WWE SummerSlam 2017: Best and Worst Moments

Worst: A Darn Shane

Raise your hand if you thought that Shane McMahon would not be the focus of the United States Championship match at SummerSlam. Hey, look, no hands are up!

Yes, as everyone on the planet could have predicted that for reasons unclear to anyone, Shane McMahon would be the most important person in a match featuring two of the best wrestlers on the planet. AJ Styles came in as the US Champ, and Kevin Owens gave him a hell of a fight. At the end of the match, Styles became the first champion of the night to successfully defend his or her title.

But no one cares about that. All anyone will talk about when discussing this match is the work of McMahon, the special guest referee. In fairness to Shane, he did exactly like he said, calling the match down the middle. Also true to his word, he had no issue with incidental contact from either competitor, but intentional contact would be reciprocated.

So we have a referee who is literally telling the competitors in a championship match “go ahead and hit me, I’ll just hit you back if it was on purpose.” It’s absolutely ridiculous. And of course, both Styles and Owens were guilty of “incidental contact” as well as intentional. This meant at any given moment, either guy could have lost the match because of what boils down to Shane’s incompetence.

Why this match couldn’t have just been Styles vs. Owens with an actual official is beyond me. But it wouldn’t be WWE if there wasn’t a McMahon front and center for something.