WWE News: Triple H Vs. Shane McMahon Back On The Table For ‘WrestleMania’

If necessity is the mother of invention, then Triple H and Shane McMahon helped reinvent what a modern-day WrestleMania card looked like, based in large part to necessity. The WWE locker room was devastated by injuries last year, in particular to many of their marquee stars. Losing out on the services of John Cena, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt, Sting, and Seth Rollins forced Vince McMahon to think outside the box.

That next-level thinking resulted in Triple H defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns in the main event and Shane McMahon improbably stepping inside the Hell in a Cell against the Undertaker.

As noted, Seth Rollins was one of those main event talents that missed out on the extravaganza that was WrestleMania 32, and had he not been injured, he was in line to square off against Triple H in what would have been the ultimate battle of mentor vs. protege. Shane agreed to return to the WWE for the first time in seven years, but original plans only called for his match against the Deadman and nothing more.

Things always change in the WWE and as we fast forward a year later, Shane is still a regular character on WWE programming, running the show on Tuesday nights as the on-screen commissioner of SmackDown Live. Triple H disappeared after WrestleMania and made just one on-camera appearance for the remainder of 2016. It was a significant appearance, however, as by anointing Kevin Owens as the new Universal Champion, he further set the stage for an eventual showdown between himself and Seth Rollins.

And for months, plans were firmly in place for a match between Rollins and Triple H, this time at WrestleMania 33. Those plans were in place all the way up to this past Monday night when Rollins was legitimately injured, thanks to a debuting Samoa Joe. The Rollins injury, as we know, puts his status for April 2 very much in doubt. There is certainly a chance he’ll be able to compete, but the company is still in the process of coming up with potential alternatives.

Two options that emerged almost immediately included re-writing the angle with Joe and Triple H, resulting in a match between the two, or shifting Joe to SmackDown where he would enter a major program with John Cena. All the while, Shane McMahon continues to be rumored to face AJ Styles, but the reaction has largely been negative so it would have been interesting to see if WWE officials moved forward with it even with every superstar available.

However, a new report indicates that Vince and company are weighing the possibility of a third option. This proposition would pit Triple H against Shane McMahon at WrestleMania in what surely would be a mega attraction. The storyline is basically already written for this potential program, regardless of what’s transpired between Triple H and Seth Rollins over the last two years. They could always go back to Triple H-Rollins later in the year or next year, but it’s been cursed so far.

It’s unclear as of now whether Triple H has signed off on the idea of facing Shane on the big stage, but if he has, it would go against his former mindset. If you recall, the Inquisitr reported back in August last year that Triple H was opposed to the idea of wrestling his brother-in-law no matter how big the angle would be. The Inquisitr noted how The Game vetoed the idea straight from Vince himself, preferring instead for a match with an up-and-coming talent like Rollins or someone who was still in NXT at the time.

Triple H has remained adamant about wrestling on the WrestleMania card, in large part because of how NXT should benefit from the proximity to Camping World Stadium in Orlando. With Rollins potentially out of the picture, it may now come down to Samoa Joe or Shane McMahon. We should get a good idea on whether Triple H has had a change of heart fairly soon by how the WWE scripts the on-screen reaction to this past week’s attack. But they’d still then be left without anything of importance for Styles and that would certainly be a shame.

[Featured Image by WWE]