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Shane McMahon Article Excerpts

Thanks to Bethy for this one. It is a small excerpt from the unofficial Vince McMahon biography (added 9/10/02:

As Stephanie would later remember: "My parents weren't around until later at night, so for the most part, Shane raised me.  He not only toughened me up, but he kept me thoroughly entertained- most of the time doing impressions of our dad."

Huge thanks to Bethy for this one. It is an excerpt from Missy Hyatt's book (added 9/10/02):

It was Halloween of 1994 when a young guy came up to me at Le Bar Bat.  I was just coming off a fifteen minute break, and he tapped me on the shoulder just as I ducked back behind the bar.  He was a stocky guy, in his early twenties, kind of cute but a little too young - even for me.

He said, "Excuse me, aren't you Missy Hyatt?"

"Yeah," I said, "I used to be.  But now I'm your bartender.  What can I get you to drink?"

"I know you."

"Lots of guys know me.  I used to be Missy Hyatt.  Now what can I get you to drink?"

"No, you don't understand. I'm Shane McMahon."

I stared at him for a second.  "Vince's son?"

He nodded his head.

Well, I gave him a big hug, and later on that night we danced a couple of times downstairs, at the Halloween party, and he ended up giving me his phone number.  Actually, I did call him.  Not for a date though.  Just to say hello, that kind of thing.  He once got friends of mine tickets for a wrestling show at Madison Square Garden.  He was just a real sweet guy.

The only reason I mention the fact that I met Shane McMahon at Le Bar Bat is because it kind of started me thinking that maybe I wanted to get back into wrestling - him being so nice, I mean.  It made me realize that not everyone in the business was a scumbag.  Not everyone was out to screw you, either literally or figuratively.

The following is an excerpt from the Vince McMahon interview from Playboy (February 2001 edition).  The stars in between parts of the interview signify that I skipped parts of the interview to get to the next Shane mention.  To read the whole article, check out McMahon 6:32 -Vince Playboy Article.  It is really an amazing interview, but remember, the article is from Playboy, so it had adult content in it. 

PLAYBOY: Let's turn to a subject you rarely talk about, when a wrestler died in the ring. 

MCMAHON: My God, yeah. Owen Hart. 

PLAYBOY: Hart died in a ring accident, falling when the harness holding him above the ring broke. You had to decide: Go on with the show or cancel it? You went on. 

MCMAHON: I didn't know if it was the right decision. But knowing Owen as the performer he was, it's my belief that he would have wanted the show to go on.

PLAYBOY: How did you find out what had happened?

MCMAHON: I was backstage in my office when I heard. It happened when the arena was dark, so nobody saw the fall. I thought back to earlier that day: My son Shane and I were out by the ring, walking through a physical bit we had to do that night, and I was shocked and surprised by Owen. He was descending to the ring in typical Owen fashion, yelling and raising hell. He was one of the biggest rippers, as we call them in the business, a practical joker, a prankster. One time he and Davey Boy Smith put goats in my office, and they made sure thos goats were well fed beforehand. You can imaging how it stunk. But that's how it is in the WWF, and how it was with Owen. So many jokes----

PLAYBOY: If you could do it over, would you still hold the show that night?

MCMAHON: I just guessed that it was what Owen would want.

PLAYBOY: So you'd do it again?

MCMAHON: I think so.

***
PLAYBOY: By 1984 you had achieved it [making the WWF national]. You were planning the Wrestlemania, the first of those huge national shows. But it was also the time your father was dying. 

MCMAHON: Dying of cancer. I went to the hospital and I kissed him. I've always been demonstrative. If I don't like you, I'll tell you. If I love you, male or female, I'll hug you and say I love you. But my dad was old Irish. The old Irish, for some reason I don't understand, they don't show affection. That's not how I live my life. It's certainly not the way that my kids, Shane and Stephanie, were brought up--I don't know how many times a day I tell them I love them. But my dad, no. He never said it. Maybe he would say something complementary about me to somebody else, but not to my face. That time in the hospital, I kissed him and said I loved him. He didn't like to be kissed, but I took advantage of him. Then I started to go. I hadn't quite gotten through the door when I heard him: "I love you, Vinnie!" He didn't just say it, he yelled it. 

***
PLAYBOY: Linda's not the only family member who's in the business. Your son, Shane, and daughter, Stephanie, work on both sides of the camera. Few fans know that Stephanie, who is a major part of the on-air story line, still works behind the scenes, in ad sales. 

MCMAHON: If your name is McMahon, you have a day job and a night job. Stephanie's now segueing out of sales into creative. She's going to head up the creative division. 

PLAYBOY: Her night job gets rowdy. Is it annoying to hear fans yelling, "Slut!" and "Stephanie swallows!" at her? 

MCMAHON: Not at all. You can't think, That's my daughter they're referring to. It's a character. As the father of the person who plays that character, I think she's getting a response. She must be doing a hell of a job. You know what my worry is? That she might get hurt, just as I worry about Shane or any of the performers. They all take big risks out there. 

PLAYBOY: Shane came back after getting hurt in a fall at a SummerSlam show, carrying on the family tradition. But there's one story about a time he was scared to death. He was four years old. 

MCMAHON: [Grinning] Linda and I have been married for 34 years now, but we're really different. She would always read to the kids at night. I'd make up stories for them, and my stories were full of action. Couldn't help it. They've just had their bath and they smell so good, they're tucked into their little beds and they're so sweet that you just want to eat them. I'd tell them a story, kiss them goodnight, and they would be absolutely wired. Linda would have to calm them down. So Shane was scared one night. He thought Dracula was in the closet. I said, "Oh yeah? Watch this." I went in that closet and started growling and yelling, having a battle. I threw a little furniture. Now Shane's really scared to death, until finally his dad walks out of the closet. I said, "Son, you never have to worry about Dracula again. Dracula's dead." 

***
MCMAHON: I had to go back to a couple of professors to get them to change me from a B plus to an A, or I wouldn't have made it [passing college]. 

PLAYBOY: Why did they agree? Just because you didn't steal their cars? 

MCMAHON: I guess they didn't expect a knock on the door from a student who wouldn't take no for an answer. Someone who was saying he's been here five years, and his wife's been here three and she's graduating and she's pregnant. Now they figure this kid has either made up a hell of a story or maybe it's true. Either way, it didn't hurt them to change the grade. 

PLAYBOY: It was a great story line. 

MCMAHON: I delivered it with lots of conviction, because it was true. Not that I couldn't have delivered it with conviction had it not been true. But the grades got changed and we both graduated. 

PLAYBOY: Soon you had a son, Shane, and a job selling adding machines. 

MCMAHON: I'm not good with f*cking machines. They have no personality. I went from there to a job selling cups and Sweetheart ice cream cones for the Maryland Cup Corp. in Owings Mills, right outside Baltimore. I would get up early and work a zillion hours, but it wasn't for me. I mean, they want you to talk about the characteristics of the fucking cup. It's a paper cup with a plastic coating, and it has a certain lip-type thing. They cook it at such and such a temperature. One day there I am, selling this guy on the cup , and he looks at me and says, "Son, you don't really give a damn about that cup." I said, "No, I don't, and thank you very much." That was it for that job. 

***
PLAYBOY: You're always on the move. Were you hyperactive as a kid? 

MCMAHON: Maybe. When Shane had alleged learning disabilities in high school, we put him on Ritalin. When I was in school there was no Ritalin. Attention deficit disorder hadn't been discovered, so I was just a bad kid. 

PLAYBOY: A little Ritalin in 1960 might have changed the course of American entertainment. 

MCMAHON: [Laughing] That's one drug I've escaped. Maybe I had learning disabilites, or maybe I was just starved for attention, striving to be liked. 

***
PLAYBOY: Have you worked out any plans to hand over the reins of the WWF to Shane and Stephanie? 

MCMAHON: Depends on what you mean by the reins. We'll be doing films, music--there's a lot to keep me busy, like this little thing called the XFL. But if I bust tonight, Shane and Stephanie and Linda will make sure the business goes on. 

From Broadcasting and Cable Magazine (January 8, 2001), who did an article on Linda McMahon.  Here is an excerpt that mentions Shane.

Stephanie and Shane are being groomed for ascendancy. Their only requirement for joining the family business full-time was getting a degree, Linda says. Both children earned communications degrees from Boston University. On the day he graduated, Shane, a cleft-chinned reflection of his father, skipped commencement, packed his car, locked up his apartment and returned home. He's now the president of new media for WWF.

From PWTorch.com (December 14, 2000); this excerpt comes from an article by Wade Keller called "My Christmas List", where Keller listed what he wanted to get all the different professional wrestling superstars for Christmas.  This is what he had to say about Shane:

To Shane McMahon: A gift certificate to a plastic surgeon and a form to change your legal name, so you can become a full-time pro wrestler without your family name and background preventing you from becoming one of the boys.

In the January 2001 edition of Raw Magazine in the mail today. Here is a portion of Jim Ross's column, "Ross From Ringside", in the magazine:
    "The WWF Superstars have not submitted any "official" holiday gift wish lists but if they did, they might look something like this...
    "...Trish: Shane McMahon."

From "Rappin with K-Kwik", an article from WWF.com (December, 2000)

The company thought so much of him, his in-ring skills and his rapping skills, that they gave him an unprecedented opportunity for his debut on Federation programming. He rapped with the Road Dogg on HEAT, live on MTV.

"It (the debut on MTV) took me by surprise when I was told that it would happen." he said. "I was stunned, and it was simply awesome. I thanked everybody that was here. They had faith in me, and it was incredible. Shane McMahon was one of the guys who said, 'I think we can put you out there, man.' "

An excerpt from RAW Magazine's July 2000 issue, "Ragin' Ross".

A few things that make J.R. smile...

-Shane McMahon after a few cups of coffee.

-The real Stephanie McMahon.

-The Mr. McMahon "big gulp of fear."

 "Wrestling Digest", October 2000; Shane was listed #6 in the Top Ten WWF Rankings. Wrestling Digest, who  ranked Shane higher than Chris Jericho (#7), Rikishi (#8), Kurt Angle (#9), and Dean Malenko (#10), had this to say about the Boy Wonder:
    "Shane is often overlooked as a wrestler, but make no mistake, this guy can work. His cage match against the Rock on "RAW" was one of the best matches of the year to date. Can Shane win a belt without fans sensing nepotism?"