Update on WWE's Plans for Shane McMahon During WrestleMania 38 Season
Shane McMahon made his surprise return to the WWE during the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble match on Saturday night, competing in his first match since losing to Braun Strowman inside a Steel Cage at WrestleMania 37 and making it all the way to the final three before getting dumped out by eventual winner Brock Lesnar. PWInsider then dropped a report on Monday stating McMahon would be back on the Raw brand going forward, operating as a heel once again.
DAZN's Steven Muehlhausen followed that up later in the day stating that the plan for now is for McMahon to be involved in the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at the pay-per-view of the same name next month, then face Austin Theory at WrestleMania 38. Theory has been working alongside Vince McMahon, Shane's father, since he stole McMahon's golden egg back at Survivor Series.
Sources: The plan as of right now for Shane McMahon is to be involved in the WWE title match at Elimination Chamber and then face Austin Theory at WrestleMania. #WWE #EliminationChamber #WrestleMania
— Steven Muehlhausen (@SMuehlhausenJr) January 31, 2022
WWE has already announced two qualifying matches for the Chamber title match on tonight's Raw — Theory vs. Kevin Owens (who historically has passed on competing at WWE's Saudi Arabia events) and AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio.
Does McMahon vs. Theory sound like a good fit on the WrestleMania undercard? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments!
The son of Vince McMahon initially left WWE in 2009 to work on other business ventures, but returned in 2016 to become a recurring character on WWE TV and eventually an on-air authority figure. His first match back would up being inside Hell in a Cell against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32.
"If you can be a real-life superhero for your kids that's a pretty powerful thing," he said on an episode of After The Bell last year regarding that match. "That was the opportunity that was given to me, to return on the biggest stage of them all at WrestleMania against arguably the most iconic and singular talent ever created, Mark Calaway, The Undertaker, who is also my longest-running friend in the business.
"Main eventing WrestleMania, being a special attraction for it, that was really tough to pass up," he added. "We didn't know where it was going to go, potentially it was going to be that one-and-done."