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Shane McMahon Comments on Leaving WWE in, Undertaker Match at WrestleMania 32, Raw Underground, More

By Matthew Fowler • Published 17th September 2020

From a very young age, Shane McMahon seemed destined to follow in his father’s footsteps, and run WWE. This made it all the more shocking when in 2009, Shane decided to walk away from the company. Shane recently sat down with Corey Graves on the WWE After the Bell Podcast, and explained why he decided to leave WWE.

“Very difficult. It’s one of those things where you have, you can call it, ‘the cocoon’ if you will for your whole life. Again, having the most unbelievable education, [as] you were talking about earlier, sitting next to great minds such as Pat Patterson, guys like Michael Hayes etc. Having so many business people come through there for marketing and promotion and what have you and business development, consumer products you learn so much from everybody that’s come through those doors. I have, again, had such a fortunate education in multiple facets.”

“So it’s like I’ve had 15 different jobs over the tenure of my career, and you learn so much, whether I was working inside the company having to be all under one umbrella. So taking that knowledge, wanted to go outside for a little while. Also, it was very important for me and one of the one of the bigger driving factors was, I have three boys and make sure that I was in their life a little bit. I wanted more time with them, and my leave allowed me to invest time, which is the most valuable commodity as you’re aware. Everything is so demanding, your time is so demanding. So I was I was able to coach all my son’s peewee football, until they got to high school.“

“Thoroughly being in their lives, just being around a whole lot. Seeing a lot of them was one of the driving forces for me doing so as well as immersing myself into businesses that I wanted to do and testing myself. How would I fair outside ‘the cocoon’ and do something completely different, you know, take those skill sets and get involved with multiple multiple businesses. Do some investing. Do some things like that that I’ve always had the affinity to do and go for it.”

McMahon didn’t stay away from the ring forever, however, because he chose to return at Wrestlemania 32 (in 2016) to face the Undertaker at Hell in a Cell.

“Taker need an opponent for WrestleMania and needed to be special, and there was talks even back then. In Texas, where Undertaker’s from [and] WrestleMania, that magnitude of a hundred thousand people that set the indoor attendance record, that was going to be an awesome way out. I really thought it may be, again, a one and done. So I got the call from Taker saying, ‘hey, would you ever consider this? I was like, ‘huh, well, let me think about it.’ About 10 minutes later, I get a call from my dad. He’s like, ‘Well, congratulations. This is what we’re doing. What do you think?’ I was like, it doesn’t sound like I’m thinking much. In typical Vince fashion, he’s like, ‘We want you to think about this.’ I was like alright and then really started coming up with the creative.”

“I said well, if it’s gonna be what I think it’s going to be, than can we do Hell in a Cell? Can we do this and we have to make sure the storyline more than anything is right. Otherwise, it’s just a mash, so why are you emotionally, this is one thing, again going back to what I’ve learned throughout the years, in any match I’ve ever ever done, I’ve always had some crazy stuff that happens from time to time, but it’s really the emotional story of why. What got us there and what you do telling the physical story once you’re in the match”

“So I kind of really came out of the business for my boys, my kids, and it’s also the reason I really came back. I always had a longing for it. It’s in my blood, literally, and my boys, this goes back to WrestleMania 32 with Undertaker in Hell in a Cell, my boys have been saying to me prior to that for a couple years like, ‘Hey dad, you ever think about getting back in there?’ Because my sons never saw me live and they really saw me via DVD or YouTube or things like that.”

“If you can be a real life superhero for your kids, that’s a pretty powerful thing, and that was the opportunity that was given to me, to return on the biggest stage of them all at WrestleMania against arguably the most iconic and singular talent ever created, Mark Calaway, The Undertaker, who’s also my longest-running friend in the business. Hell in a Cell, I mean, to main event WrestleMania or at least be a special attraction on it, that was really tough to pass up.”

After losing a Loser Leaves WWE Ladder Match to Kevin Owens on Smackdown last October, Shane just recently returned to WWE as the man behind Raw Underground.

“We are trying different things. It’s a work in progress with the different format and changing things up of what’s been going on, especially in the third hour. It’s a way to showcase new talent and get people more exposure. It’s a faster pace and a little more intense. People seem to like it.”

Shane has yet to compete in the ring since returning, but is not ruling it out for the future.

“Never say never. I’ll say that. It’s not about me right now. It’s about developing new talent or talent that is here and giving them a platform. If I can help out and have a good showcase with an up-and-coming talent, I’d love to be able to do that, or an existing one (talent) or what-have-you. It just needs to be, again, follow a good story and an emotional story then how would you pull it off physically. I still got a few left in me.”

Thank you to WrestlingInc. And wrestlingnews.co for transcribing the quotes.

Matt’s Musings: Great to see Shane McMahon back in WWE where he belongs. Personally however, I hope his days of jumping off high things is in the past.