Stephanie McMahon hasn’t wrestled a match in seven years and isn’t likely to return to the ring any time soon.
The former WWE executive, women’s wrestling champion and authority figure, McMahon has spent her lifetime immersed in the business her father and former boss Vince McMahon, dominated for decades.
After growing up in the business, she became a star in it as an in-ring performer, cast in various heroic and villainous roles and performing in major storylines – and turning some down.
She resigned from WWE in 2023 shortly after serious allegations of misconduct and sexual assault were levied at her father, but has made occasional cameos in the last 12 months as she seemingly dips her toe back into the environment she knows so well.
Fans at WrestleMania 40 in 2024 afforded her a huge welcome – and did similar when she popped up on screen on the Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw in January – but that reaction failed to reignite a buzz within her to appear more regularly.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee show, the 48-year-old said she’s long since lost the ‘craving’ to perform live in front of wrestling crowds following her last match, teaming with husband Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque to take on Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle.
In the build-up, McMahon had left UFC great Rousey concussed after a stinging slap to the face, but the match itself had a lasting impact on her and, it seems, not necessarily in a good way.
Asked if she ever had the itch to appear at WWE live events more regularly, she explained: “I think there was a period of time that I have felt that way, various periods where I have felt that way.
“Honestly, after I wrestled Ronda and Kurt at WrestleMania it, for some reason, didn’t become my driving force.
“It was so amazing, that match and what we were able to do, and the stories were able to tell, what we were able to accomplish. Me being the only non-athlete, it was a tall order for me.
“Ever since then, I haven’t had that craving.”
McMahon admitted she more fears being forgotten by audiences who haven’t seen her perform at full throttle since the Rousey encounter at WrestleMania in 2018.
She added: “It’s more: ‘How are they going to react?’ It’s not like: ‘Oh, I’m craving them to do this or that?’ It’s more: ‘Are they going to react at all when I come out?’
“I’ve really only been out at the second night of [last year’s] WrestleMania, and then I’ve been in the crowd [on Netflix]. It was such a cool moment for me to be able to do that.”
McMahon made a brief cameo at a WWE meeting earlier this week to congratulate her husband on his solo induction into WWE’s Hall of Fame.
She insists fun is at the heart of the wrestling entity and Levesque’s work life right now, going on to admit: “He’s busier now than ever, but he’s happier than ever. He’s working so hard but it’s actually he something just talked about to the WWE employees; he talked about the fun and how everyone, as hard as they work, is having that much fun and how important that is.
“If you’re having fun, that’s where the money is.”
WWE airs Royal Rumble this Saturday, which Rousey famously won in 2022. The UFC Hall of Famer hasn’t wrestled since 2023 and has vowed never to return to the wrestling organisation.