As we pass the one-year anniversary of that Raw where Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H proclaimed that the fans “were the Authority now” and that WWE would be listening to its audience going forward — the lie detector determined that was a lie — let’s learn a little more about how the Chairman of WWE views his children.
During the most recent edition of Jim Ross‘ Grilling JR podcast, the legendary announcer got on the topic of Shane McMahon’s 2009 exit from the company, what caused it, and the Game of Thrones-style family power dynamic at its core.
From JR:
“I never thought Shane would leave, but I also never thought Shane was going to be the heir apparent. And I think at some point around this time is where Shane realized that Vince was going to go another direction as his successor and that was in his daughter, it was Triple H, Paul Levesque was going to be the guy, he still is going to be the guy. But I didn’t know drastic times would take these drastic measures whereby Shane would be leaving his birthright, be leaving the family company, to go out on his own. I think at the end of the day, folks, all Shane McMahon wanted to do was make his dad proud in the family business, and it seemed, in Shane’s view, that that opportunity was never going to exist …
“He came to my office and we talked because we were friends, and he understood my, I had some of those same trepidation. I got tired of some of those things that he was experiencing, just took it as a part, but I wasn’t Vince’s son, I wasn’t in the hunt, or the discussion, of being in that hierarchy, which was fine with me, I was making plenty of money and I had my gig and I was happy with it. Shane had a whole different ballgame than anyone could experience. The only son of Vince McMahon felt like he wasn’t going to be able to succeed his father, and that’s what he wanted to do.”
The most interesting aspect of the story has to be Ross’ recollection of Vince talking to him about Shane and Stephanie, and declaring that Stephanie’s the child that’s most like him. That’s not a surprise to anyone who’s observed the two doing literally anything, but here’s the rub: Vince refers to them as, “The Boy,” and, “The Girl.” Hilarious. What’s Triple H? The Game?
“Vince told me one time, Vince loved both of his kids, still does, great grandchildren, Stephanie’s got all girls, Shane’s got all boys, it’s a great situation, but the bottom line is, Vince told me one time, ‘The girl is more like me than the boy.’ I don’t know how we got in the conversation but Vince always saw that Stephanie had that eye of the tiger, very aggressive, sometimes hyper aggressive in the eyes of some I’m sure, but that’s what he wanted. He wanted controversy, he wanted strong leadership. He wanted impactful players in that role, and he thought Stephanie had more of Vince’s personality than did Shane, and Shane was more like Linda.”
in summary, Vince believes Stephanie is strong, like Abraham H. Parnassus, and that Shane is weak, like H.R. Pickens.
(transcription h/t to 411)
