Stephanie McMahon getting emotional during Shane McMahon’s huge WWE return in 2016 wasn’t the only thing she was trying to hold back that night. She was apparently so sick with the flu that Triple H had one very simple solution if she suddenly needed to throw up on live television: just do it on Shane.
Stephanie told the story during the latest episode of her What’s Your Story? podcast with Chris Van Vliet while they were discussing potential material for a future interview. Van Vliet brought up Shane’s surprise return and remembered Stephanie getting emotional in the ring.
After figuring out he was talking about Shane interrupting her Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award presentation in 2016, Stephanie revealed just how rough that day actually was. She had spent the entire night and morning throwing up.
“Yeah, I had the flu. Like, you can’t believe I was so sick. I had been throwing up that entire night into that morning. I had just stopped throwing up by the time I got to the building, so I was not feeling well.”
That left Stephanie with a pretty obvious problem. Shane’s return was a major surprise, the segment was happening live and she had no idea whether she was about to start throwing up again once she got into the ring. Stephanie even felt bad for the person doing her makeup because she was worried about getting her sick.
“I’m like, I feel so bad for Jackie who’s doing my makeup. I’m like, ‘Please, I don’t wanna get you sick. Like, please, I—this is horrible.’ I’m gray, you know, it’s just so bad.”
Things got even more stressful right before they went out. Stephanie started worrying about what would happen if she got sick in the middle of Shane’s big return. That’s when Triple H gave her some advice that probably wasn’t in the production notes: just throw up on Shane.
“And then my husband says to me right before we go out there, ’cause I’m starting to freak out and I’m like, ‘This is Shane’s big return. Like, what happens if I get sick out there?’ And he goes, ‘Steph, if you gotta throw up, just throw up on him.’ And I was like, ‘That’s great advice. All right. Yeah. Can’t go wrong if it’s live, right?’”
Thankfully for Shane, it never came to that. The segment instead became one of the biggest WWE surprises of that era, with Shane walking onto WWE television for the first time in nearly seven years. Stephanie admitted the crowd’s reaction to her brother was also why her emotions during the segment were very real.
“Everybody always reacts so favorably for Shane, so it’s always an amazing feeling. And to see my brother love that, you know, and—and feel that, of course it’s emotional.”
Nearly a decade later, fans finally know there was another potential surprise hanging over Shane McMahon’s return that night. Stephanie managed to make it through the segment without getting sick, but apparently Triple H already had the backup plan covered if things went badly.
What do you make of Triple H telling Stephanie McMahon to just throw up on Shane during his WWE return? Let us know in the comments.
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