What happens if Shane McMahon can’t make WrestleMania 34?

Usually anytime a wrestler is “injured” on TV, it’s part of a storyline. That’s definitely not the case with Shane McMahon at the moment.

A couple weeks ago on SmackDown, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn attacked Shane McMahon and it appeared that Shane was being written off TV.

That made plenty of sense. WrestleMania was just a few weeks away, and WWE could play up that Shane was injured and would be a returning babyface. It also helped he would be paired with Daniel Bryan, who is making his own triumphant return.

When reports surfaced that Shane was in the hospital, the pieces seemed to fit for the story. We’ve now learned this is not the case.

It’s reported that Shane is suffering from diverticulitis. It’s also crystal clear this is not storyline related. If this sounds familiar, it’s the same issue that sidelined Brock Lesnar during his first stint in the UFC. Speculation was running rampant that Shane wouldn’t be able to wrestle by April 8, which makes sense. Diverticulitis is no small matter.

Then, a funny thing happened on Tuesday’s edition of SmackDown: Daniel Bryan booked the match everyone thought would happen before Shane was laid up in the hospital.

WWE is acting like Shane is going to be just fine. It appears from the outside perspective that they’re also being fairly optimistic. Shane was likely going to be the fall man in this tag match; he would take the beating that Owens and Zayn dished out to lead to the hot tag for Bryan. The place would come unglued, Bryan hits some Yes Kicks, hits the finisher and the crowd is happy. If Shane can’t make it back in time, WWE is in quite the pickle.

There is only one more episode of SmackDown before WrestleMania. There’s simply not enough time to craft a storyline for Bryan to get a new partner. It would be possible they could just have a surprise partner that night, but they are already using that trick with Braun Strowman on Raw. It’s not the best idea to do it twice. If Shane can’t take a lot of bumps, it could be a short match.

WWE will likely tread very cautiously with Bryan in his first few matches back from concussion issues. They’re going to protect him as much as they can. It wouldn’t make storyline sense, but maybe WWE declares it Rusev Day and puts Rusev with Bryan. Both stars are naturally over, and SmackDown doesn’t have a ton of options.

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WWE sure seems pretty confident that Shane will be healthy enough to go. Hopefully he has a speedy recovery and is back on his feet, regardless of his WrestleMania status.