Shaquille O'Neal says WWE is squarely to blame for dropping the ball on his highly anticipated WrestleMania 33 matchup with Big Show ... saying, "They messed it up."
The 7-footers had been calling each other out for months in the hopes of colliding in the squared circle at the biggest wrestling event of the year ... but it didn't happen.
Shaq opened up about the situation on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" on PodcastOne and pointed his extremely large finger at Vince McMahon's people.
"They kept playing," Shaq said ... "First, they said it was me and Big Show. Then, they said it was going to be 3-on-3. Then, they canceled it so when they canceled it, I made other arrangements."
Shaq says WWE called him back and tried to get a deal done -- but by then it was too late.
"I just said, ‘I’m not going to do it.’ They messed it up."
Shaq's co-host, John Kincade, asked if he was afraid WWE wasn't going to script him to win the match -- and Shaq shot that down saying he's DEFINITELY willing to take a loss "for the kids."