Shane McMahon Reportedly Quietly Let Go By WWE, More Details On His Role With Royal Rumble, Likely Will Return Later

UPDATE 2: PWInsider has more details on the story that Shane McMahon was quietly let go by WWE this week following his appearance at the Royal Rumble on Saturday.

As of yesterday, there were plans for McMahon to be a heel on RAW heading to Wrestlemania. Two plans had been pitched, neither were locked in place. The first was that McMahon had been pushing to work with Austin Theory at Wrestlemania, based on Theory’s story with Vince. There were others who wanted McMahon vs. Seth Rollins. There had even been a planned sequence to set up Rollins vs. Shane as a feud heading into the Royal Rumble at one point, before Rollins was moved into a Universal title match.

Today, McMahon was pulled from the RAW roster internally and people were told that “the direction has changed.” He was not backstage at RAW on Monday.

The report confirms that McMahon was one of the people who produced the Men’s Royal Rumble match. He was said to be “obviously frustrated” the day of the show due to his ideas being turned down by Vince. It was believed that Shane “wasn’t being allowed to do what he wanted” and that he was “greatly preoccupied” by his own appearance in the match. It’s believed that Shane is taking the heat for the poor reaction to the match. The thought is that when the heat dies down, Shane will return later on.

Shane does not have an executive position or any responsibilities in the company. He was named the Executive Chairman of Ideanomics, an Electric Vehicle company, last August and has been focused on that.

UPDATE: In a post on Twitter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that McMahon has been let go by WWE.

Just a confirmation that Shane McMahon is out of WWE. More to come.

— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) February 2, 2022

Original: As we reported yesterday, Shane McMahon is believed to have booked the men’s Royal Rumble match last Saturday, which got him heat backstage. The match was poorly received, particularly among talent due to constant changes. But McMahon reportedly ‘rubbed people the wrong way’ when he took charge of the booking for this Rumble. He was described as a “nightmare” by some, allegedly buried Jamie Noble and there were claims he wanted to book the match around himself. McMahon entered at #28 and got one elimination before being thrown out by eventual winner, Brock Lesnar.

Now, a new report from Ringside News suggests that McMahon has been quietly let go by the company due to the heat. The writers were told in a “semi-quiet way” that “there will be no more creative discussions about Shane McMahon.” The creative team then “moved on to other creative discussions.” McMahon was previously rumored to be a regular on the RAW brand going forward, leading to a match at Wrestlemania.

It should be noted that Shane was not actually employed by WWE and wasn’t actually signed when he was brought back. He was “supposed to be involved in the XFL but then COVID hit and XFL went into bankruptcy.” Vince McMahon is using the term ‘let go’ backstage when referring to the situation. It was noted the word “blackballed” was not used.

A source added: “Vince had no choice. Shane created chaos, had everyone in an uproar, pissed off everyone in the Rumble, openly buried other producers, and was changing things that Vince wanted. Vince had no other choice but to send him home.“