Shane McMahon tried to buy UFC, made first WWE appearance in maiden Royal Rumble but has now been ‘quietly let go’ by father Vince after latest chaos
Michael Gray
Updated on April 07, 2026
As is historical tradition with monarchies, the son tends to inherit the family throne. However, that is not the case for Shane McMahon.
The son of the WWE chairman, Vince McMahon, has reportedly been ‘quietly let go’ from the company following his role in the 2022 Royal Rumble.
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McMahon made his return for the first time since WrestleMania 37, entering the Men’s Rumble match at number 28 – and he lasted until the final three.
McMahon has been known to help write the Rumbles over the years but his role producing the latest edition is said to have caused dissent backstage.
Shane has now been ‘quietly let go’ from the company and his father Vince is said to have used the term ‘let go’ himself.
It's highly ironic that Shane-O-Mac's performance at the Royal Rumble has spelt the end of his time with the company considering it was the over-the-top-rope extravaganza where he made his very first WWE appearance.
The 52-year-old refereed under the name 'Shane Stevens' during the inaugural 1988 Rumble before later becoming an in-ring performer in the 1990s.
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And despite being the Prodigal Son, this isn't the first time McMahon has been shown the exit door at his father's billionaire-dollar baby!
Shane previously clashed with Vince after the latter rejected a number of different business ideas including one where he wanted to run ECW in 2006 as an online-only show, way before streaming services rose to prominence.
He also tried to convince the 76-year-old into purchasing the UFC in 2009 when the fighting promotion was very much in the growing process.
Back then, UFC was doing around 375,000 PPV buys – miles behind the 960,000 WrestleMania was doing – while the Royal Rumble also attracted 450,000.
There was hope the MMA promotion could benefit from adopting WWE presentation (pre-Conor McGregor).
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But Vince passed on the opportunity and Shane couldn’t raise the capital himself.
He met with UFC president Dana White, hot on the heels of selling around $50 million worth of WWE stock and handing in his resignation from his position as Executive Vice President of Global Media, a job he wouldn’t actually leave until January 1, 2010.
When asked about the meeting, White simply said: “No comment.”
Eventually, the UFC was bought for $4billion in 2016 and Shane could only rue his father overlooking his ideas.
Unfortunately for him, the one Vince actually ended up listening to has seemingly spelt the end of his time in WWE...
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