Former WWE Superstar reveals accidental text to Shane McMahon led to tryout

Curtis Axel disclosed that an accidental text message to Shane McMahon paved the way for his WWE career. The former Intercontinental Champion shared this story during a recent appearance on Monte and The Pharaoh.

Axel, who trained at Harley Race’s wrestling school early in his career, intended to message someone about purchasing wrestling DVDs. The text inadvertently reached Shane McMahon instead.

“I asked the dude if he had those DVDs for sale still,” Axel explained. “After sending the text, I waited in my truck, then went to work out. When I returned, I found two messages from Shane McMahon saying, ‘Yeah, bro, I’ll be up for a while. What do you wanna talk about?'”

McMahon’s connection to the Hennig family proved significant. As a close friend of Axel’s late father, WWE Hall of Famer Curt Hennig (Mr. Perfect), Shane was eager to assist the aspiring wrestler.

The conversation quickly turned from an awkward mistake to a meaningful connection. “I just call him and apologize for the mix-up about the DVDs,” Axel recalled. “He immediately told me not to call him Mr. McMahon, saying my dad was one of his brothers and he would look out for me.”

At the time of this exchange, Axel had only appeared on WWE programming once, during his father’s 2007 Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The chance encounter with McMahon would later help launch his WWE career.