published on June 10, 2024 in corga

Shane McMahon was paid over 700,000 for Royal Rumble 2022 but backstage chaos and clashing with Br

Triple H will undoubtedly be nervous heading into the Royal Rumble this weekend as he takes full creative control for the first time ever.

But if it's any reassurance to the Game, he couldn't possibly do a worse job than his brother-in-law Shane McMahon...

The Royal Rumble is among WWE's most popular events for both its stakes in kickstarting the Road to WrestleMania and nature of the over-the-top rope set up that leaves room for chaos.

The 36th annual edition of the Rumble is an opportunity for Triple H to start a clean slate following a turbulent year that saw Vince McMahon exit the company.

Although the 77-year-old has since returned as Executive Chairman, the booking of WWE TV is still being entrusted to his son-in-law.

There may have been a time fans would have expected creative control to be passed to McMahon's biological son Shane but last year's Rumble dashed any possibility of that.

McMahon Jr was the lead producer for the heavily panned men’s Rumble and he also appeared in the match as an in-ring talent.

A lack of surprises and star power contributed to the reception of the 2022 PPV, which had already got off to a horror star before the main-event.

Both the two world title bouts WWE promoted alongside the men's and women's Rumble matches featured screwy finishes.

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Universal champion Roman Reigns retained his belt against Seth Rollins via DQ and then interfered to help Bobby Lashley beat Brock Lesnar.

In a painfully obvious attempt to stretch Reigns and Lesnar's feud until WrestleMania, the Beast was later announced as a surprise entrant in the men's Rumble from which he went onto win it all.

Fellow part-time and former UFC champion Ronda Rousey showed up after a two-year break to coast to victory in the women's Rumble.

But even more alarming was to come in the men's edition, when Shane McMahon made his return for the first time since WrestleMania 37.

The American businessman entered at number 28 and lasted until the final three - even eliminating former champion Kevin Owens.

It later turned out that Randy Orton was due to come out instead but a music mix-up saw Shane’s entrance theme play instead.

Fightful Select reported that Shane-O-Mac, who had booked himself to appear even later at number 29, 'specifically wanted to go on in a spot that would highlight him'.

As a result, he initially refused to go out before relenting and his unprofessional behaviour annoyed many around him.

In a Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer wrote: "Shane was visibly very unhappy when his match ideas were shot down by his father, and was not professional with [co-producer James] Gibson and talked down to people."

Meltzer added: "There were also disagreements regarding he and Lesnar regarding the closing stages of the match, and Lesnar pretty much does exactly what he wants.

"But this led to people being told one thing and then another, between Shane’s ideas, what Lesnar wanted, and what Vince wanted."

One major issue of concern was how surprise Rumble entrant Bad Bunny was handled - with the plan for the rapper changed numerous times leading WWE to fear the negative reaction from messing around a mainstream star.

The backlash from the event saw McMahon Sr take firm action and within a week Shane was ‘quietly let go’ from his own father's company.

Wade Keller told PWTorch: "This was almost a last straw for a lot of people in WWE when it comes to Shane [and] his dad, of course, being the final decision maker on that front.

"So the story is for the third year in a row he was brought in to help produce the Royal Rumble. It's sort of a dad doing a favor to his son…

"Shane's creative ideas over the decades have been laughed at behind his back. I've reported that for decades. He was never seen as having a good creative wrestling mind. That has carried over even into his 50s when trying to help produce the Royal Rumble."

Keller added: "This was an … unexpected, sharp increase in disruptiveness in bad ideas.

"From what I'm told directly from people there, he was really self-centred. It was all about him [and] his ideas, and he didn't get caught up on what the plans were for the match. He didn't know was going on TV that was building to certain moments.

"And he just pulled the McMahon card with the match producers wanting things to be done his way because why else would Shane-O-Mac be brought in, if not to basically dictate something, a major chapter involving him in the match. And so he did.

"It got to the point where there were heated arguments with people who felt that they could push back and a lot of stress and strife and distractions with everybody else because it was just chaos.

"There was a plan for the match. Shane was pushing back against producers who were simply trying to follow through on what Vince McMahon told them should be done in the match. And Shane just went way overboard.

"If you look at the people that Shane was fighting in the ring during the Rumble, that was his doing. That's who he wanted to be in the ring with looking good against.

"I mean two of the legit kind of badass guys in WWE -- Otis with his [award-winning amateur wrestling] background and Riddle with his [UFC] background, and Shane punched away at them."

The Rumble led to Shane losing his job and scheduled matches at Elimination Chamber and WrestleMania were subsequently scrapped.

Shane McMahon was paid over 700,000 for Royal Rumble 2022 but backstage chaos and clashing with Br

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