Executive Director of Monday Night Raw, Bruce Prichard, has told the story behind ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage training Shane McMahon for a career between the ropes.
While it took Shane McMahon until the WWF Attitude Era to step foot inside a ring, the son of the billionaire began his on-screen career as a referee for the company in the late eighties and early nineties and can be seen on countless WWF television shows and pay-per-view events serving as an official.
However, the blue blood couldn’t scratch the wrestling itch and against the wishes of his father wanted to compete. With his participation strictly forbidden by Vince, Shane sought private training away from his father’s gaze from former WWF Champion and one of the greatest competitors of all time, Randy Savage.
Now, Bruce Prichard has sat down on his Something to Wrestle Podcast to discuss Shane’s training and how he would aid ‘Macho Man’ in readying the talent behind his father’s back:
“Shane was a big part of WWF.com, and even going back to, as you look at the different things Shane did, Shane started on the ring crew as well, when he was going to go on the road and learn the business. He set the rings up, tearing them down every night.
We had strict instructions, Randy Savage and I did. That under no circumstances, we were to let Shane get in the ring and take bumps or anything like that. Once the ring crew got there, they would get there early. They would set up the ring. We’d go work out and then, come back. Shane just so badly wanted to get in the ring. Savage agreed, ‘Yeah, brother. Come on! I’ll teach you things.’ I was the tackling dummy. I was the first one to lock up with Shane and work with him. It was a lot of fun. Shane wanted to know everything and be a part of as much as he possibly could.”
The tutorage from a true legend paid off for Shane later in his life when he began to bleed into the WWF product as an in-ring performer against the likes of X-Pac and D-Generation X.
In the present, McMahon is known as a daredevil who will take risks no one else would even contemplate in order to leave fans with a memory that will last a lifetime – from his tumble from the stanchion at SummerSlam 2000 to his fearless dive from the top of Hell in a Cell in at WrestleMania 32.
Credit for the interview: Something to Wrestle
h/t for the transcription: Wrestling Inc.