What if Shane McMahon is the next WWE Champion?
Shane McMahon did the unthinkable when he emerged the victor of the World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel, to earn a right to call himself “the best in the world.”
It felt like a bit of a farce for not only how absurd it was to call McMahon the best in a field that included Seth Rollins, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Lashley, Jeff Hardy, and The Miz—any of whom it’s pretty tough to deny aren’t better on at least an all time list than Shane-O-Mac.
The win was even more absurd for how McMahon entered the tournament, skipping the first two rounds to go in fresh and sub in for a kayfabe injured Miz against a battle weary Ziggler.
While McMahon has played a face character on TV in recent years, the unfair advantage he took and the way he celebrated in such over the top fashion felt an awful lot like he was edging toward a heel turn.
Some rumors suggest it’s as simple a matter as reigniting Raw vs. SmackDown tensions going into Survivor Series, but what if there is more in play?
Shane McMahon in no way deserves to be world champion, especially at this point in his career, and especially on a roster that also includes AJ Styles, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, and Shinsuke Nakamura, in addition to the World Cup competitors.
But what if McMahon, not unlike his father in especially his ECW run, plays the corrupt leader who positions himself to be champion? This article takes a look at that very possibility.
5. Over the top heel promos
It would be just about impossible for Shane McMahon to win the WWE Championship without turning heel, or at least WWE anticipating a huge heel reaction for perceptions of nepotism and more worthy champions getting bypassed.
WWE is smart enough in 2018 to recognize that, especially for hardcore smart fans, putting McMahon on top of SmackDown wouldn’t go over any better than his World Cup victory.
As such, we’d have to expect that McMahon’s over the top joyous celebration of winning the World Cup—despite only wrestling for three minutes and beating an exhausted opponent—was the tip of the iceberg.
If he took the WWE Championship, no matter how he might do it, we could expect him to go even more over the top in his arrogant heel shtick as he portrays himself as standing tall among great champions like Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, and John Cena.