As advertised, the new episode of the official WWE podcast, “After The Bell with Corey Graves,” dropped on Thursday morning featuring the new full-length interview with Shane McMahon.
During the discussion, Shane spoke with Graves about leaving WWE in 2009 and everything that led to his eventual return to the company for his in-ring return against The Undertaker in their Hell In A Cell match at WrestleMania 32.
Shane-O-Mac also touched on his loser leaves town loss to Kevin Owens, returning to help establish new stars on Raw Underground and if he would ever consider another return to the ring for “one more match.”
Featured below are some of the highlights of the new Shane McMahon interview from the “After The Bell with Corey Graves” podcast.
On leaving WWE in 2009 to pursue other ventures and to spend more time with his children: “Very difficult. It’s one of those things where you have, you can call it, ‘the cocoon’ if you will for your whole life. Again, having the most unbelievable education, [as] you were talking about earlier, sitting next to great minds such as Pat Patterson, guys like Michael Hayes etc. Having so many business people come through there for marketing and promotion and what have you and business development, consumer products you learn so much from everybody that’s come through those doors. I have, again, had such a fortunate education in multiple facets. So it’s like I’ve had 15 different jobs over the tenure of my career, and you learn so much, whether I was working inside the company having to be all under one umbrella. So taking that knowledge, wanted to go outside for a little while. Also, it was very important for me and one of the one of the bigger driving factors was, I have three boys and make sure that I was their life a little bit. I wanted more time with them, and my leave allowed me to invest time, which is the most valuable commodity as you’re aware. Everything is so demanding, your time is so demanding. So I was I was able to coach all my son’s peewee football, until they got to high school.
“Thoroughly being in their lives, just being around a whole lot. Seeing a lot of them was one of the driving forces for me doing so as well as immersing myself into businesses that I wanted to do and testing myself. How would I fair outside ‘the cocoon’ and do something completely different, you know, take those skill sets and get involved with multiple multiple businesses. Do some investing. Do some things like that that I’ve always had the affinity to do and go for it.”
On what led to his eventual return to WWE for his WrestleMania 32 showdown against The Undertaker: “So I kind of really came out of the business for my boys, my kids, and it’s also the reason I really came back. I always had a longing for it. It’s in my blood, literally, and for my boys, this goes back to WrestleMania 32 with Undertaker in Hell in a Cell, my boys have been saying to me prior to that for a couple years like, ‘hey dad, you ever think about getting back in there?’ Because my sons never saw me live and they really saw me via DVD or YouTube or things like that.
“If you can be a real life superhero for your kids, that’s a pretty powerful thing, and that was the opportunity that was given to me, to return on the biggest stage of them all at WrestleMania against arguably the most iconic and singular talent ever created, Mark Callaway, The Undertaker, who’s also my longest-running friend in the business. Hell in a Cell, I mean, to main event WrestleMania or at least be a special attraction on it, that was really tough to pass up.”
On early plans for his return being a one-off and having a special WrestleMania moment with his sons during his ring entrance: “So I was like, alright, and we didn’t know where it was going to go. It potentially could be a one and done, so one of the things that made it so surreal was to have my boys come out with me on stage, and was an amazing moment. I was so euphoric watching them and just so proud. I set myself out of it because I was just focused on that.
“I told my sons about six-seven minutes before I went out there, I was like, ‘hey, you guys want to come out with me?’ They were like, ‘no way, really?’ I was like, ‘yeah, you want to do it?'”
On the initial phone call he received from Undertaker that led to his return for their Hell In A Cell match at WrestleMania 32: “Taker need an opponent for WrestleMania and needed to be special, and there was talks even back then. In Texas, where Undertaker’s from [and] WrestleMania, that magnitude of a hundred thousand people that set the indoor attendance record, that was going to be an awesome way out. I really thought it may be, again, a one and done. So I got the call from Taker saying, ‘hey, would you ever consider this? I was like, ‘huh, well, let me think about it.’ About 10 minutes later, I get a call from my dad. He’s like, ‘well, congratulations. This is what we’re doing. What do you think?’ I was like, it doesn’t sound like I’m thinking much. In typical Vince fashion, he’s like, ‘we want you to think about this.’ I was like alright and then really started coming up with the creative.
“I said well, if it’s gonna be what I think it’s going to be, than can we do Hell in a Cell? Can we do this and we have to make sure the storyline more than anything is right. Otherwise, it’s just a mash, so why are you emotionally, this is one thing, again going back to what I’ve learned throughout the years, in any match I’ve ever ever done, I’ve always had some crazy stuff that happens from time to time, but it’s really the emotional story of why. What got us there and what you do telling the physical story once you’re in the match.”
On returning after his loser leaves town loss to Kevin Owens to help build new stars in Raw Underground and if he’d consider another in-ring return: “Never say never. I’ll say that. It’s not about me right now. It’s about developing new talent or talent that is here and giving them a platform.
“If I can help out and have a good showcase with an up-and-coming talent, I’d love to be able to do that, or an existing one (talent) or what-have-you. It just needs to be, again, follow a good story and an emotional story then how would you pull it off physically. I still got a few left in me.”
Check out the complete episode of the “After The Bell with Corey Graves” podcast featuring the Shane McMahon interview at Apple.com. H/T to Wrestling Inc for transcribing the above Shane McMahon interview quotes.
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