Big Show vs. Shaq Officially On?

According to hot recent wrestling news from the internet, Big Show may get his chance at revenge on NBA star Shaquille O'Neal in September 2009. Shaq was the special celebrity guest host for the July 27th, 2009 episode of WWE Raw, and it received rave reviews from fans and analysts for packing one entertaining punch. In the highlight of the show, Shaq and Big Show stood eye to eye in the ring and slapped chokeslams on each other. It ended when the tag team Cryme Tyme kicked Big Show to break the chokeholds up. Shaq charged shoulder first into Big Show, sending him down to the mat, and out of the ring where his tag team partner Chris Jericho rushed over to him. Chris Jericho later made guest comments in the following week as Show was choking Kofi Kingston against the ropes, saying that could be Shaq.

Shaq only had the following comments about his Raw gig on Twitter:

wasn't lookin, but randy orton has da sexiest white man butt ive seen next 2 steve nash - 10:00 PM Jul 27th from Tweetie

Anyways, the official match for Shaq vs. Show may be booked on a special 3 hour edition of WWE Raw during September 2009, which is right around NBA preseason as well.

Bryan Alvarez of Figure Four wrote:

"There are discussions in WWE about running another three-hour Raw in September and building it up around a Big Show v Shaq match."

"It might not work because NBA pre-season starts in September and the timing may just be impossible.

It should be noted that NBA pre-season workouts may be in September, but actual pre-season games will start in early October. Cleveland plays its preseason opener on Tuesday October 6th.

WWE's Pay-Per-View for September has the new title of "Breaking Point" and will occur on the 13th.

Analysts and experts are questioning the WWE's move to offer the match on a free cable TV show, rather than using it to get Pay-Per-View buys. But ask most fans and I'm sure you won't hear many complaints...

Smackdown Preview 07.31.09

At Night of Champions, Smackdown saw a new World Heavyweight Champion emerge with fan favorite Jeff Hardy. Hardy was able to finally get his hands on CM Punk and avoid any sorts of mishaps, such as Punk getting him disqualified. When the smoke had cleared from their battle, Jeff Hardy had pulled off the Swanton Bomb on Punk, scored the pinfall and was pronounced the new World Heavyweight Champion. It's been a long time coming for Jeff as he originally lost the title to Punk months ago at Extreme Rules. Now Jeff proudly wears the Championship belt, but CM Punk is definitely going to want to invoke his rematch clause at some point. He'll have to wait though, because a few weeks before the Pay-Per-View, rising superstar John Morrison requested a shot at the champ after Night of Champions. Smackdown GM Theodore Long agreed to it, which means Morrison will get his opportunity. Will Jeff Hardy be able to successfully defend against Morrison? Or will Morrison continue his momentum on Smackdown and capture the prized gold?

The big mystery heading into Night of Champions was just who would Smackdown's Chris Jericho choose to be his Unified Tag team Championship partner? That answer came as the event kicked off, right after Jericho did some more disrespecting of his former partner Edge. Edge has vowed to make a comeback to the wrestling ring, but until then Jericho vowed to choose a partner worthy of being a champion Jericho's selection was Raw superstar, The Big Show. The two successfully defended the tag team titles against Raw's Legacy, with Big Show able to force his opponent into submission. One night later on Raw, Jericho and Show were in action again, as they were ordered by guest host Shaquille O'Neal to face Cryme Tyme in a non-title match. The match ended in DQ when Show stayed in the ring illegally and continued to pummel his opponents. This eventually brought Shaq into the ring and the two prepared to chokeslam each other. Cryme Tyme was able to kick Show, breaking the hold up, and Shaq charged at Show to knock him out of the ring. Jericho and Show have claimed they will be the most dominant tag team in WWE history. What will they have to say regarding their run-in with Shaq & Cryme Tyme, and which team will step forward to challenge them next?

Two other Smackdown competitors challenged for titles at Night of Champions, but unfortunately failed. In the divas division of WWE, Melina tried to reclaim here Womens Title from Michelle McCool. McCool was able to retain the title and leave Melina on the mat after a quick pinfall. Will these two continue their feud, or will a new diva enter into the mix of competition? Also, quickly rising star Dolph Ziggler looked to take the opportunity to defeat Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Tite at the Pay-Per-View. Mysterio showed just why he's one of Smackdown and the WWE's top superstars by successfully defending against his tough new opponent. Ziggler still seems destined for championship gold, and with the lovely Maria accompanying him to ringside, it's only a matter of time before he wins a title. What will be next for both Mysterio and Ziggler following their Night of Champions title clash?

With Summerslam coming up in August, there's sure to be matches made on the coming episodes of Smackdown...

Catch all the action of Smackdown tonight at 8PM EST on MyNetworkTV!

Raw Revelations: Shaq vs. Big Show

Last night on USA, NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal presided as guest host for WWE Raw. It definitely was the most entertaining and exciting celebrity guest host to fill in on the show so far. As the night kicked off, Shaq was introduced by WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler. Shaq proceeded to walk down to the ring, greeting fans, and tore up a Kobe Bryant poster in the process. Great stuff to start off the show, but it got better. Chris Jericho came out to try to tell Shaq his place as host, but Shaq wasn't having it. The insults began as Shaq called Jericho "Christina". Soon thereafter, Big Show was introduced and arrived to get in Shaq's face. He even jabbed at Shaq saying that he couldn't hit two free throws in a row. Shaq called out Show for a match, but Show backed down saying he didn't want the NBA breathing down his neck. Instead, Shaq booked a match with the tag champs in action against Cryme Tyme, then appointed himself the special guest enforcer.

That tag match was non-title and came later in the night, but it saw a classic Shaq vs. Big Show confrontation on WWE Raw. Show started to annihilate both members of Cryme Tyme in the ring, stomping on them repeatedly, and eventually the ref disqualified him as he was not legal to be in the ring. Soon, Show turned his attention to Shaq, taunting him to get in the ring. The big guy obliged, tearing off his ref uniform shirt and climbing into the ring. Show and Shaq shoved each other a bit, then Show grabbed Shaq around the throat for a chokeslam. Shaq fought back and did the same to Show, so both men had each other's throats. Soon, Cryme Tyme was back in the ring to kick Big Show and break it up. From there, Shaq did a running shoulder block style move to knock Show to the mat and out of the ring. The fans went wild. (See Shaq & Show on YouTube video here)

Other cool stuff from last night included yet another great promo from the Miz, dissing the hometown fans, saying the Wizards lose to any opponents, so the Cavs won't need Shaq to beat them. From there, Miz lost to Cena in a Beat the Clock challenge match, which made Cena the #1 contender for Randy Orton's WWE Title at Summerslam. It was a great match though as Miz tried to outsmart Cena throughout it with various ploys, yet Cena still won. Orton got in the ring to hoist up his title as Cena left the ring. We've got plenty of time leading up to Summerslam to make this interesting. By the way, the only other winner in Beat the Clock was Mark Henry with a time of 6:49 to open the tournament. Jack Swagger lost to Evan Bourne by a surprise pin, Triple H couldn't make his pin before the clock ran out, and MVP had to face a sneaky, returning Chris Masters. Masters prevented MVP from getting back in the ring with a Masterlock. MVP-Masters could make for a great feud, and it was a surprise to see Masters back. I had heard rumors he would be, but still nice to see the Masterpiece, and I'm sure WWE welcomes his talents as a heel on Raw.

About Beat the Clock though; why not include everyone who was in the matches in the challenge? (Carlito, Bourne, Rhodes, Miz, Masters) I mean after all Evan Bourne may have won his match in a quicker time than anyone in the field. Is there a reason the winners should not be included? It's almost as if they are being called "jobbers" by being excluded from it. Strange.

Typical divas match with six divas in action. Maryse was nowhere to be found though, and Gail Kim made a strange blind tag on Mickie to come in and get the win. Wondering if this might be the start of a Gail Kim-Mickie James program for the Divas title? I'd still like to see Kelly Kelly win the divas title as she seems like a good representative, but she may have taken that Torrie Wilson role, hot blonde diva who never gets a title.

The Santino Marella bit with Shaq and Cryme Tyme was definitely better than anything Santino did with ZZ Top last week. Santino was playing Scrabble with Shaq until Cryme Tyme entered. As they started up a "Money, Money" chant, Santino came over with his hat on sideways and started to bust a freestyle rap which included Dikembe Mutombo and Angelina Jolie in it. Not too bad either, although Shaq & Cryme Tyme quickly dismissed him from the scene...

As for Hornswoggle-Chavo, please let's hope that's the last we've seen of that. Chavo is one talented guy, and Hornswoggle is a longtime novelty act. Horney was great when he would sneak out from under the ring to play a part in matches, some surprising comic relief. But now, he's beaten Chavo in 4 matches. Last night's blindfold match had the feel of some sort of circus clown antics you'd see from Ringling Brothers. Add in to that, Hornswoggle falling flat on his back after a dunk attempt on a small hoop backstage. Not sure if that was the plan. Please WWE, no more circus antics...