Dr. Tom Prichard Recalls WWE Hall Of Famer Randy Savage Training Shane McMahon

For someone who never intended to be a pro wrestler, Shane McMahon has created an awful lot of memorable moments over the years. The only son of Vince McMahon was supposed to inherit the family business just as his father and grandfather did, but Shane has had just as big an impact in the ring as behind the scenes with WWE.

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Dr. Tom Prichard was a former trainer for WWE during the 1990s and he played a part in preparing Shane for the ring. He also enlisted the help of Macho Man Randy Savage to help train Shane as Prichard recalled on his podcast, Taking You To School.

"Randy, coming from a wrestling family too, Randy had the fundamentals and basics down and he definitely was old school obviously. [Shane] got trained by one of the greatest even it was just before the matches," stated Prichard.

"I believe that Shane was a pretty popular guy with all the boys because he did have respect and he was enthusiastic and he did have that fire in his eyes. So it wouldn't be hard for someone like Macho Man to want to do it and want to go out and help somebody like Shane because he legitimately liked Shane and he liked Vince."

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With just five matches under his belt, Shane was slotted on the WrestleMania 15 card in a match against X-Pac. There he executed his patented coast-to-coast move where he jumps from one turnbuckle across the ring to stomp a trash can in his opponent's face.

Prichard talked about Shane understanding how to set up that move instead of just jumping right into it.

"The basics and fundamentals never go out of style and that is a great way to warm up and a great way to keep yourself sharp and Shane had no problem doing that. We would work on things like the coast-to-coast and I got to holding the trash can so he could smash me in the face with the trash can but he was always a professional. He always knew that he was going to do it at the right time in the match and he knew that people wanted spectacular moves (and they do) so you have to set the table for it first and than you go to the top turnbuckle and jump on to the table. You can't do that in the first two minutes of a match. You can, it just wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. So Shane understood that we were gong to lock up and we were going to do some pulling around, takeovers and wrestling first before he wanted to do his high spots," said Prichard.

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Shane didn't have to go to months of wrestling school and then work his way up through smaller promotions being that he's Vince's son. Prichard talked about Shane's level of preparation when he started wrestling.

"Cardio shape is completely different than ring shape and that's what he was after – getting in ring shape. It was just so he wouldn't blow up I'm sure with X-Pac or anybody else he got in the ring with because he was training with us for most of the time he was active back then. When he was off the road, he would come over to the studio and we would get into the ring after workouts too," said Prichard. "The same thing applied for whenever Shane wanted to workout – we were going to workout then we were going to get into the ring."

We never got to see Vince McMahon in his physical prime in the ring as he was middle aged when he first laced up the boots. So it's hard to compare Vince to Shane but Prichard was asked if Shane was more athletic than his father.

"I don't know that I was surprised. Shane always gave off this vibe that he had a little more skill and even when he was doing the bumps and doing his rolling and when he did back bumps. Just in the way he moved and his body language – when he walked in the ring, when he locked up it wasn't surprising. It felt pretty natural and it felt like he had that natural ability," said Prichard.

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"A lot of people say that Shane takes after his mom's personality more so than his dad so maybe that has something to do with it. The one thing that I really don't believe anyone can think or manipulate is passion and Shane had passion. He still does to this day. He is a straight up guy and so anytime he got in the ring you knew that it was going to be a great workout and we were going to try something new."

From the coast-to-coast to jumping off Hell in a Cell and Titantrons, Shane never shied away from dangerous, high-risk spots. Prichard discussed who came up with these ideas for Shane to throw caution to the wind.

"Something either he came up with or something I came up with to put into the match. Right now, I know it was the coast-to-coast, the elbow from the top rope and I remember was it Big Show or whoever he took the bump off the stage with. We went as high as we could in the studio with that and were like, 'Oh my gosh' I hope everything comes out okay and it did. But those were his ideas and that is where he was at," stated Prichard. "He wanted to make sure that he went out there and gave the everyone who came more than what they paid for."

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