Tyson Kidd Says Vince McMahon Turned Down His WWE Royal Rumble Return

A recent appearance on Chris Van Vliet's Insight podcast saw former WWE Tag Team Champion Tyson Kidd claim that Vince McMahon personally turned down his pitch to return to the ring in a Royal Rumble match.

"The truth is I won't wrestle again," said Kidd, before going into greater detail on the comeback that never was (h/t Fighter Fans for the transcription):-

“I tried doing one Royal Rumble and a lot of thought went into it, but it got turned down. I’m not mad at it. It’s kind of funny the way Vince [McMahon] laid it out. He’s like we can control everything we can in our power, but what if something happens? What if something we can’t control happens?"

Given the timeline Kidd references here, it looks like he is talking about the 2019 Royal Rumble:-

“I didn’t say this, but where my mind went was say someone jumped the guardrail and pushes me from behind while I’m on the steps or something, and it shocks me back. That’s just where my mind went. Then you fast forward three months after Vince and I had this phone call – that guy is taking Bret out at the Hall of Fame. In my mind, I was like I had this vision and that was me getting taken down. As soon as I saw that, I was like this is exactly what happened in my mind. I don’t know if this was what Vince was talking about, but this is what I interpreted it as in my mind.”

Tyson went on, saying he believed a Rumble could be a good way to end his career as he'd be able to get in and out without taking any bumps, but it wasn't to be. Now, he is restricted to working basic chain sequences with wrestlers as part of his producer's role.

A severe spinal cord injury suffered in June 2015 forced Kidd to retire at just 34 years old. He tweeted at the time that only 5% of people who suffer the same injury survive, and was hired as a full-time WWE producer in June 2017, continuing in that role to date.