Shane McMahon made waves in the pro wrestling world last month when he unexpectedly returned to the WWE in a storyline where he’s challenging his father and sister for control of the promotion. The whole thing is culminating in a Hell in a Cell match against the Undertaker at WrestleMania 32.
So what does a 46-year-old man do to prepare himself for something like this? If you’re Shane-O-Mac, you return to your old New York training grounds with the Gracies and Phil Nurse.
Spent the morning @WATNYC with @AjarnPhilNurse and the evening with Rolles and @RenzoGracieBJJ. #WrestleManiaSeason pic.twitter.com/sMN6O1wpXu
— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) March 19, 2016
To mixed martial arts fans, those names need no introduction. Renzo Gracie was one of the old-school Gracie fighting legends and is still one of the most respected jiu-jitsu trainers in the world. Phil Nurse is a muay thai and striking coach that used to train Georges St Pierre. Here’s what Renzo Gracie said on the SiriusXM Rush Countdown show about it (via MMA Mania):
“In reality Shane trained with us for over eight years,” said Gracie. “He’s been training with us for a long time and then they moved for a few years and this period he had to be away for a few years and then he came back. And he is in the best shape of his life. I couldn’t believe the shape that he is in. He’s been training a lot of muay thai with Phil Nurse, who is the coach for Georges St. Pierre and a lot of other good guys and he is in really good shape for this match for the show that they are putting on in the Dallas arena.”
…
“The thing is he loves jiu-jitsu,” Gracie said. “He’s been training for a while. He’s been training before even thinking about doing a match like that because he was out for a while, he was a little chubby and all he did was come every day at six o’ clock in the morning to the gym and roll. Train for like an hour, hour and a half. And now he is cut, extremely good shape and he is even enjoying more jiu-jitsu now, doing guards, doing shoulder locks, omniplatas, triangles, everything. Jiu-jitsu is addicting. Once you begin rolling with your friends and you start learning what you are doing, you don’t want to stop.”
Of course, it’s not like this training is going to McMahon ‘win’ or ‘lose’ when Wrestlemania rolls around on April 3rd. But he’s been putting in the work and getting in shape, which should help him sell whatever insanity goes down in that steel cage between he and the Undertaker.
It should be one hell of a match.