Shane Is Not Returning As An Executive

WWE have informed investors that Shane McMahon is currently playing a TV character and is not returning to the company in an executive or in another corporate role. That doesn’t mean things can’t change in the future, but the prodigal son is still involved in outside business ventures, and he can’t just waltz back in to WWE when it is a publicly traded company. He does however still hold a lot of WWE stock.

This week’s Wrestling Observer notes that growing up, Shane had always assumed he’d be next in line behind his father, but for various reasons this fell to Stephanie who was more inclined to follow her father’s philosophy. At different times Shane actually tried to buy ECW, UFC, Pride, and Strikeforce, to prove to his father that he was capable of running a successful promotion, but Vince would either not give him funding or the deals fell through for other reasons.

When WWE bought WCW Shane was to be appointed the head if it was to function as a separate brand, but that never happened due to the poor crowd response. Later he pitched the idea of bringing back ECW as an online only show that targeted an adult audience, but Vince decided to take the money from Syfy instead. Vince never got behind the MMA deals because he thought it was barbaric and didn’t like that he couldn’t control the outcomes. With the writing on the wall Shane left the company to go at it alone, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still interested in doing something in wrestling or MMA.

Shane is described as being an out the box thinker who knows how to create controversy and promote a spectacle (much like his father, even though they clashed), however Triple H is seen as having a traditional understanding of booking. Shane for example was behind the original Mike Tyson storyline with HBK and Austin, but was never really given a day to day creative role in terms of fleshing ideas out week to week.

At the moment he is still on the board of YOU On Demand in China, though his role is said to be diminishing and the company is not yet a success.

Speaking of Shane he is booked for the march 7th episode of RAW from Chicago to continue the Wrestlemania storyline:

Barrett and Henry Return

Both Wade Barrett and Mark Henry are back in action following their respective injuries.

Nakamura Highly Paid

In order to entice Shinsuke Nakamura away from the top spot in Japan, the Wrestling Observer reports that he is being paid higher than anybody else in NXT. Though he’s still obviously being paid below WWE’s top stars, he’s said to be getting a good main roster level check.