Possible reason why Shane McMahon fell out with Vince McMahon (Exclusive)

Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter recently shed light on the possible reason why Shane McMahon seemingly disassociated himself from Vince McMahon.

On January 25, former WWE employee Janel Grant accused Vince McMahon of sexual assault and trafficking. She alleged that the 78-year-old forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) on January 28, 2022, to keep details of their relationship secret. It is also claimed that Linda McMahon threatened to divorce Vince earlier that month.

Apter appeared on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine with Mac Davis and Teddy Long. He revealed information from a source about how much Shane McMahon possibly knew about his father and Grant:

"One of the people that I've been talking to about this said, and I don't know if there's any truth to this at all, but the reason that Shane and Vince stopped getting along was that Shane sort of knew that some of this was going on, and he tried to discourage his father from doing any of this," Apter said. "Again, I don't know if this is true or not – he may have known nothing at all – but that's why he and his father were not seen together at all, why he disassociated himself with his dad." [16:12 – 16:50]

Shane McMahon reportedly received backstage heat on January 29, 2022, following his participation in the Men's Royal Rumble match. Within days, he quietly departed WWE and did not appear on television again until WrestleMania 39 on April 2, 2023.

Watch the video above to hear WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long's thoughts on Janel Grant's allegations against former executive John Laurinaitis.

---

Bill Apter reacts to Ronda Rousey's post about Vince McMahon

In 2022, Vince McMahon briefly retired from WWE after news emerged that he paid women $19.6 million to settle sexual misconduct cases. On January 27, former WWE star Ronda Rousey claimed on X that McMahon still made creative decisions through Bruce Prichard after his initial retirement.

Many have speculated that WWE's parent company TKO could remove individuals who were closely associated with Vince McMahon. However, Bill Apter thinks it would be unfair to fire Prichard from the creative team unless there is a legitimate reason to do so:

"No, that's her opinion. My comment on that is that, yes, he was like Vince's right-hand man, but from what I would think, unless there's some sort of proof or he's TKO'd out of the company, then they have reason to do that." [15:47 – 16:10]

After Grant's lawsuit was filed, Vince McMahon denied the allegations before resigning as a TKO board member "out of respect" for the organization.

---

Please credit Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Time Machine and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.