How Shane McMahon Tore His Quadriceps At WWE WrestleMania 39 Revealed

WWE fans were treated to a surprise at WrestleMania 39 as Shane McMahon made his return to the company… for about 45 seconds before suffering an unfortunate quad tear.

McMahon was in the ring with The Miz when the tear happened, forcing special guest Snoop Dogg to step in and take Shane O’Mac’s place. Former ECW star Stevie Richards has analysed the incident on his YouTube channel, and has shed some light on how McMahon tore his quad:

“My guess is, they were going for multiple drop downs, multiple leapfrogs, and then Shane was gonna hit Miz. Back body drop, dropkick, something like that. My guess is, he was going to do something cool, and he was kind of thinking too far ahead when this happened. Now, could it have happened anyway? Of course. Age, lack of activity, the turn, the rotational and the lateral movement could have just blown anybody’s knee out. But Shane fundamentally, we’re gonna go through it, was perfect up until that point. Replays the clip “Drop-down is perfect. Now, what you want to do with the drop-down is, and what I would have done, I would have cheated even more towards this side because it would have gave me even more room here to perform the leapfrog, and then the leapfrog should be cheated over here. I think Shane took to the middle of the ring for the leapfrog and thought he didn’t have enough room to do the second drop-down, if that’s what he was doing. Now, look at the leapfrog. Shane going to the leapfrog. Knees bent, low centre of gravity. He’s gonna have great vertical leap on this, so that’s perfect. You don’t want to lock your knees out on anything. You don’t want to straighten your knees out or land. We’re gonna see right here, leapfrog is perfect, Miz ducks straight through," Richards said.

Stevie continued, noting how Shane’s injury could have played out similar to one sufferd by NFL star Aaron Rodgers:

“Here’s the leapfrog, Miz ducking down. But like I said, Shane maybe should have cheated a little bit more this way, and then he could have felt like he has more time to kind of do the crossbody version of the drop-down there. This isn’t providing enough clearance, which Shane thinks, ‘I need to hurry up and really, before I hurry up and even land, I’m thinking about doing that drop-down.’ As it goes into it, you see here, it looks like he has enough room. But as he drops down, he knows Miz is coming, and he’s trying to do the drop-down. But what happens is, his feet get caught up is my guess. He’s trying to do the drop-down. But what happens is, his feet get caught up, is my guess, kind of like on the turf with the NFL, with Aaron Rodgers, whoever else has a major injury," Richards said.

McMahon’s injury could have been worse, with Richards analysing his landing, noting how he could/should have sprained/broken both ankles, tore his Achilles tendons, or blown out both legs:

"Now see all the space right here? He did cheat a little bit to do the turn. But when he initially landed, he was trying to hop and do that. Even if he hit the drop-down, he would have been too far in the centre to make it seem like he was cutting Miz’s legs out. That’s the whole thing about the drop-down. We should put that in the basic moves playlist, talking about a drop-down and what a drop-down is supposed to do. It’s not a defensive move, it’s an offensive move, trying to cut the legs out from under your opponent, and then your opponent goes over you to avoid you cutting his or her legs out. So here’s the injury here. What Shane’s trying to do, you can see. This ankle is twisted, this ankle, I’m surprised he didn’t sprain or break both his ankles or tear his Achilles tendons as well. 

“Then he goes over here. What he’s trying to do now is figure out how hurt am I. He’s still gonna try to get up and finish the match, or least continue. This is where I feel like, look at the knee right here. His ankle and foot are pointed that. His foot here is pointed this way. His knee is that way. He should have theoretically blown out both his legs, knees, quads, Achilles tendon, sprained ankle, whatever it might be. This is about the ugliest way you could land. Look at that. That’s scary. That’s almost downright gruesome. This dude’s still trying to get up to continue the match, even though he already feels like, I’m sure, some pop, blew his knee out, tore his quad, whatever. But I believe this second phase of what went wrong is where he really caused a lot of damage. Because the knee pointed in here. The quad is at a very, very awkward angle. Then, look at that. Right there, once again. How does he not break his ankle [as he goes down]? How does he not do any damage? His knee is in a completely different spot here. This knee, once again, is in a different spot. Everything in his lower body is completely disjointed and out of whack," Richards said.

Despite the ugliness of his landing and subsequent injury, Richards did give props to Shane for attempting to fight on:

"You gotta give Shane credit because when he lands like this and goes to turn, look at this. He could have also did damage to that left wrist, left elbow, left arm. He’s just trying to get up and finish the match. Here he goes right here, trying to get himself onto his feet. That could have been the last little bit because he can’t even stand. Look at this. The way he lands, he could have blew a knee or tore Miz’s Achilles tendon right there as well. I’m looking at this right there. This is a scary situation right here. Miz is really, really lucky. Shane didn’t mean to do it. He’s just trying to get up. He has no control over his body. Miz right here, this leg could have been destroyed. Thank god Miz had enough to get out of the way.”

Richards continued; “Credit to Shane for keep trying to get up, wanting to just finish the match, or finish the segment. Shane, I give you all the credit in the world. My heart goes out to you. I hope you’re recovering faster than ever and you come back stronger than ever.”

McMahon underwent surgery on the tear after WrestleMania. 

H/T: Fightful