Backstage News On Shane McMahon’s Return To WWE, Why He Left The Company In 2009

In one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history, Shane McMahon returned to WWE after six years away from the company to interrupt his sister Stephanie’s acceptance of the Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award, confront his father and demand control of Monday Night Raw. But to get it, he’ll have to defeat The Undertaker inside Hell in a Cell at WrestleMania 32.

As the storyline goes, Shane said that a few years ago, he cut a deal with his father that allowed him to take time off and build some businesses, but that he never “lost his place in line” to the family business. Shane also demanded control of Monday Night Raw, which his father agreed to . . . with a catch: Shane must compete in a match of Vince’s choosing and surrender a lock box of undisclosed family secrets should he lose to The Undertaker.

Dave Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio that a similar storyline was originally proposed for WrestleMania 30, with Triple H vs. an opponent of Vince’s choosing, which could have been “Stone Cold” Steve Austin or The Rock. The match would have been for power and control of WWE, but it was ultimately nixed because Vince couldn’t get either Austin or Rock to commit to wrestling. The major storyline heading into WrestleMania 30 ended up being The Authority vs. Daniel Bryan, with Bryan winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Shane’s return was reportedly agreed upon a few weeks ago and he does not hold a managerial position with WWE.

In a twist of fiction meeting reality, Shane legitimately felt he would be the fourth generation McMahon to run WWE, but Stephanie ultimately surpassed him due to have a better understanding of the product. This is something many people in WWE felt. Vince told Shane that Stephanie and Triple H would be running WWE, which ultimately lead to a real-life family rift and Shane resigning from his position as Executive VP of Global Media in 2009. There is said to be a “significant amount of life imitating art” in what Shane said during his Raw promo. There is also a belief that a real-life power struggle will occur if Shane decides to return to WWE in an executive capacity.

Meltzer also noted that while Shane is popular among fans, in reality, they probably wouldn’t be as receptive to him if they knew about his creative ideas behind the scenes. This is why Vince gave Stephanie and Triple H the keys to the company instead of him.

“Almost everybody that I know personally liked Shane over Stephanie but, when it came to ideas when it came to wrestling, when it came to wrestling angles, Stephanie and Paul (Triple H) are so far ahead of him that it’s not even funny,” Meltzer said.