WWE: The issue with Shane McMahon’s overbooking
When Shane McMahon made his WWE TV return in 2016 following a seven-year absence – without question there was genuine excitement to see him return to weekly programming.
The buzz surrounding his return and the match announcement – for himself against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 – was appropriate. However, that was three years ago. Currently, WWE isn’t in the best shape in terms of the quality of their product (we all know this), but one of the major problems they have is, unfortunately, Shane McMahon.
Fast forward to 2019. Shane McMahon turns heel at the Fastlane PPV and betrays The Miz and the fans in the process. This angle was superbly done. Shane, Miz and Miz’s dad, all played their roles in the respective angle perfectly. WrestleMania 35 comes and goes and Shane wins the Falls Count Anywhere match against Miz.
A surprising result, no doubt, but one that may have been needed to get over the heel persona. Unfortunately, this is where the problems really began.
Following the victory at WrestleMania and following the introduction of the infamous Wildcard Rule – Shane would begin to appear on both TV shows. Resulting in practically – what feels like – 45 minutes of television time (per week, over both shows) being devoted to Shane. Without question, this is an issue.
When the WWE creative team can safely write 45 minutes of content for Shane a week but can’t think of anything creative for Buddy Murphy, Ember Moon or even the active RAW Tag Team Champions, there’s an apparent issue there.
Shane would go on to win a rematch against The Miz at the Money in the Bank PPV. The match and the finish made the already struggling babyface Miz look like a total idiot; a trait that WWE is very prone to doing. This has left Miz in limbo ever since.
Shane would then be placed in a feud (over both shows) with Roman Reigns. Shane and Reigns would finally get to wrestle for the first time at the Super Showdown PPV in Saudi Arabia … and Shane won. Yes, Shane won.
Shane beat the face of the company. The last time Reigns was pinned on PPV was last July at the Extreme Rules PPV by Bobby Lashley. These victories over the top guy are very hard to come by, but WWE booked one and they gave it to Shane. I acknowledge that it wasn’t a clean victory (thank goodness) due to interference from Drew McIntyre (a man who Reigns beat at WrestleMania), but it begs the question, what’s the payoff?
McIntyre is set to face off with Reigns in a WrestleMania rematch at the Stomping Grounds PPV. It’s safe to say that Reigns won’t lose in back-to-back PPVs, so Reigns will get the win. But does this make any sense? Shouldn’t the roles be reversed? Shouldn’t McIntyre be presented as the star and Shane his manager? The pay off without a doubt is Reigns beating Shane, probably at the SummerSlam PPV. But what role does this have in relation to building a story?
Reigns simply beats a 49-year-old non-wrestler? Who does this benefit? Reigns receives a cheap pop for 5 seconds and then we’re back to square one with his character. The Shane character in its current incarnation is not serving an appropriate purpose for the modern product.
Over in the WWE Title picture, we have a feud between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler last year was booked to lose to Shane two times at consecutive PPV events: Crown Jewel and in the Survivor Series Traditional Tag Team Match. How are we supposed to take the #1 contender for the top prize on the show seriously when we know seven months ago he couldn’t even pin Shane?
Next. WWE: Give us Becky Lynch vs Beth Phoenix already. dark
Hopefully, the Shane issue resolves itself after the summer months. However, with several months of the aforementioned summer remaining, it could be a very long summer indeed.