WBD could force Tony Khan to sign WWE legend to AEW against his wishes, says former WCW Champion (Exclusive)
AEW celebrated several milestones this year. To coincide with Dynamite's fifth anniversary, the company finally announced its new media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Amid rumors of a massive debut by a WWE icon, Vince Russo sees a scenario where WBD could force Tony Khan to make talent acquisitions, even if he's not in agreement.
Shane McMahon has been rumored to join All Elite Wrestling for several months now. After a curious airport back-room meeting with Khan, the son of Vince McMahon later had public run-ins with The Young Bucks and Mercedes Moné. There's rampant speculation on potential roles The Boy Wonder might play in Khan's companies, but nothing has been confirmed.
Vince Russo discussed potential All Elite scenarios with Shane-O-Mac during the latest episode of Writing With Russo on Sportskeeda Wrestling's WrestleBinge. The former WCW World Heavyweight Champion did not see McMahon coming into AEW as a talent or some kind of general manager, pointing to how he'd be performing in front of much smaller crowds.
The former Vic Venom did say he could see Shane become part owner of AEW, or receive ownership interest. Co-host Dr. Chris Featherstone asked Russo whether he thought Khan would give up any kind of stake in the company.
"Well, here's the interesting thing, Chris (...) with this deal being announced, now we're hearing some rumors of WBD having stake in the company. Well, if that is true, and maybe that's how they got a television deal in the first place because WBD had some stake in the company (...) if that is true, then it's possible that Tony Khan does not have 100% say-so, and if a WBD wants a Shane McMahon, he might not be able to do anything about it," Vince Russo said. [From 2:28 to 3:05]
Sources have not confirmed whether or not Shane is set to debut for AEW or work with the organization in another capacity. There is heavy speculation on the three-time WWE champion appearing at WrestleDream on Saturday.
AEW WrestleDream updated lineup
All Elite Wrestling will present the second annual WrestleDream pay-per-view on Saturday at the Tacoma Dome in Washington. Coming out of the go-home Dynamite, below is the updated lineup:
- Zero Hour Pre-show, ROH World Television Championship Match: Atlantis Jr. (c) vs. Brian Cage
- ROH World Championship Match: Mark Briscoe (c) vs. Chris Jericho
- The Acclaimed vs. MxM Collection
- Darby Allin vs. Brody King
- Adam Page vs. Jay White
- Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Hologram vs. The Beast Mortos
- World Tag Team Championship Match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. Private Party
- TNT Championship Match: Jack Perry (c) vs. Katsuyori Shibata
- International Championship Triple Threat: Will Ospreay (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ricochet
- Women's World Championship Match: Mariah May (c) vs. Willow Nightingale
- World Championship Match: Bryan Danielson (c) vs. Jon Moxley
The WrestleDream Zero Hour pre-show will air at 6:30 pm ET on AEW's social media channels. The main card starts at 8 pm on pay-per-view.
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