Shane McMahon to return if Vince McMahon buys WWE, veteran predicts (Exclusive)
Vince McMahon's reported interest in buying WWE has been a hot topic in the wrestling world lately. Vince Russo, WWE's head writer in the late 1990s, believes Shane McMahon is likely to be involved in any potential deal.
In January 2023, Vince McMahon's daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Triple H allegedly voted against his return as WWE's Executive Chairman. The 79-year-old later sold the company to Endeavor before resigning in January 2024 amid serious misconduct allegations.
Russo appeared on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws alongside host Dr. Chris Featherstone and wrestler EC3. Addressing Featherstone's report that Vince McMahon wants to purchase WWE, the veteran writer speculated that Shane McMahon could also return.
"Because of the way everything went down, if Vince McMahon were to ever buy back his company and come back, he would be coming back with Shane under his arm," Russo said. "And Vince would know, 'I'm 80-something years old, I don't have much time. F my son-in-law and my daughter for what they did for me. It is now time for me to repay back my son.'" [13:25 – 13:52]
Russo added that WWE would benefit from having Shane McMahon involved with the company again:
"And Shane McMahon would become the new Vince McMahon, and I definitely believe that would happen and that would be the best thing for the wrestling business, as we knew it. Not as it's known today." [13:53 – 14:08]
Watch the video above to hear the panel's thoughts on whether WWE could realistically be sold soon.
EC3 compares Triple H and Vince McMahon's creative eras
In July 2022, Vince McMahon relinquished creative responsibilities when hush-money accusations first emerged. The former WWE Chairman's replacement, Triple H, initially received praise for his main roster storylines. However, Vince Russo is not convinced that the current product has improved since McMahon's exit.
EC3 wrestled for WWE from 2009 to 2013 before returning for another run between 2018 and 2020. Having worked under Triple H's creative guidance in NXT, he expected The Game to receive more positive feedback.
"Vince [Russo] mentioned he [Triple H] isn't handling it well or the creative isn't great, which surprises me just because of working with him in NXT, so maybe there's just so much more [on the main roster], or maybe he doesn't have the right lieutenants," EC3 said. "Or what always happens is the danger and the appeal of playing God, where you're getting more and more, and then the inability to delegate it to qualified people and not worrying so much what they do, or overseeing it." [14:36 – 15:06]
In a separate video, EC3 gave his honest thoughts on WWE's latest departures.
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