Shane McMahon Expected to Return for Final SmackDown Before WrestleMania 34

When news broke of Shane McMahon's medical emergency, his WrestleMania aspiration seemingly evaporated. But not only will Shane compete in New Orleans, but he'll be in the final episode of SmackDown.

Acute diverticulitis caused McMahon to abandon an Antigua vacation for a New York hospital. While there, doctors found an umbilical hernia, an ailment that would need surgery to fix. With an operation hanging over his head, WrestleMania seemed out of the question.

But on the latest episode of SmackDown, Daniel Bryan announced that Shane will be healthy enough to compete at Apilr 8th WrestleMania. And now, according to Cagesideseats, Shane is expected back for next week's episode of the Blue Brand.

March has proven to be a tumultuous month for Shane-O-Mac as he's endeared a litany of medical setbacks. Earlier in the month, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn laid a gratuitous beatdown on the SmackDown Commissioner, putting him out of action—or at least gave him an excuse to go to Antigua.

McMahon was last seen on the March 13 episode of SmackDown Live, where he was attacked at the end of the show by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and had to be carried out of the arena on a stretcher. McMahon's storyline injuries from the attack included a "laryngeal contusion and trapezius and rhomboid strains," and WWE.com appeared to play into the story by saying McMahon was on vacation as a means of recuperation.

WWE has used those "injuries" and his actual medical emergency to cast Shane's WrestleMania availability in serious doubt. Until Bryan said so, we all expected him to find a new partner for 'Mania. But that didn't happen, and now, Bryan and Shane will have manifested their own medical miracles in back to back weeks to make WrestleMania 34 the most anticipated WWE show in a very long time.

This story is developing...