Shane McMahon wanted major star in Royal Rumble, WWE took him out as it 'made no sense' – Reports
Several backstage notes from the Royal Rumble are slowly emerging online, with most updates being about Shane McMahon's plans for the match.
RingSideNews reported that Shane McMahon initially booked Seth Rollins to be in the Men's Royal Rumble Match.
As seen at the Royal Rumble, Rollins suffered an unforgiving beatdown in the opening match. Roman Reigns used a chair to inflict damage on his opponent and retain the Universal title via DQ:
"A tenured member of the creative team told us that, at one point, Seth Rollins was booked for the Men's Royal Rumble Match. This would have been after he took all those chair shots from Roman Reigns in the opening match," revealed RingSideNews.
After all these years, @WWERomanReigns has finally gotten his revenge on @WWERollins for breaking up The Shield.
#RoyalRumble https://t.co/GH7dgKPkjh
The Royal Rumble script underwent multiple changes throughout the day as many stars reportedly approached Vince McMahon about their grievances.
Sources backstage noted that having Seth Rollins in the Rumble 'made no sense' as Brock Lesnar was already slated to do double duty at the event:
"We were told that, "the Rumble kept changing all day because people kept going to Vince complaining. At one point, Shane had Seth in there." It was noted that this "made no sense," because Brock Lesnar was scheduled for the match," reported RSN.
Shane McMahon has backstage heat over the Royal Rumble booking
As reported by RingSideNews, Shane McMahon was the producer and lead writer for the Men's Royal Rumble Match, and his decisions didn't go down well with the talent.
It has been stated that McMahon has attracted a lot of backstage heat for trying to book the Royal Rumble match around himself.
SHANE-O-MAC = BACK.
#RoyalRumble @shanemcmahon https://t.co/zhqSze9Cgu
Shane O'Mac entered the Rumble at #28 and was eliminated by the eventual winner, Brock Lesnar. McMahon made several creative changes to the Rumble, and the talents involved in the contest weren't too pleased with the alterations.
Regarding Shane McMahon's future, reports suggest that Vince McMahon's son will compete at the upcoming Elimination Chamber show amidst concerning updates about his backstage standing in the company.
As always, we'll keep you updated on the storyline plans for the veteran WWE star.