10 WWE Stars Who Left And Returned More Badass
3. Shane McMahon
In the six years between Shane O'Mac's self-imposed WWE exile and shocking return, the man himself would have you believe that he lent his business acumen to China's digital industry, sat on International Sports Management's Board Of Directors, and watched as his $500,000 legal marijuana investment went up in smoke.
In reality, McMahon must have spent his days steeling himself as an elite combat athlete in a manner akin to a Jean Claude Van Damme kickboxing montage. That is the only explanation one can use to reconcile the extent to which he just became really, really hard. His initial in-ring Attitude Era role made sense; a goofy prat in the heel role and man who relied on pure guts in place of talent and experience in the face role, Shane's shocking new role was foreshadowed in 2009, during which time IED-era Randy Orton was no match for his missed fists of fury.
That role made...less sense; performing a sad backyard MMA fight with the Undertaker at WrestleMania 32, trapping a flying AJ Styles (!) in submission holds like he was Zack Sabre, Jr. at WrestleMania 33, and surviving Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn as diverticulitis ate away at his guts at WrestleMania 34, Shane was the most technically gifted, multifarious and resolute performer in the fiction of WWE.
The fact that Shane did battle through diverticulitis does make him an actual badass. And that AJ Styles match was well-performed in a vacuum - but that's the problem with Shane McMahon: he's just hot air.