Pro wrestling injuries are always unfortunate, but there’s something extra depressing about someone who is a part-timer suffering a serious injury in the ring. That was definitely the case for Shane McMahon at WrestleMania 39.
When Shane-o-Mac appeared on night 2 last year, he was just supposed to have a short, impromptu match with The Miz. It turned out to be very short indeed, as he tore his quad almost immediately, forcing guest host Snoop Dogg to call one of the more impressive on-the-fly audibles in recent memory.
At age 53, Shane McMahon could be excused for not wanting to step back in a WWE ring again. He’s already going to be remembered as one of the top part-time wrestlers of all time, someone who would go consistently go above and beyond in the name of entertainment.
But maybe we shouldn’t give up on seeing one last match from him, as his son, Declan McMahon, told the Developmentally Speaking podcast that his dad is working hard in rehab with an eye toward getting back to it (h/t Wrestling Observer for the transcription).
His rehab’s going very, very well. He’s gotten back to like jogging. He’s squatting. He’s starting to work out again. … He’s making phenomenal progress. The doctor said all the time that he’s healing quicker than they thought and, you know, when he tore it, he completely tore his quad tendon. So that’s a very long, hard recovery, but he’s been crushing rehab. He’s been doing his thing. He’ll hopefully get back soon.
Obviously you want to see your dad be able to do what they love, right? My dad loves wrestling second to none. He truly cares for the business. But not only for the business, he truly wants to just put on a show for the fans. Because the fans show him so much love and it’s so rewarding for a lot of those guys to just give to those fans who came to see them. So hopefully he comes back better than ever. And I think, you know, his rehab is going great.
Shane McMahon has floated in and out of WWE for years, and has wrestled sparingly in this decade. His most recent singles match was a Steel Cage loss to Braun Strowman at WrestleMania 37, which was itself more than a year after the previous one: a loss to Kevin Owens on the Oct. 4, 2019 episode of SmackDown.
He returned during the 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble match but was gone from the company shortly after amid rumors of behind the scenes disagreements over that appearance. That made his WrestleMania 39 return a true surprise, though it led to the unfortunate injury.
Still, it’s not hard to imagine him trying to close out his in-ring WWE career on a high mark, even if it takes a lot of work to get there. And who knows? Considering his son has also made no secret that he might give WWE a shot, maybe he’ll even get to work a father-son match before he calls it quits.
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