Shane McMahon rejected Vince McMahon’s WWE Raw/Elimination Chamber plans, backstage issues were a problem

Wade Keller posted an audio update on Shane McMahon on PWTorch.com. Keller noted that things got really ugly between Shane and his father Vince McMahon at the Royal Rumble, but there was trouble before the pay-per-view.

“Things really fell apart with him and his dad on Saturday,” Keller said. “Things were not good, from what I heard.”

Keller continued: “If you’ve been listening closely to me over the last two months, you would have gotten the impression that there was little chance Shane would have been at the Royal Rumble this weekend, or in WWE’s plans. I was very surprised when he showed up and then there were reports that he was going to be in a story that would intertwine all the way to Wrestlemania because of what I’ve been hearing about Shane’s status in the company and his relationship with his dad in particular.”

Keller said, “This was almost the final straw for a lot of people in WWE when it comes to Shane. [and] his father, of course, being the final decision maker on that front. So the story is that for the third year in a row he was hired to help produce the Royal Rumble. He’s kind of like a father doing his son a favor… Shane’s creative ideas have been mocked behind his back for decades. I have reported it for decades. He was never seen to have a good creative wrestling mind. That has lasted even into his 50s when he was trying to help produce the Royal Rumble.”

“This was an … unexpected and sharp spike in the disruption of bad ideas on Saturday,” Keller said. “From what I was told directly from the people there, he was really self-centered. it was all about him [and] his ideas, and he didn’t get caught up in what the plans were for the party. I didn’t know it was coming out on TV that was building at certain times. And he just took out the letter from McMahon to the producers of the match that they wanted things done their way because why else would they bring in Shane-O-Mac, if not to basically dictate something, a major chapter involving him in the match? And so he did. And it got to the point where there were heated arguments with people who felt like they could back down and a lot of stress and conflict and distraction with everyone else because it was just chaos. There was a plan for the party. Shane was putting pressure on the producers who were simply trying to comply with what Vince McMahon told them to do in the match. And Shane crossed the line. If you look at the people that Shane was fighting in the ring during the Rumble, that was his doing. That’s what he wanted to be in the ring against to look good. I’m talking about two of the legit guys in WWE: Otis with his experience and Riddle with his experience, and Shane beat them up. Then Kevin Owens super kicked him twice and tried to throw him, but Shane reversed it and tossed him over the top row to take him out.”

Keller added: “While all of this is going on, Shane is sweating, profusely. [and] this has been something for him recently, most recently where there is a worrying level of perspiration. It’s almost as if only drops are coming out of his head and face.”

Keller added that Shane was willing to leave Brock Lesnar, but things between Shane and Vince got really ugly backstage.

“So when it came time to put somebody over, Shane was willing to put someone over Brock Lesnar,” Keller said. “But the issue with Shane really went to the next level with Vince when it came to what was planned for Raw and that Shane had real issues with how he was going to be framed in Elimination Chamber. And so Shane disagreed with what Vince wanted to do and how he wanted to do it. Shane was explained what the plans were and he liked it, and he backed down and that led to Vince finally having enough and canceling all the plans with Shane, everything they had planned with him.”

At this point, it’s unclear if he was released from his talent contract or simply sent home. Keller said: “I haven’t been able to confirm that this is an actual termination because I’m not quite sure what Shane’s status is with the company in the sense of whether there is an employee or a relationship that could be terminated in the traditional way. It happens. But the idea now is, from what I hear, that he’s not going to be a part of WWE in any way on or off camera for the foreseeable future, which could be a long, long time. Like years. It’s father, son, it’s a family situation, who knows, right? But…because this has been festering for a while and has been a problem for a while, this is not something that surprised everyone and came out of nowhere on Saturday. The feeling is that this really could be the last straw. And there could be a level of professional estrangement between Vince and Shane… I haven’t found anyone to defend Shane, in terms of how he acted on Saturday.

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