Chris Jericho Almost Replaced Shane McMahon at WWE WrestleMania 34

It's no secret Shane McMahon was less than 100 percent going into WrestleMania 34. Less known is that WWE had lined up a potential replacement in the event he was unable to team with Daniel Bryan to take on Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.

During his podcast Talk Is Jericho, Chris Jericho told Bryan he had been in contact with WWE about possibly filling in for McMahon (h/t Ringside News' Brad Tuck).

The revelation came as Jericho was interviewing Bryan. Bryan said he was aware of McMahon's situation and that WWE had a contingency plan in place, but he was unaware of who the company had lined up to compete.

WWE announced March 26 that McMahon had been hospitalized with acute diverticulitis and an umbilical hernia, which was less than two weeks out from WrestleMania 34 on April 8. Because of that, it seemed likely Bryan would need a new tag team partner.

Instead, McMahon was medically cleared to wrestle, and he and Bryan earned a victory in New Orleans.

Jericho makes sense as an injury replacement in that situation. He wasn't already part of the event, so adding him wouldn't have disrupted another match. He has the stature to compete in one of the bigger matches at WrestleMania as well.

And even though Jericho wasn't involved in the storyline between McMahon, Bryan, Owens and Zayn, he still would've worked as a partner for Bryan based on his longstanding feud with Owens.

Ultimately, the match was all about spotlighting Bryan in his first match back after a near-three-year absence, and that would've been the case regardless of his tag partner.