Just when you thought it was time to give up after a PPV that failed faster than Johnny Manziel’s breathalyzer test. After weeks of speculation as to who would be the opponent of The Undertaker for WrestleMania, the mystery was final solved. Fans marked out everywhere when the “Here Comes the Money” theme hit and Shane McMahon made his shocking return to WWE last night on Monday Night Raw. Oh you didn’t know? This was a return no one speculated on and one that was trending worldwide.
If someone was sleeping on the sofa, they could have woken up and thought they were secretly put back in time during the glory years of the Attitude Era. The synonymous chants of Holy Sh$t and the vindictive stare of Vince McMahon, which included a nice F-Bomb, gave the WWE followers a little taste of change.
According to the Wrestling Observer, the idea and agreement to bring back Shane was wrapped up a few weeks ago. Obviously only a few select individuals knew about it, but the word did at least get out that the future opponent of The Undertaker wasn’t on the active roster. This fueled speculation of many past superstars including Kurt Angle, John Cena, Goldberg, and even one last match for HBK.
It’s about time WWE did something as a surprise and didn’t spoil it with announcing it on social media hours before a show. Far too many times these scenarios have been announced too early, purposely leaked or have done nothing as far as ratings are concerned. This time was certainly different.
Shane’s return is still being talked about today and will be receiving YouTube views for weeks to come. However, with all of the excitement comes a lot of burning questions. Is Shane actually going to wrestle? Is there going to be an injury angle where he can’t compete? How will the promos be built going forward? What will The Undertaker’s role be as Shane is certainly over with the fans?
These are some very interesting questions and ones that will certainly be answered in the upcoming weeks. The story is pretty straightforward. If Shane wins, he gets control of Monday Night Raw. If Vince wins, he gets the “lockbox” that most likely symbolizes some sort of secret. The thought is that we will most likely find out whatever is in there anyway. It wouldn’t have been put into the storyline if they didn’t want to elaborate on it in the future.
I personally think Shane is here to stick around for a while in order to let Vince go away. Vince only came back to try and inject more life into a dying product. With Shane taking more of a backseat role within his own company, the time is of the essence for him to be involved in a daily storyline. I know there has also been a lot of speculation with another brand extension that will be created from this angle. The idea for the brands worked before, but because of a lack of direction and poor booking, SmackDown ultimately became a second rate show. In this scenario, pinning the family members against one another in a whole different generation could possibly be a game-changer.
The weekly battles of Shane vs. Stephanie/Triple H could be just what is needed to bring the followers back to Raw and especially SmackDown. Some fans believe the angle on television is more reality than fantasy. The McMahon family has had no problem doing this in the past, so it is no shock to anyone that they would use their drama in another program once again. Either way, WWE has a big hit here, and I think it is just the beginning of the best storyline to hit wrestling in a very long time.
For editorial purposes, I have been looking at this situation since last night and have come up with my own conclusion. We definitely know that The Undertaker is not going to lose to Shane McMahon; single-handedly that is. Therefore, if the match is won by someone such as Stone Cold, Sting or HBK, then it becomes more believable. HBK has always said that Triple H changed and was too powerful. Is this his chance to knock him down a notch? As for Stone Cold, he has been in this situation before and should have no problem being the savior again. What about Sting? Wasn’t he plotting to take the Authority down before? I know this is really stretching it, but if the inference comes from Sting, it could set up the dream match between him and The Deadman at SummerSlam. In my opinion, this is the one option that makes the most sense. Sting wasn’t expecting to have his last match so soon. I understand he is still recovering from surgery, but his involvement doesn’t have to be physical to get the job done.
The match is in Hell in a Cell so I am thinking there will be a special guest referee named in the near future. It seems all the details will be coming in the upcoming weeks leaving the Road to WrestleMania an intriguing one to say the least. What are you guys thinking? How will this match go? How will the outcome play out? Could the American Bad Ass make a return? Let’s get some interesting scenarios going in the threads.
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