopardy.

In a little more than a month, WWE will bring WrestleMania to Camping World Stadium and a whole bunch of other events to Amway Center (the Hall of Fame, NXT Takeover and the two TV shows — Raw and SmackDown — following the main event). The Orlando Magic will be out of the building for the weekend.

The show is a mix of celebrity, pomp and the usual exaggerations of professional wrestling. So take everything written about the show with a huge grain of salt — especially when it comes to what happens on stage and in the ring.

But the Magic were set to have a few connections to the big show in Orlando. Both now are in jeopardy.

A few weeks ago at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, former Orlando Magic Dancer Trinity Fatu, aka Naomi, surprisingly won the WWE SmackDown Women’s title. The veteran had never won the title before. And it appeared WWE was booking her to carry the title into her hometown, having grown up outside of Orlando.

Unfortunately — and this was not a work or a storyline — Naomi injured her knee during her championship match. On SmackDown last week, she had to relinquish the title and may not be healthy to perform at WrestleMania in Orlando.

There are some rumors she could be healthy enough to perform by WrestleMania, but no one can ever know these things for sure. It is not likely she will get booked to reclaim her title or bring the title into the big show.

Certainly, it will be great to see the former Orlando Magic Dancer back at it to reclaim her title soon (I am a mark, sue me).

The other big match scheduled for WrestleMania with an Orlando Magic connection involved none other than Shaquille O’Neal.

Last year at WrestleMania, Shaquille O’Neal made a surprise appearance in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale. The match started with O’Neal and The Big Show staring each other down in the middle of the ring.

This storyline only grew from there. O’Neal following the match issued a challenge to the Big Show to meet him anytime, anywhere. The two did meet at The ESPYs and issued a formal challenge to face each other at WrestleMania in Orlando, Shaq’s “hometown” (in the way Undertaker’s hometown is Death Valley, I suppose).

The two have taken shots at each other on Instagram and social media since then. This is usual build up to the match. Typical wrestling fun.

Perhaps — perhaps — this match is now formally in jeopardy. While Big Show has reportedly cut weight (and put on a great match against the next big giant on the roster at last week’s Raw), their match is not official yet.

In an interview with WWE.com (again, all the grains of salt you can find), Big Show expressed frustration with O’Neal and his apparent lack of readiness for their reported match. It is very unclear whether O’Neal will return to Orlando to take on the veteran wrestler at WrestleMania next month.

"“I mean, here’s the thing. We shot this off at the ESPY Awards, Shaq said he’s in, I thought this would be a good match for fans to see two giants go at it. And I see Shaq riding around, singing karaoke and stopping in at Krispy Kreme. I’m like, “Hey! If you’re not gonna take it serious, find something else to do!” I’ve given 22 years of my blood, sweat and tears to this business and I’m doing this favor to Shaq. This could be my last WrestleMania. He needs to step up. I’m not trying to be mean, but my time’s valuable. I get it. I don’t have foot powder commercials, car commercials, insurance commercials. I get it. He’s a busy man. But if he’s gonna step in the ring, in my business, at our biggest event of the year? Show me you’re serious. If anything, talk a little trash. Let me know you’re motivated. Because right now? I just get the feeling he’s terrified. He shot his mouth off, he’s in over his head and he’s trying to back out. So just let me know what’s going on, brother.”"

The ball is in O’Neal’s court to rise to the challenge.

This is the kind of fun match that would be for a more casual, generic show like WrestleMania. It is still unclear whether O’Neal would be the face (good guy) or heel (bad guy) in the match. More than anything, I want to see this match just to answer that question about O’Neal’s status in Orlando.

There is still a month for the WWE to build the match. And this interview is certainly a part of that. If O’Neal is still down for the match, it will happen.

The last time the WWE hosted WrestleMania in Orlando, Big Show wrestled Floyd Mayweather. So Big Show is plenty familiar with taking on non-wrestlers and putting on a good match.

Do you want to see Shaq step in the squared circle? Will you be disappointed if you do not see Big Show get a choke slam in on him?

Next: Orlando Magic finally have fun

One thing is for sure, O’Neal does know how to keep a good WWE feud going. His ongoing battle with JaVale McGee has been good fodder for the weekend.