One of the most interesting aspects of covering professional wrestling is the ongoing attempt to separate truth from fiction. When I interview WWE superstars, I ask myself, “Are these the performers’ opinions or their characters’ opinions?” When a press release goes public, “Are its contents legitimate, or are they part of a meta-storyline that will lead to a match?” This deliberate blur is a key to wrestling’s appeal, but it’s also frustrating for people who want the unvarnished truth. Which brings us to Shane McMahon and his recent bout of health issues.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attacked Shane on the March 13 episode of Smackdown. The beatdown started in the ring, and it continued into the backstage area. Owens and Zayn wrapped a chair around Shane’s head and slammed him into the ring post. They powerbombed him onto a metal riser. And afterwards, WWE released a statement addressing the attack: “He sustained a laryngeal contusion when the steel chair was wrapped around his head and thrown into the turnbuckle,” WWE medical staff said. “He was then thrown onto the metal rack, which resulted in trapezius and rhomboid strains.”
This seemed consistent with the scripted attack on the show. But then on March 26, WWE announced that Shane was now suffering diverticulitis. “Shane developed a massive infection due to acute diverticulitis and was hospitalized for several days in Antigua before being flown back to a New York-area hospital, where he is currently being treated with heavy doses of antibiotics,” explained WWE. “The doctors in New York have also discovered that Shane suffered an umbilical hernia during the attack, which will require surgery once the infection has been eradicated.”
What’s so interesting about this medical update is that it’s posted on the exact same site and reported with the same level of seriousness, as the storyline injuries. But the last sentence, about the newly discovered “umbilical hernia” suffered during the storyline attack, muddies the truth even further.
It would seem, with so many storyline injuries and real injuries, that Shane McMahon could not compete at Wrestlemania 34. But on the March 28 episode of Smackdown, Daniel Bryan announced that he and Shane would be taking on Owens and Zayn in a tag team match.
And that’s when it occurred to me, even though the feeling had been building for a bit: I don’t want to see Shane competing in this match if he’s just going to do what he always does: jump off tall stuff. It’s not fun anymore to watch him risk his life for what appears, on the surface at least, to be a midlife crisis, or a bizarre manner of currying favor with his father and sister.
In a Vice Sports article from 2016, Ian Frisch reported on a meeting that occurred between Shane McMahon, author James Frey, and Vince McMahon in March 2012, in which Shane proposed that he take over all of creative. At one point, Shane had also been an Executive Vice President of WWE, but he resigned his position in 2010 to pursue business opportunities in China. Now, he was returning to his family’s company for a piece of his legacy.
By doing so, he would undercut his sister, Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, and his brother-in-law, Executive Vice President of Talent Paul Levesque (known by his wrestling name Triple H). And understandably, the two of them were beside themselves when they heard about this surprise meeting.
Vince declined the offer. And Shane did eventually return to appearing on camera in 2016–this time as an on-screen character. He was the commissioner of Smackdown, but he held no real executive authority; he was reciting scripted lines, just like everyone else. For someone who reportedly attempted a backdoor coup four years prior, this was a bizarre demotion. He once hoped to supplant his sister; now, he would be taking his marching orders from her. A casual observer might look at this and see an opportunist, lying in wait, for the right opportunity to seize power.
Because of this, Shane McMahon’s infamous daredevil stunts are increasingly awkward to watch. While he still held an executive position in WWE, his antics had a weird sort of heroism; he was risking his life for the good of the company–a company that he would one day be running.
But without that motivating factor, it smacks of desperation–like he’s trying to bleed his way back into a family business that he voluntarily left–not the other way around. He’s 48 years old, and he’s still cracking his ribs and suffering concussions–for no discernible end and no discernible purpose, other than to say that he can, and to feed off crowd chants like, “You still got it!” But it’s not like he ever had it to begin with. Shane still needs a skilled worker–like AJ Styles or Kevin Owens–to put on a good match.
Shane’s stunts do not meaningfully improve any match because 90% of the time, they are contextually separate from any story that match is telling. It’s just a freak show at this point; he might as well bite the head off a chicken while he’s at it. And moreover, he’s doing these stunts, where he could literally die, in front of his young kids. It reminds me of that scene in Beyond the Mat where Mick Foley’s crying kids watch him take close to a dozen unprotected chair shots to the head. But at least that was unplanned; Shane knows that he’s falling off the roof of Hell in a Cell. And his luck may run out eventually.
At Wrestlemania 34, Shane will have three of the best wrestlers in the company–Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Daniel Bryan–carry him to a decent match. But his actual contributions will be memorable for all the wrong reasons. He’s just going to jump off more tall stuff. Again. And if this is Shane’s convoluted strategy to make his way back to the executive table, he’s going to be very disappointed.
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