Shane McMahon: European Champion

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As most of you probably know by now, Shane McMahon resigned from WWE effective early January.  Nobody has been quite sure why he's leaving or where he'll end up.  If he was going to work on his mother's senate campaign, it would've been mentioned in the press release about his departure.  Dave Meltzer has subtlely implied that he may end up in TNA, but there was nothing close to concrete until yesterday, when he reported that Shane was seen at UFC headquarters.

Shane McMahon first worked for his parents' company as a member of the ring crew while also modeling for their merchandise catalog (something his younger sister Stephanie also did) before becoming a referee.  He moved his way up the company over the years to the point of heading up "new media" and later "global media," where he was well liked as a boss.  During this time he was also a performer, first as a regular and later more sporadically when he concentrated more on his office work.

Over the last several years, a pattern emerged: There would be plans for a company that he'd run himself, but the idea would be dropped.  This happened with the original ECW in 2000 (where it was decided that instead of buying it outright, they should let the company go bankrupt first and then buy the assets so as to save money), WCW in 2001, UFC when Zuffa considered selling, the new ECW in 2006 (originally envisioned as a separate company having the TV air online and not cable as a "WWE brand"), and PRIDE when Dream Stage was selling the company.  He was also routinely undermined by Stephanie, most famously the weekend of Wrestlemania 23.  Shane was scheduled to open the show like Vince did 20 years earlier (Announcing "WELCOME TO WRESTLEMANIA!" and introducing Aretha Franklin) but Stephanie vetoed it and a tape of Vince from Wrestlemania 3 was played instead.

UFC is not suffering in areas where Shane has the most direct experience, though this was not the case a few years ago, when they were locked into a terrible DVD deal and had very little merchandise available.  That's not to say that Shane McMahon in UFC wouldn't be a big deal, though, if just for how it could shake up WWE and change perceptions about UFC.