Former WWE star recalls Shane McMahon wasn’t the first choice to host RAW Underground
According to former WWE Superstar AJ Francis (Top Dolla), Shane McMahon wasn't WWE's first choice when it came to hosting RAW Underground.
RAW Underground was a short-lived segment on Monday Night RAW that was hosted by Shane McMahon and was designed as a fight club-type atmosphere to set itself apart from everything else on the show. The entire concept lasted less than two months and was scrapped after garnering poor reviews.
Top Dolla recently sat down with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select to discuss a wide variety of topics. During their conversation, Francis revealed to SRS that WWE Hall of Famer Edge called him up while he was helping out with the creative end of things in WWE while being sidelined with an injury to pitch him as the host of RAW Underground.
The pitch didn't work out because Francis was on the road at the time filming the A&E television show WWE's Most Wanted Treasures. The position was eventually bestowed upon McMahon.
We learned a funny little story about how Hit Row learned they were called up to Smackdown, as well as an originally pitched Raw Underground host, and a lot more notes.
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Will Shane McMahon return to WWE somewhere down the line?
McMahon hasn't appeared on WWE programming since the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble match.
Reports following the premium live event indicated that Vince McMahon and several other superstars were unhappy with Shane's booking of the Men's Royal Rumble match.
While Shane O’Mac was initially scheduled for a match at WrestleMania 38, those plans were eventually scrapped altogether.
Walking in the hallway @TheGarden with my 3 sons for the @NYRangers game and passed this.
Made me think…@HulkHogan, got one more in ya? https://t.co/Dnpm0Q7S6o
The former SmackDown Commissioner was present in Dallas, Texas, for WrestleMania 38 weekend but was not there as a performer. It's unknown if we'll ever see him in a WWE ring again.
What do you make of Top Dolla's comments? Do you think he would have been a better host than Shane O’Mac? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.