"Not the Shane I knew" - Wrestling veteran defends Shane McMahon over recent reports of backstage heat (Exclusive)
Shane McMahon has been the subject of a lot of negative rumors recently. While his return at the Royal Rumble was reportedly meant to kickstart another WrestleMania run, he was quickly booted out and won't be continuing going forward. A former WWE writer and wrestling veteran came to the defense of The Prodigal Son.
Shane McMahon reportedly got a lot of backstage heat as he was said to have played a direct hand in the "disastrous" booking of the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble match. He allegedly pushed for himself to be one of the final competitors and didn't seem to care about anyone else's input, even going against Vince McMahon. This forced the boss to step in and draw the line, quietly letting his son go.
On the latest episode of The Bro Show, Dr. Chris Featherstone asked Vince Russo about the recent Shane McMahon debacle. Russo, who has experience working with Shane in the Attitude Era, came to the defense of The Prodigal Son and explained that he never faced any issues with him or Vince McMahon backstage:
"I was in a position as the head writer. I worked with a lot of people in management that were on TV. And bro, a couple of people really made it all about them. They were very overbearing, constantly talking about what they were doing, not caring about the rest of the roster. I got to tell you, both Vince [McMahon] and Shane [McMahon] never made it about them. We would write the show and say 'Shane, this is what I need you to do', 'Vince, this is what I need you to do'. You would tell them one time, and that would be it. So when people are talking about Shane and his ego, that's not the Shane I knew, I can tell you that based on experience," said Russo. (From 9:36 to 10:30)
WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page also chipped in and gave his opinion, stating that he "can't see" Shane McMahon being the kind of person to cause such chaos backstage.
"Shane McMahon is a McMahon. I only see a very choice few of people creating any friction. And I'm talking about the elite. I can't really see him creating that much friction and people don't really know him," said DDP. (From 10:56 to 11:22)
Will Shane McMahon ever return to WWE?
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It seems as though the door will always be open to Shane McMahon returning to WWE, but given how things played out, it might be a while before we see it happening. While a program against Seth Rollins may have been the direction for WrestleMania, that doesn't appear to be the case anymore.
Shane's matches were often treated as a marquee WrestleMania bout, with the former SmackDown commissioner facing the likes of The Undertaker, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn, The Miz, and Braun Strowman in recent years. He lost more often than not and created quite a few memorable moments in that time.
Perhaps time is what will eventually heal the recently-opened wounds and he will be able to have a successful on-screen return to the company again. It's safe to say that such a backstage disaster is unlikely to occur again.
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