WWE Rumors: Is Shane McMahon Actually Turning Heel?

WWE SmackDown Live commissioner Shane McMahon has always been the fairest of the McMahons, but could he turn to the dark side after his latest decisions involving Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn?

Shane McMahon likes to proclaim that WWE SmackDown Live is the “Land of Opportunity, but Kevin Owens and best friend Sami Zayn have taken issue with this. After Zayn saved Owens from a certain loss at Hell in a Cell, he joined KO in a bitter feud with Shane.

Ever since Zayn and Owens sabotaged Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, Shane has kicked his harsh treatment of the duo up a notch, to the point where GM Daniel Bryan has been openly critical of the commissioner’s decisions.

According to Cageside Seats’s rumor section, there’s a belief that the current angle involving Shane’s incessant punishments of KO and Zayn could lead to a heel turn. Although it seems inconceivable and potentially unwise for Shane to turn heel, it could be a way to write Daniel Bryan off of television, should Bryan leave the company in 2018. Furthermore, it may be easier to turn Shane heel than to turn Bryan heel.

On SmackDown Live, Shane announced that Owens and Zayn will face Randy Orton and (likely, but not official) Shinsuke Nakamura at Clash of Champions. He added that he will be the special guest referee, just as he was for the match between Owens and AJ Styles at SummerSlam (the match that escalated the tension between Owens and Shane).

Not only that, but Shane stated that if Owens and Zayn lose, they will fired from the WWE – not just SmackDown Live. The scene ended with Bryan looking forlornly at the camera.

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That wasn’t the first time Shane threatened to fire Owens and Zayn, so there could be something to the rumor that the commissioner’s overboard punishments will lead to a hard-to-believe heel turn.