Stephanie McMahon’s WWE Raw Promo was Her Best

facebooktwitterreddit

Stephanie McMahon came out on last night’s Raw and cut her finest promo ever, laying waste to her brother, Shane McMahon.

Raw was chugging along at a pretty pedestrian pace on Monday when Stephanie made her way out to the ring to give her “Legacy Speech” to a less than willing crowd.

She walks out, professionally written notes in hand, ready to give her thanks, but you can tell she’s mad right from the start, as she calls Shane her “insolent brother” who blocked her last week from giving the same speech.

More wwe: WWE WrestleMania 32 Match Card Projections 9.0

Stephanie opens her notes and begins to talk about legacy and family, but stops, the boos start to rise up from the crowd, because nobody believes the insincerity in her voice. She closes her notes, grabs the award, and tells the crowd she works every single day of her life, sacrificing her family time, and yet, the crowd chants for Shane. Stephanie pushes the award stand over in anger and proceeds to cut her finest promo to date, lashing out at not only her brother’s actions, but the fans too.

She blasts the crowd for cheering Shane; a man who came out of nowhere to blackmail her father, steal her thunder, and attempt to takeover Raw. Shane, a brother who hasn’t been around for seven years, and just because he shows up; he gets to run the show, he gets the glory, he gets to decide who will take after he’s gone.

Why?

More from Raw

Stephanie asks is it because he’s a “McMahon,” a “Man,” or because of his family’s legacy? No matter the reason, he hasn’t been around to any shows and she feels he clearly abandoned the fans and doesn’t really care about family. Up until this point, this was actually a really good babyface promo; why should the fans cheer a guy who hasn’t done anything for the business in years? We complain about part-timers or wrestlers that just bounce to go off and do “better” things, so why is Shane different? To Stephanie, this is all nonsense and she won’t stand for it.

Stephanie continues on to talk about the 5th generation of McMahon that will take over, it’s not just her nephews, but her three daughters will have a say in this company, as well.

“It eats my brother alive, that Hunter and I are married. It eats him alive that I’m in this business and wield so much power.”

She turns back to the crowd and says; “I understand why you cheer him, Shane McMahon is a reflection of all of you; narcissistic, apathetic, lazy, weak-minded, wastes of life! You’re all entitled! You think the world owes ya something, that you don’t have to work for it.” Stephanie masterfully makes it personal towards the crowd, so it’s not just a “brother vs. sister” promo, it’s a “you vs. me” promo. Of course, the crowd takes the bait and boos.

More from Daily DDT

“Sooner or later all of you will be forced to show your respect and bow down to The Authority. Bow down to the king, and bow down to your queen!…ME!” With those final words, she slams down the mic to a chorus of boos, raising her award to the sky.

Stephanie has been doing this pro wrestling thing for a long time, and while she’s great on the mic, a lot of it is usually yelling in that incredibly screechy tone (especially in her younger days) or eviscerating talent to the point of awkwardness. This promo was different though, it had great pace, the enunciation of certain words (like “vomit” and “me”) were perfect, and most importantly, it told a story. Which makes me think this promo is born out of some truth, maybe there are some power struggles backstage with who takes over next. It’s not just Vince’s “cronies” (the Kevin Dunn and Michael Hayes’ of the world) vs. Steph and Aitch, maybe Shane is getting involved, as well.

Related Story: WWE Raw Review

Whether or not there’s any truth behind this promo, it was an absolute joy to watch and truly shows how talented she is on the mic. My only negative is that too many fans continue to chant “What?” in 2016, if we could pass a law that sends them directly to jail, that would be much appreciated.