WWE Hall of Famer believed popular tag team would be fired after Shane McMahon incident

A WWE Hall of Famer believed that a popular tag team would be fired after an incident involving Shane McMahon. The son of the former WWE CEO was known to take risks and put his body on the line in the ring. Whether it was taking a dive from a scaffold or jumping off Hell in a Cell, Shane never hesitated. As such, he was more than willing to take a powerful clothesline from John Bradshaw Layfield.

JBL and his former tag team partner Ron Simmons, part of the iconic APA, made an appearance on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. During the conversation, JBL was asked whether anyone had taken a stiff Clothesline from Hell, his finisher. He recalled the time when he hit Shane McMahon with the move at SummerSlam 2001. He said that Shane had told him to hit the move harder than he ever had. But when he went through with it, Ron Simmons feared it went too far.

“Oh yeah, Shane McMahon. Almost killed him. Shane told me you got to hit me harder than you’ve ever hit anybody in your life. Ron goes, ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it!’ So, I mean, we’re at SummerSlam. Shane’s running around. He’s running full speed. I’m like, ‘You got to be kidding me!’ I hit him so freaking hard. I never hit anybody like that in my life. But he was threatening me. ‘All right, you got to hit me. You got to hit me. You got to hit me.’ It’s all he kept telling me all day was, ‘You got to hit me the hardest clothesline I ever hit.’ I hit him, and as soon as I did, Ron goes, ‘We’re fired,’” JBL said.

Simmons, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, said that he told his tag team partner to go in the back and start packing, believing they would be let go after the incident.

“I just told him, ‘Go back there and start packing. I’m just gonna go back in and start packing my sh*t.’ The only thing I just recall seeing was this part of Shane [his head] here disappearing so fast. I was just standing there shaking my head like, ‘It’s been a good run. It’s been a good run, man. Nice knowing you,’” Ron said.

APA came out to help The Rock in his match against Booker T for the WCW World Championship. Shane had been in Booker’s corner for the match and kept interfering in the contest before JBL laid him out with the clothesline.

WWE mentioned Shane McMahon ahead of SummerSlam

Shane McMahon has not been a part of WWE’s programming for the last three years. His last appearance came at WrestleMania 39 in 2023. He was scheduled to face The Miz in an impromptu match but ended up tearing his quad muscle early on. He was then replaced by rapper Snoop Dogg in the match.

Since then, the promotion hasn’t mentioned him much, but they included Shane-O-Mac in their YouTube video ahead of SummerSlam.

Shane McMahon was featured in the “25 Most Shocking SummerSlam Moments” playlist on WWE’s YouTube channel. The moment, included in the 15th spot, saw him take a huge fall from the 30-foot scaffold during the Hardcore Championship match against Steve Blackman at SummerSlam 2000.