Following Endeavor's acquisition of WWE and Vince McMahon's ousting from the company amid a series of sexual misconduct scandals, there's no longer a McMahon actively involved with the sports entertainment giant.
It's hard to believe in many ways, though the writing has been on the wall for a while. Shane McMahon is believed to have left WWE under a cloud following his increased involvement with creative (which led to 2022's Royal Rumble match essentially revolving around him) and Stephanie appears to have little interest in anything relating to her father.
Of course, her husband, Paul "Triple H' Levesque is now in charge of creative, helping the company rise to new highs.
Recently, there's been a lot of chatter online about Shane potentially being interested in signing with AEW. While that company's popularity is on the decline, it would still be huge for Tony Khan to sign a McMahon.
Conrad Thompson was first to share rumblings that Shane had expressed interest in working with AEW, though Dave Meltzer later debunked the notion. Then, Mercedes Mone revealed she'd run into McMahon at the airport and teased that they'd discussed possibly working together down the line.
As for Tony Khan, he's played coy in interviews, only saying Shane is "welcome to stop by at any time" and "seems like a really nice guy."
Several outlets are reporting that Khan and McMahon met this past Monday to discuss "possibilities moving forward." It appears they hadn't connected before the rumours started doing the rounds, but Shane expressing interest put him on the AEW President's radar in a big way.
He's apparently "very open" to "using" Shane and there's no denying that this would be a huge win for AEW...and a temporary ratings boost. The problem is, this once again feels like WCW-style hotshot booking and Shane, who tore both his quads within seconds of his last WWE match, brutalising himself on TV will only go so far.
As for the photo below, there's simply no way that's been "leaked" accidentally and we have to imagine something is indeed in the works. As always, stay tuned for updates.