STW - Shane McMahon [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Shane Brandon McMahon was born on January 15, 1970 in Gaithersburg, Maryland to Vincent K. and Linda McMahon. Shane was the first of two children of Vince and Linda. In 1988, he graduated from Greenwich High School, and later attended Roger Williams University, where he studied media and marketing. He also attended Boston University, from where he graduated in 1993.

But by then, we had already seen Shane on TV! And we will talk about those moments here in a few minutes.

First, tell us about when you met Shane for the first time. He had to be a kid, right? What were your first impressions?

McMahon is married to Marissa Mazzola, who briefly appeared in the WWF in the late 90s as an announcer. They have three sons. His sons appeared at WrestleMania 32, accompanying him to the ring in his match against The Undertaker; they have also been seen in the crowd for some of his more recent matches.

I want to say Marissa hosted some episodes of Livewire and other shows. And I recall her being really good. Why did she do on-air and why did she decide to stop?

Shane’s kids are not much younger than Shane was when he started working for the company.

Shane McMahon began working in WWE at age 15, starting in their warehouse, where he filled merchandise orders and helped mail merchandise. So, if you ever ordered a shirt in 1985 or 1986, Shane might have been the person to mail it to you! But get this - the story goes that after his father refused to give him a raise, he left WWE and started looking for a job. He eventually landed a construction job starting at $400 a week, triple what he used to earn at the WWE warehouse.

Are we going to be seeing that trend throughout this show? Vince being harder on Shane than he would be to others?

Early years (1988−1997)

After he returned to WWE a few years later, Shane became serious about the family business. He accompanied his father to meetings, sat in production meetings, took notes, and even asked questions afterward. He learned the little details of the business from his father’s top lieutenant, the late-great Pat Patterson. However, he also considered other career paths like architecture, investment banking, and even pro football.

You would have been around during this time. What can you tell us about Shane’s role backstage at this point? Was he in a sort of apprentice role to his father, trying to learn the ropes of the business?

McMahon began his on-screen career as a referee named Shane Stevens. As Shane Stevens, McMahon refereed during the inaugural 1988 Royal Rumble match. In 1989, he refereed at the Survivor Series. He also refereed during the 1991 Royal Rumble match. Although this wasn’t televised, the stories go that Shane was the first to come out at Wrestlemania 6 and greet the audience.

Was this just part of Shane trying to learn as much as he could about every aspect of the business? Or did Vince think he needed to earn his stripes from the bottom up?

By 1992, Shane left behind his refereeing duties and took on the role of a backstage official. He appeared at WrestleMania 8 in an attempt to break up a storyline brawl between Randy Savage and Ric Flair. He was mentioned by name in the Observer report and fans can see him clearly as he attempts to get Elizabeth to leave the ringside area.

From there, Shane would continue to work behind the scenes. In the mid-90s, just from a photo we recently found, we know Shane went to the White House Easter Egg hunt along with the Bushwhackers and Doink and Dink.

In 1997, with a background in media and marketing from his education, Shane was armed to deliver the next step into the future for the company - although few probably realized it at the time. Shane was responsible for launching WWF.com, which became WWE.com. He also created the Digital Media Department within the company.

Do you remember him wanting to launch a website around this time? What were the feelings on that within the company? Were there hesitations or fears? (I ask that because in an interview, Vince said he did not think WWF.com would be a competitor for AOL. No one had a clue at the time).

Not sure about the time on this but there’s a story that Vince McMahon stepped in to stop Shane from partying too much with the wrestlers. Shane enjoyed having late nights with the wrestlers and often ended up staying out until the early morning hours. The decision to make changes came when Vince wanted Shane to show a serious approach if he was going to work backstage.

Do you remember anything about this?

(1998–2000)

Shane McMahon made his first appearances as a regular on-air character in early 1998, when he was one of the main WWF executives negotiating with Mike Tyson during Tyson's heavily-hyped involvement in WrestleMania. He became a recurring part of his father's on-air feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. In the early days of that angle, McMahon offered support for his father in cameo roles, but he did not become an enforcer like Gerald Brisco and Pat Patterson.

In August 1998, he became the inaugural color commentator for Sunday Night Heat, announcing along with Jerry Lawler, Jim Cornette, and Kevin Kelly. He even got to step up and announce at an episode of Monday Night Raw. However, critics believed that he was a mediocre commentator and could not make the commentary interesting. Around this time, he also announced with Jerry Lawler on the 1999 video game WWF Attitude.

How was the decision reached to put Shane on commentary? I didn’t think he was bad - although he sometimes got a little too enthusiastic.

Now that he was on-air officially, Shane also took on a more character-based role as a babyface. He turned on his father by signing Stone Cold Steve Austin to a contract after Vince demoted him to the position of referee in storyline. But it was all part of a master plan by the evil chairman.

At Survivor Series 1998 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis, Shane turned heel by turning on Austin and became an official member of The Corporation. Later that night, The Rock won his first WWE championship. Shane would appear as a member of the Corporation the next night, and from then on.

Was the plan always to turn Shane heel here or did you ever consider him as a legitimate foil to Vince, akin to Linda?

In February 1999, McMahon moved away from the commentary role on Heat and became a key component in the Corporation angle. It was around then that Shane, pretty controversially, won the the European Championship from X-Pac. It happened on February 15 at Raw in (Birmingham) Alabama. The title changed hands in a tag match with Kane vs. Triple H and X-Pac. The two met in a rematch at WrestleMania XV; McMahon got help from his childhood friends the Mean Street Posse and Triple H, who turned on X-Pac during the match, to retain the championship. Shane then retired the title on April 4’s Sunday Night Heat, wanting to retire as an "undefeated champion". XPac would never regain the title. Shane later gave the title to Mideon, who found it in McMahon's duffel bag, thus reactivating it in June.

I love that you guys were advancing storylines on Heat during this time. Why have Shane retire the title and then have it brought back later in an unrelated angle? (To make him a stronger heel?)

After WrestleMania, Vince briefly made his second face run and Shane took control of the Corporation. The next month at Backlash, Shane played the major foil of Steve Austin in a storyline revolving around the Smoking Skull Belt.

With wrestlers such as Triple H in this new faction, Shane feuded with his father and a new faction made up of former Corporation members, The Union. On the UPN pilot for SmackDown!, Shane joined forces with The Undertaker and the Ministry of Darkness to form the Corporate Ministry. Eventually, Vince was revealed to be the mastermind behind this faction, and his face turn was explained to be a plot to get the WWF Championship off Austin.

Who was considered to be the mastermind here besides Vince? Or was anyone ever even in consideration?

Austin then met Shane and Vince in a ladder match at the King of the Ring for ownership of the WWF, as in the storyline, Austin had 50%, which was assigned to him by Linda and Stephanie McMahon, upset by Vince and Shane's complicity in the storyline kidnapping of Stephanie by the Corporate Ministry, while Vince and Shane each had 25%. Shane and Vince won the match when a mystery associate raised the briefcase out of Austin's reach when he climbed the ladder, allowing Vince and Shane to grab the case and regain 100% ownership of the WWF.

In 1999, McMahon was awarded the Pro Wrestling Illustrated Rookie of the Year award but he declined to accept it stating “These are for the boys, not me”.

Did that earn him some admiration from the boys?

But in his first year as a performer, Shane really seemed to make himself stand out. What impression did he make on you and on wrestling veterans like Brisco, Patterson, and others?

With his ownership reinstated, McMahon shifted his sights to, then babyface, Test, who was kayfabe dating Shane's sister, Stephanie. Shane disapproved of the relationship, feeling Stephanie was dating "beneath the family's standards", and wound up feuding with Test. With help from the Mean Street Posse, McMahon made Test's life a living hell. During this angle, Shane’s Mean Street Posse would begin to feud with the now-babyface Stooges - Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco. At SummerSlam, McMahon met Test in a "Love Her or Leave Her" match, with the stipulation being that if McMahon won the match, Test and Stephanie could no longer see each other, and if he lost, McMahon would give his blessings to the pair. The match was stiff and brutal, with Shane and Test not holding back on each other. In that match, we saw Shane debut his flying elbow off the top rope through a table. However, Test was able to get the win, and McMahon eventually settled his differences with Test, thus making his second face run by becoming his ally.

Do you have memories of this match being stiff? The match was put on pretty late in the card - did you know it was going to be big before it happened?

Talk about the big elbow drop spot: was that Shane’s idea - what did Vince think - etc

Test was poised to marry Stephanie that year but as we know by now, a different groom would come to be: Triple H. As Vince then feuded with Triple H, Shane was attacked in early December 1999 by Triple H and D-Generation X (D-X). He was thrown off the stage in a gang-style attack, in which Billy Gunn and Road Dogg prevented members of the Corporation from saving Shane. Later in the year, Stephanie turned heel, siding with her new kayfabe husband, Triple H (the two began their off-screen relationship around this time, but did not marry in real life until 2003). With that, the McMahon-Helmsley Faction began, and all of the other McMahons disappeared from television.

Famously, we would get Hunter and Stephanie banners at Raw during this time as they would begin their storied union.

Was Stephanie turning heel always the plan? Why did you pull all the other McMahons off TV during this time?

At No Way Out 2000, Shane made his return as a heel again by trying to help Big Show defeat The Rock; these efforts failed as Vince returned the next Monday night on Raw Is War, when the Rock got a rematch against Big Show and helped The Rock win the match. This started the road to WrestleMania 2000, wherein the four-way main event each wrestler had a McMahon in his corner. The Rock had Vince, Big Show had Shane, Triple H had Stephanie, and Mick Foley had Shane's mother, Linda McMahon. Big Show was the first man eliminated, and soon after he and Shane went their separate ways. This led to a program between Big Show and Shane and match between the two at Judgment Day, which McMahon won after receiving help from Test and Albert, amongst others.

Over the course of the next several months, McMahon allied himself with other heel wrestlers, especially Chris Benoit in his feud over the WWF Championship with The Rock. He was also aligned with Edge and Christian, who helped him win the Hardcore Championship from Steve Blackman. McMahon met Blackman in a rematch at SummerSlam, losing the title after falling 50 feet (15 m) through the stage. McMahon climbed up the set and tried to run away from Blackman, who gave chase and hit Shane with a Singapore cane, knocking him off. McMahon then disappeared from television, making occasional cameo appearances.

In terms of visuals, this was one of the most crazy looking spots of the Attitude Era. Take us behind the scenes and tell us how the spot was choreographed to be safe instead of deadly.

Is there reluctance to do stuff like this after the death of a performer in 1999?

The Alliance (2001–2002)

In 2001, Shane made his third face run by once again feuding with his father, Vince. The feud with Vince was due to the elder McMahon's (kayfabe) affair with Trish Stratus and Vince's spiteful demand to divorce Linda McMahon. But this would happen at the most unique of times.

As fate would have it, rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was sold to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) one week before the Father versus Son match at WrestleMania X-Seven. In terms of the storyline, Vince demanded that Ted Turner sign the contract at WrestleMania X-Seven. With Vince's ego getting the best of him, Shane was able to seize the opportunity and purchase WCW himself, to the shock of Vince.

Meltzer had this to say about their Mania match:

Shane McMahon pinned Vince McMahon in a street fight in 14:12. Shane pointed out the WCW talent in the building before the match, which was a funny reaction since he was the face and the crowd turned on him. Stephanie came out with Vince and slapped Shane early. Shane got a kendo stick and started hitting his father. The gimmick with the kendo sticks is if you get hit in the middle, there is a lot of give, but on the ends, it hurts like hell. Vince potatoed Shane at one point as late in the match he was getting a mouse on his eye. Vince isn't a well trained worker physically in that his stuff looks bad, but he knows how to play a crowd and is willing to get hit. The big spot was Shane coming off the top rope through the spanish announcers' table when Vince was pulled to safety by Stephanie. Trish wheeled out Linda for the big spot. Trish slapped Vince, which was all the revenge this girl was getting. Stephanie and Trish brawled to the back. With Linda supposedly all doped up, Vince called her a bitch, pulled her out of her wheelchair and put her in a chair in the corner and kept verbally abusing her. Vince threatened to beat up Linda, but ref Mick Foley stopped him and he and Vince had their fights including Vince hitting him twice with chair shots. Vince grabbed a garbage can to hit Shane, but Linda got up out of the chair and gave Vince a low blow. Shane then put a garbage can in front of Vince's face and came off the top rope all the way across the ring with a dropkick to the garbage can, a modified Van Terminator for the pin. ***

Shane debuted the Coast-to-Coast here, as it is known today. It’s turned into one of his signature high spots since and we’ve seen it many times.

What did you think of the move? Does it really knock the breath out of you like it appears to? Any stories behind it? Did RVD want it back when he got to the company :)

But at Wrestlemania, we got our first clue that this WCW thing might not work.

Meltzer wrote Even though Shane was the strong babyface in the match, when he talked about WCW wrestlers and they were shown, without any graphics or mention of who they actually were which made it so rinky dink, the crowd booed them out of the building. The lack of star power meant the first impression of the angle took a lot of steam away from it without people like Flair, DDP, Goldberg, Hogan or Steiner, that virtually all casual fans would think would be part of a purchase of WCW. It was clear from the short revitalizing the brand and giving it its own television show was going to be an uphill battle, but it looked even steeper after this non-angle.

What did you think when the crowd booed WCW out of the building?

At Backlash, McMahon debuted his theme song "Here Comes The Money" and was in a Last Man Standing match against Big Show. It doesn’t sound too interesting does it? Well, leave it to Shane to fix that. Shane performed the Leap of Faith off the top of the scaffolding/the set, knocking himself and Show out. Test helped McMahon to his feet, causing McMahon to get the victory. It was an insanely dangerous spot, even with proper planning. The crowd went banana.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PO1ts62lLo

Any memories of this spot? Where did Vince stand on these insane spots?

Shane then began a very memorable feud with Kurt Angle. By the King of the Ring, on June 24, McMahon's feud with Angle had culminated. After already participating in two tournament matches that night, Angle wrestled McMahon in a Street Fight. If you’ve seen the WWE documentaries on this match, you know how brutal it was. After a suplex on the hard floor, Angle was thought to have cracked his tailbone. He could barely move. Angle also delivered an overhead belly to belly suplex through the plated glass stage set, but McMahon did not break through on the first attempt, causing him to fall head-first onto the concrete floor. Concussion. After a successful second attempt, Angle was to put him through a second plate back out to the stage and again failed two more times. Angle proceeded to bodily hurl him through the plate glass. The match also had Shane missing a shooting star press and landing on a trash can, and ended with Angle performing the Angle Slam off the top rope before scoring the victory over a bloodied McMahon.

As the story goes on WWE Untold, Vince wanted to stop the match, right? Or at least get them to stop the spots of trying to go through the glass?

By now, the doomed Invasion angle was underway. Shane McMahon then began to lead his WCW wrestlers against his father and the WWF wrestlers, eventually turning heel by joining forces with Paul Heyman and his brand of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) wrestlers, along with their new owner...Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley. That’s the moment the angle died.

Shane originally wanted to buy the company though, right? And revive it as a third brand?

Calling themselves The Alliance, they pledged to finally run the WWF (and specifically their father) out of business. Ultimately, The Invasion came to a head at Survivor Series in a match to determine which power would ultimately have control. The team, each respectively representing The Alliance and the WWF, of McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, and Booker T lost to the team of The Rock, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker, Kane, and Big Show. The following night on Raw, Vince publicly fired both Shane and Stephanie, which Shane took in stride, admitting that he lost to the better man, while Stephanie pleaded with her father before being forcefully removed from the arena.

We’ve got plans to cover the Invasion angle, show-by-show, later this year. So we will save most of our discussion for that. But....

How disappointing was this year when considering the expectations?

How did Shane feel about the angle by the end?

Aside from a brief appearance on the July 15, 2002 episode of Raw, McMahon would not be seen on television for almost two years.

In 2003, he became the Executive Vice President of WWE Global Media, and looked into international TV distribution, live event bookings, digital media, consumer products, and publishing. He negotiated major WWE TV deals in England, Mexico, South America, and other countries around the globe, and these international agreements helped WWE grow faster.

What was Shane’s role like at this time?

Feud with Kane and hiatus (2003–2005)

McMahon made his first on-screen appearance in two years on an episode of SmackDown! before WrestleMania XIX, watching his father's training in the gym to prepare his match against Hulk Hogan. At WrestleMania XIX, he went to check on his father's welfare following a Street Fight with Hulk Hogan, with Hogan welcoming Shane in the ring and then walking out. The two looked at each other for a moment as though something might come between the two, but it never did.

Was there a plan for Hogan to work with Shane here?

Shane returned as a face in the summer of 2003 by getting involved in a feud with Eric Bischoff, who had made improper remarks and gestures to Shane's mother Linda. He defeated Bischoff in a Falls Count Anywhere match at SummerSlam but by this point, Meltzer was heavily critical of Shane’s work. Here’s what he wrote:

Shane McMahon beat Eric Bischoff.  This was the main event of the show according to the good folks at the SummerSlam website.  Shane gave him what appeared to be a stiff beating early.  ... Austin finally came out, not a moment too soon.  ... Shane grabbed Eric’s hand and made it slap Austin, which also counted as provocation, so Austin gave him a stunner.  Shane lifted him up at two, then dragged him outside and put him on the announcers’ table.  He climbed up top and got to do his WHACKY HIGHSPOT!, the flying elbow onto Eric.  Shane looked to have knocked himself batty doing it, and Eric’s head bashed into something and he got busted open hardway.  Welcome to Everything I Hate About Wrestling.  Shane kinda sorta covered Eric and the ref counted three.  Austin made the barely conscious Shane drink beer afterwards.  Well, if anyone knows how tough those McMahons are, it’s Steve Austin.  (1/2*)

Did Shane knock himself out, here? What do you think of Meltzer’s criticisms?

Shane also got involved in a bitter rivalry with Kane after Kane gave Linda a Tombstone Piledriver because she did not name him the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. Their feud culminated in McMahon losing a Last Man Standing match at Unforgiven and an Ambulance match at Survivor Series. Buuuuut….the feud is probably most notable for Kane putting jumper cables on Shane’s nuts and torturing him. It wasn’t exactly the most well received stuff and as a fan, it felt merciful when it ended.

After Survivor Series, McMahon left Raw to focus his attention on the executive creative staff and his new family.

At WrestleMania XX, McMahon appeared briefly on camera during the opening of the event with Vince and his newborn son, Declan.

It felt special for the crowd to get to see the next generation of McMahon in the Garden that night. How special was that to Vince?

On a special 3-hour episode of Raw in October 2005, billed as WWE Homecoming, all four members of the McMahon family were given a Stone Cold Stunner by Stone Cold Steve Austin. The following week, Vince demanded an apology from ringside commentators for not coming to his family's aid, which developed into a new feud to make JR look bad.

But it would be around this time that a particularly salacious rumor popped up. So the story goes like this: when Stephanie got pregnant with her first baby, Vince wanted to run an incest angle which, in the climax, would reveal Vince McMahon as the father of the child.

When Stephanie shot down the angle, Vince pitched the idea of Shane McMahon being revealed as the father. Stephanie shot down this one as well and thankfully, the career of Shane and Stephanie was spared a black mark.

Is it true?

Shane returned in 2006 as a heel by again siding with his father to help in the feud with Shawn Michaels. At the 2006 Royal Rumble, Shane (despite not competing in the match) eliminated Michaels from the Royal Rumble match by throwing him over the top rope. After weeks of attacks from behind by Shane, one of which saw him force an unconscious Michaels to kiss Vince's ass, Shane and Michaels faced each other in a Street Fight on the March 18, 2006 Saturday Night's Main Event XXXII. In a fashion similar to the real-life Montreal Screwjob, Shane put Michaels in the Sharpshooter as Vince called for the bell and gave Shane the victory.

At Wrestlemania 22, Shawn defeated Vince. But the McMahon’s feud with HBK took a strange turn after that. Vince claimed that Michaels's victory was a result of "divine intervention" and booked himself and Shane in a match at Backlash against Michaels and his tag team partner "God". Around this time, Vince began to act strangely and at one point considered himself a god. Shane, who at this time was referred to by Vince as "the product of his semen", teamed with Vince to defeat Michaels and "God" at Backlash, due to help from the Spirit Squad.

How did Shane feel about doing all of this? Did he care?

This feud later enveloped Triple H, who the McMahons had enlisted to take out Michaels. Triple H was getting frustrated with this, as it was distracting from his quest to regain the WWE Championship. Triple H wound up bashing Shane with his signature weapon, the sledgehammer, in what was considered to be an accident that put Shane out of the ring for a while. Vince (and later Shane, who had recovered) sought to humble Triple H and get some retribution. Triple H then began a feud with the McMahons shortly after, leading to his siding with Shawn Michaels and the reformation of D-Generation X. At SummerSlam, the McMahons were defeated by D-X. About a month later at Unforgiven, The McMahons and then ECW World Champion Big Show faced D-X in a Hell in a Cell match. Shane was injured after Michaels' elbow dropped a chair which was around Shane's neck. D-X emerged victorious at Unforgiven, and Shane disappeared from television.

How did you feel about the DX/McMahon program? With the “Vince Loves Cock” jokes and all of that. Was this version of DX too watered down to work?

On October 21, 2006, Pride Fighting Championships held Pride 32 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. Shane was in attendance at the event, resulting in speculation that WWE could be considering promoting MMA events. On November 17, 2006, WWE and Dream Stage Entertainment officials, the parent company of Pride Fighting Championships, had a meeting at WWE global headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. The meeting focused on the possibility of the two groups doing some form of business together in the future. Yet on March 27, 2007, Nobuyuki Sakakibara, president of DSE, announced that Station Casinos, Inc. magnate Lorenzo Fertitta, also one of the co-owners of Zuffa, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, had made a deal to acquire all the assets of Pride FC from DSE after Pride 34 in a deal worth about US$70 million, thereby ceasing any prospective business between Pride and WWE.

Did Shane try to get Vince to buy PRIDE fighting? Or at least work a deal with them?

On the March 5, 2007 episode of Raw, Shane came back to inform his father, Vince, about the "guest referee" for the "Battle of the Billionaires." He told him that their opponents on the Board of Directors had won the vote, 5–4. The McMahons had intended for Shane to be the referee. Instead, the guest referee turned out to be the McMahons' old rival, the Texas rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin! During the "Battle of the Billionaires" match at WrestleMania 23, Shane's attempt to interfere on his father's behalf was stopped by Austin. During the match, Shane was able to hit the Coast to Coast dive with a trash can into Bobby Lashley's face.

Let’s just move on from that match, all things considered.

On April 9, Shane faced Lashley for the ECW World Championship in a Title vs. Hair match which ended in Shane getting disqualified on purpose by punching the referee. After the match, Umaga, Vince, and Shane all attacked Lashley.

At Backlash in a handicap match for the ECW World Championship, Shane along with Vince and Umaga defeated Lashley for the title. Vince gained the pin making him the ECW World Champion. At Judgment Day, Lashley faced Shane, Vince, and Umaga again, in a rematch for the ECW World Championship. This time, Lashley won the match, but since he pinned Shane rather than Vince, Vince remained the champion. At One Night Stand, Shane and Umaga tried to help Vince retain the ECW World Championship against Lashley, but failed when Lashley speared Vince and pinned him for the win.

It seems like once upon a time, it would have been Shane in these matches but instead, it’s Vince. Did Shane have any resentment over his dad not letting him shine more?

On the taped episode of Raw that aired on September 3, Shane, along with his mother Linda and his sister Stephanie, made appearances to confront Vince about his illegitimate child, which was a Leprechaun. I love pro wrestling. Shane then returned at Survivor Series to accompany Hornswoggle, alongside his father, in his match against The Great Khali.

After that, he was only seen on WWE's pay per view, No Way Out in 2008 talking to Big Show after the latter had his nose legitimately broken going by the plan to push Mayweather's speed by Floyd Mayweather Jr. before again not being seen until June 2008.

Did Shane stop the Big Show from killing Mayweather?

Vince McMahon sustained serious storyline injuries on the June 23 episode of Raw when a sign fell on top of him during his hosting of the "Million Dollar Mania" sweepstakes. It was when he said “Paul! I can’t feel my legs.” After, Shane appeared and requested for the Raw roster to stand together during what was a turbulent time. Shane's plea, however, was ignored and subsequently, Shane and his sister Stephanie urged the roster to show solidarity.

On the July 28 episode of Raw, Shane made an appearance to announce Mike Adamle as his and Stephanie's choice to be the new Raw general manager. After Adamle stepped down as general manager, he and Stephanie became the interim on-screen authority figures for the Raw program. On the November 24 episode of Raw, Shane and Stephanie argued over who was in charge, leading to Stephanie telling him that Raw is her show. After being slapped by Stephanie, Shane finished the segment by telling her that from that day onwards, he was going to watch Stephanie run Raw "right into the ground".

Is this art imitating life? Did the writers know these two had conflicting paths?

At the start of 2009, Randy Orton began a feud with the McMahon family. On the January 19 episode of Raw, Orton punted Mr. McMahon in the head, after he had tried to fire Orton from the company for previous comments made about Stephanie. The following week, Shane returned to television and attacked Orton for his actions, turning face for the first time since 2006. On the February 2 episode of Raw, it was revealed that Orton challenged Shane to a No Holds Barred match at No Way Out, to which he accepted, but was defeated by Orton in the match. The following night on Raw, Shane challenged Orton to an unsanctioned match for that episode's main event. The match ended with Orton punting Shane in the head, as well as performing an RKO on Stephanie McMahon.

Shane returned on the March 30 episode of Raw, alongside Triple H and his father Vince McMahon, to confront and attack The Legacy (Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, and Cody Rhodes). On the April 6 episode of Raw, it was announced that Shane would compete in a six-man tag team match against The Legacy at Backlash alongside Triple H and Batista, the latter of whom had returned from injury, where the stipulation was that if any member of Orton's team pinned any member of Triple H's team, Orton would win Triple H's WWE Championship; however, if any member of Orton's team was counted out or disqualified, Triple H would retain the title. Orton ended up pinning HHH to win the title.

On the May 4 episode of Raw, Shane's character suffered a broken leg and ankle at the hands of Orton and Legacy as a way to write him out of the story.

It was the last time we would see Shane on TV for quite some time.

Did Shane want a break from being on TV here? Did he want to do more backstage? And where did it go wrong?

On October 16, 2009, WWE published a statement from Shane McMahon announcing his resignation from his position as WWE's Executive Vice President of Global Media, and also issued an official press release stating that the resignation was tendered effective January 1, 2010. No specific reason was given for the resignation. McMahon stated in the WWE press release, "Having been associated with this organization for the majority of my life, I feel this is the opportune time in my career to pursue outside ventures." thus ending his 20-year stint with the company on January 1, 2010. McMahon's resignation left only two original members of the McMahon family activities within the company; his father Vince, and his sister, Stephanie.

In May 2020, it was revealed that the reasons for Shane McMahon's resignation from his role as Executive Vice President of WWE in 2009, was because "he realized that his father Vince, saw his sister Stephanie and husband Triple H as the heirs to the throne" and "was tired of his father Vince, overlooking his ideas" for what he envisioned for the company.

Tell us how you saw this unfold, from your perspective.

Was Vince ignoring Shane’s ideas?

Should ECW, under Shane, have been the original NXT - but Vince wouldn’t let him do it?

Return to WWE

On the February 22, 2016 episode of Raw, Shane returned to WWE as a face for the first time in nearly seven years. It was a HUGE return and I want to say it surprised almost everyone. Shane returned interrupting his sister, Stephanie McMahon, receiving the "Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence" Award from their father. Shane announced that the reason he had returned was that he wanted control of Raw, leading to Vince placing Shane in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker, adding the stipulation that Shane would get control of Raw and Undertaker would no longer be a participant in future WrestleMania events if Shane were to win the match.

At WrestleMania, Shane attempted a Leap of Faith off the top of the cell, but Undertaker moved out of the way, and Shane fell through an announce table. Shane was defeated by Undertaker soon after.

This was one of the scariest spots and watching it, I think, was a moment of anxiety for fans more than it was thrilling. How was this Leap of Faith spot different from the earlier ones and was it safer?

Was it ever considered to have Shane win?

Despite losing at WrestleMania, Shane controlled Raw for a month, firstly by his father, Vince, on the Raw after WrestleMania, then for the following three weeks after "popular demand on social media". This led to Stephanie confronting Shane, telling him that their father will decide who will control Raw at Payback, where Vince announced that both Shane and Stephanie would be Co-general managers and have joint control of WWE.

In July, after the announcement of the return of the brand extension with SmackDown moving to Tuesday and airing live weekly, Vince appointed Shane as the storyline commissioner of the SmackDown brand and Stephanie as the commissioner of Raw before tasking them to name a general manager for their respective shows. Shane appointed Daniel Bryan as the general manager of SmackDown.

What was Shane’s role backstage during this and did he have real influence over the brand?

At SummerSlam on August 21, Brock Lesnar won his match against Randy Orton by technical knockout and continued to assault Orton as he was being tended to. Shane then confronted Lesnar, which resulted in Shane being attacked by Lesnar with an F-5. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, Shane agreed to replace an injured Baron Corbin in the traditional Survivor Series tag team elimination match between the two brands.

At Survivor Series, Team SmackDown defeated Team Raw. McMahon suffered a legitimate concussion following a spear from Roman Reigns, resulting in his elimination.

On the February 21, 2017 episode of SmackDown, AJ Styles and the late Brodie Lee, as Luke Harper, simultaneously eliminated each other in a number one contender's battle royal as the final two entrants. Shane made singles match between the two for the February 28 episode of SmackDown with the winner going on to face Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33. Styles would originally go on to win the match before McMahon would restart the contest due to Harper having his foot on the rope during the pinfall. After McMahon accidentally distracted Harper, Styles would capitalize and pin Harper once again. That same week, after Randy Orton turned on Wyatt and cashed in his Royal Rumble winning opportunity, McMahon would go on to book a number one contender's match and the now even more infuriated Styles lost to Orton on the March 7 episode of SmackDown. After losing the match, Styles would confront McMahon in the Gorilla position with things getting physical between the pair. The following week, Styles attacked McMahon inside the parking lot, which caused McMahon to be busted open and suffer a storyline concussion. Due to this, Styles was (kayfabe) "fired" from SmackDown. However, as McMahon was about to leave, he went back to the arena and announced that he will face Styles at WrestleMania 33. On April 2, at WrestleMania 33, McMahon lost to AJ Styles in a singles match in 20:28. It was the third best ranked match on the card. Meltzer gave it four stars…

Styles was cut under the right eye by an errant Shane punch right away. Shane, after being punched, said, “You want to throw hands,” and then punched him all over the place. Fans were chanting for Styles. Shane’s selling looked so bad. He did an Olympic slam and Styles did an ushigoroshi. Styles went for the calf crusher but Shane reversed into a choke, then moved to an armbar and an uma plata. Styles went for a springboard 450 but Shane caught him with a triangle. Shane kicked out of the Styles clash. Styles accidentally kicked the ref and hit the Pele kick. Styles set up the coast-to-coast dropkick but Shane recovered and threw the garbage can in his face. Shane then hit the coast-to-coast dropkick for a near fall. Shane set Styles up for the same elbow drop off the post through the American announcers table, but Styles moved and Shane went through the table. Styles went for the phenomenal forearm, but Shane caught him with a DDT. Shane missed a shooting star press and Styles finally hit the phenomenal forearm for the pin. The crowd didn’t boo either guy and were way more into this than anything on the show except Goldberg-Lesnar and the ladder match. ****

On April 4, the first episode of SmackDown after WrestleMania, McMahon, and Styles shook hands.

What did you think about the program between AJ and Shane and how did they like it?

On July 19, 2017, Shane continued to live up to his high-risk daredevil reputation. He survived a freaking helicopter crash! According to WABC in New York, McMahon's helicopter departed Westchester County Airport, when at some point, a commercial flight heading to Kennedy Airport heard the emergency call, and relayed it to controllers at a FAA radar facility. Emergency responders picked up McMahon and his pilot and ferried them to shore. Somehow, they came away from the incident without any injuries.

What do you remember about this?

On the August 1 episode of SmackDown, Shane began a program with Kevin Owens.At SummerSlam, McMahon was about to count the pin and declare Owens the winner, however after seeing Styles' foot on the bottom rope, McMahon continued the match. A frustrated Owens pushed McMahon, causing McMahon to push Owens back, causing Owens to lose the title.

Owens and Shane ended up working together at Hell in a Cell with Shane losing following a failed Leap of Faith.

On the October 23 episode of Raw, Shane fired the first shot in the build of the SmackDown-Raw feud for Survivor Series when he appeared with most of the SmackDown roster to attack the Raw roster, after initially being friendly with Kurt Angle earlier on in the same night. They proceeded to beat up wrestlers part of the Raw roster. At Survivor Series, Shane was the last man to be eliminated by Triple H, meaning Team SmackDown lost.

Any hidden messages or meaning behind that

On the March 13 episode of SmackDown, Shane McMahon announced his indefinite leave of absence as SmackDown's commissioner. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn then proceeded to attack Shane McMahon in the ring and behind the entrance. Shane (kayfabe) suffered a laryngeal contusion, trapezius, and rhomboid strains. He was then taken to a local medical facility. On March 26, 2018, WWE.com reported that Shane legitimately had acute diverticulitis while resting with his family in the Caribbean on March 14, and was hospitalized in Antigua for a few days before he was moved to a hospital in New York where doctors also found that Shane has an umbilical hernia that required surgery once the infection was eradicated.

Scary stuff here. What do you remember about this happening?

It was later announced that Shane would team up with Daniel Bryan against Owens and Zayn at WrestleMania 34. McMahon returned on the April 3 episode of SmackDown, to address his WrestleMania match, saying that Owens and Zayn would never be seen in a SmackDown arena again. At WrestleMania, Bryan and McMahon defeated Zayn and Owens.

He then competed at the Greatest Royal Rumble. Then, he took time off to heal from the injuries he suffered two months prior, returning on the 1000th edition of SmackDown on October 16 alongside Stephanie McMahon and Vince McMahon on the Truth TV segment. Following TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs in December, The McMahon Family (Vince, Stephanie, Shane, and Triple H) appeared on Raw and announced that they would be running both Raw and SmackDown as a group with no general managers.

At the Crown Jewel event in November, he replaced The Miz after the latter suffered a (kayfabe) injury in the finals of the WWE World Cup, and won by defeating Dolph Ziggler in under three minutes, winning the tournament. The Miz then began a pursuit to form a tag team with Shane, who finally agreed, and the duo faced SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, winning the titles. At Elimination Chamber the following month, however, they lost the titles to The Usos and failed to regain them at Fastlane, after which, Shane attacked The Miz and taunted Miz's father, turning heel for the first time since 2009.

Had you just gotten all you could out of Shane’s babyface run here?

McMahon then heelishly began proclaiming himself as the "Best in the World" and scheduled a match between himself and Miz at WrestleMania 35, which Miz requested to be a Falls Count Anywhere match, and Shane agreed. At WrestleMania, McMahon narrowly defeated Miz after being superplexed off a 15-foot platform and landing on top of Miz for the 3 counts.

What did you think about Miz and Shane’s work together?

On the April 29 edition of Raw, McMahon helped Bobby Lashley defeat Miz, who was drafted to Raw, and then McMahon attacked Miz. Later that night, Miz challenged McMahon to a Steel Cage Match at Money in the Bank, which Shane accepted.

While simultaneously feuding with Miz on Raw, over on SmackDown, Elias and Roman Reigns were drafted to the brand. Shane's father Vince introduced Elias as SmackDown's biggest acquisition on the April 16 episode of SmackDown. The two were confronted by Reigns, who attacked Elias and attacked Vince with the Superman Punch. The following week, Shane called out Reigns for a fight for attacking his father, but Reigns was attacked from behind by Elias, who was assisted by Shane, allying Elias and Shane.

At Money In The Bank, Shane once again defeated The Miz this time by escaping the cage ending their feud.

The following night on RAW, Shane confronted Roman Reigns with Reigns challenging Shane to a match at Super ShowDown which Shane accepted. At Super ShowDown, Shane defeated Roman Reigns after interference from Drew McIntyre. Shane and McIntyre lost to Reigns and The Undertaker in a No Holds Barred tag team match at Extreme Rules.

Did that match impress as many backstage as it did in the WWE Universe? Was it redemption for Taker?

Following this, Shane re-ignited his feud with Kevin Owens, after Owens stated his distaste in Shane's constant dominance on television and began to hit him with the Stunner on countless occasions. Shane lost to Owens at SummerSlam where had Owens lost he would have quit WWE. McMahon later replaced an injured Elias in a semi-final match against Chad Gable for the 2019 King of the Ring tournament, and Owens was made the referee, and despite Shane's promise to consider dropping a fine for Owens damaging expensive equipment, Owens allowed Gable to win, and Owens was hereby fired. However, Owens continued to appear on television to issue legal threats, until October 4's WWE SmackDown's 20th Anniversary episode, where McMahon was "fired" after losing a ladder match against Owens.

Had the angle run its course or did Shane have a reason he wanted to be taken off TV?

Raw Underground (2020)

After a ten-month hiatus, McMahon returned on the August 3, 2020, episode of Raw as the host of Raw Underground, a new feature that is presented as an unsanctioned fight club. It would later be canceled after the September 21 episode.

What can you tell us about Raw Underground?

On November 22, 2020 he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertakers retirement ceremony.

And the future is still bright for Shane! Who knows what his next chapter will be.

Is Shane still enjoying his time with the company? What’s his role now?

What will Shane’s role be someday when the inevitable next-generation takes over?

What will Shane’s legacy be?

QUESTIONS

John Moran asks..Who would be Shane’s dream opponent? Who do you think he would match best against?

Also asks.. Will Shane be the first McMahon inducted into the Hall of Fame as a talent?

Luke from Eastern Iowa asks...why didn’t Shane win at least one match against Kane in their series of matches in 2003? It’s not like Vince to book a McMahon looking weak, and Shane was pummeled for a good 90% of that storyline.

Dan Borrello asks... How often did Shane change Vince's mind about an angle, a storyline, a potential signing of a wrestler or personality, and at what point did Vince start considering Shane's opinions?

Ben asks...Do you think, had the storyline been right, that Shane could've been a credible WWE Champion at any point in his career?

Pineapple Jack asks... We’ve heard Bruce tell us that Michael Hayes was always trying to find something for Jeff Hardy to jump off of. Did Michael ever try to give Shane ideas of things to jump off of and what would that sound like?

Clinton asks...What was the backstage reaction after Shane's   early performances against XPac and Test? Was anybody skeptical about him stepping into the ring?

Thegraightstray asks...was Shane going shirtless at MITB against The Miz an accident? / Do you know if he’s self-conscious about his body? He’s always adjusting his shirt and it took him 20 years to take it off.

Wayne asks hi guys what i would like to know is when Shane left the company did he still have anything to do with the daily running off the wwe brand or did he separate himself completely from the company to pursue his endeavours

Carlos asks...Were any wrestlers deeply resentful of Shane's tendency to steal the show, be a headliner in major ppv's and dominate highlight reels when he was just a part-time in ring performer and if so who were those wrestlers?

John asks...Why did Shane McMahon come back after leaving the WWE to pursue his own business? Did his business pursuits fail or was there a issue within the WWE to push him to come back? Or some other reason?

Ken asks...have you ever witnessed any of the Edge/Shane "mock mock" battles and did they ever try to get you?

Celtic Dreamer asks...Shane is know for his dare devil stunts. Has there ever been an idea for one that was so outrageous even he said no?