So it turned out that the ‘Best in The World’ was none other than Shane McMahon. In case you missed it, Shane inserted himself into Crown Jewel’s World Cup Tournament when his SmackDown! LIVE representative, The Miz, suffered a story-line injury during the match and was unable to continue.
Shane McMahon, being the fighting commissioner that he is, took it upon himself at that point to represent the blue brand, defeating Dolph Ziggler in order to claim the trophy for SmackDown.
Turns out, this confusing, controversial decision was a part of a bigger overall picture in order to turn Shane heel. This decision may also feed into the WWE’s November event, Survivor Series.
According to Dave Meltzer, “[…] the idea is that Shane is going heel and this was — Miz wasn’t hurt. This was all booked to be what it is: the beginning of a Shane McMahon heel turn. You know as far as why you want another hell McMahon authority figure on a show? I guess it’s a response to the declining ratings of SmackDown.”
He also shone some light on how The Miz was utilized for the the match up, explaining that, “they [the WWE] didn’t want Rey to look weak and quit, they didn’t want Randy Orton to look weak and quit…obviously they didn’t want Jeff Hardy to look weak and quit — so Miz had to be the one to look weak and quit for Shane to go in there.”
What did you make of their decision to insert Shane into this tournament? Did it make a mockery out of the entire concept? Do we need Shane as another McMahon heel figure on our screens?
