WWE Rumors on Vince McMahon Banning Shane; Paul Heyman’s Future; CM Punk Talks Injury

Noam Galai/Getty Images for Ideanomics

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from WWE and AEW.

Details on Shane-Vince Falling out Made Public

Shane McMahon’s involvement in the 2022 Royal Rumble was nothing short of a disaster. Reports from behind the scenes said he attempted to heavily rewrite the match script—making himself look better in the process—to the point it alienated several wrestlers behind the scenes.

McMahon has not been seen on WWE television since. If departing WWE CEO and father to Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon, had his way, it would stay that way.

Fightful Select reported the elder McMahon said Shane “would never get another pop in this company as long as I’m around.”

Well, you may have heard Vince McMahon is no longer around. That said, the company has largely been handed off to Stephanie McMahon and Triple H, with the former co-CEO’ing with Nick Khan and the latter handling talent relations and creative.

Shane McMahon and Triple H have not always gotten along swimmingly, and Stephanie seems dedicated toward pushing her father’s martyr narrative forward. It seems unlikely, then, that we’ll see Shane McMahon in a WWE ring anytime soon.

For those who watched the 52-year-old in his latest WWE run, we’ll just say that’s probably for the better.

Paul Heyman to Land Bigger Role?

Concern regarding his at-times blunt nature aside, it’s always felt like WWE was underselling Paul Heyman by having him simply work as a mouthpiece. There have been times when he’s been the head of creative during his tenures at WWE, and those have largely been creative successes that were ultimately foiled by backstage politics.

Heyman most recently served as the executive director of Raw from June 2019 to June 2020 before he was dismissed from that role and returned back to a managerial capacity. In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Heyman said the decision was made entirely by Vince McMahon—who, again, we must stress is no longer around to meddle in these affairs.

Wade Keller of PW Torch reported Heyman could wind up with some creative input again with Vince out of the picture.

“As I’ve talked about in recent months, it seems like to people that have seen them that Heyman and Stephanie get along,” Keller said. “You know like, genuinely, there’s a chemistry and a dynamic between them that’s very positive. And that’s very different than you know, 15-20 years ago. So, Heyman is someone to watch. He’s really, really smart. And he is a wrestling guy.”

The more Heyman input on the WWE product, the better. While he does have some questionable impulses—please, no more of whatever that Mike-Maria Kanellis storyline was—he’s a wrestling savant who may still be the best talent evaluator in the business.

Heyman working in concert with Triple H on a revamped product sounds like an IWC fever dream.

CM Punk Still Has No Timetable for Return

It does not sound like we’ll be seeing CM Punk back in an AEW ring anytime soon.

The AEW champion appeared at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend and said he’s still experiencing pain in his foot, which he categorized as “shattered” at the time he underwent surgery.

“It’s healing. It’s not healed,” Punk said. “It feels like it’s on fire every day, partly probably because of how much you know I was on my feet all day yesterday. I just don’t wear the boot, but that’s mostly because I want people to recognize that I don’t want them near my foot. I’m working hard to come back; It’s just, it’s a s–tty injury you know, not being able to walk and like my entire calf on that side kind of shut down so learning how to walk again is f–king frustrating, but I’m better than I was yesterday, I’ll be better tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll see everybody soon.”

Tony Khan would not commit to Punk being available for September’s All Out pay-per-view when asked about his status over the weekend.

Jon Moxley was crowned interim AEW world champion at last month’s Forbidden Door pay-per-view and would likely headline All Out with Punk should he be able to return.