Shane McMahon has a history of high-flying stunts. That’s actually the trait that endeared him to WWE fans, who otherwise likely wouldn’t have been too keen on Vince McMahon’s son getting big pay-per-view matches and main-event storylines.
Unlike Stephanie McMahon, Shane left the on-screen side of WWE for years, returning to one of the bigger crowd pops in recent memory:
That storyline led to an eventual Hell in a Cell match against the Undertaker at WrestleMania, which featured Shane jumping off the cell itself:
Last night’s pay-per-view was literally titled Hell in a Cell, and Shane McMahon was slated to face Kevin Owens in the main event, a match partially built by Kevin Owens headbutting (for real) a 72-year-old Vince:
Once you jump off the cell for the first time, the crowd is going to expect you to do it again, and considering the match wasn’t for a championship, the stunts themselves were always going to be the biggest part of the spectacle. And they were some impressively fun spots, to be sure; Owens and Shane brawled on top of the cell for an extended stretch, including multiple violent slams onto the roof of the structure; most of them were confined to one specific panel of the structure; maybe that was especially reinforced (or especially malleable, I guess) for the occasion?
In the end, though, as was always going to happen, Shane McMahon climbed to the top, and with his children sitting in the front row, jumped off, attempting to drive Kevin Owens through the broadcaster’s table on which he lay prone.
Video via Uproxx:
Good god, Shane, you don’t really have to do stuff like this anymore, you know? But, then again, Shane survived a helicopter landing in the ocean earlier this year. Maybe we’re dealing with an Unbreakable situation here.
By the way, that was Sami Zayn pulling Owens off the table to safety; that’s a major plot turn for WWE, if you’re into that kind of thing. Owens and Zayn have a lengthy history spanning their pre-WWE careers, and turning them back to begrudging friends is going to be fun.
But, Shane, please don’t do it again. Not only is it probably legitimately dangerous, you’re also 0-2 on your attempts. It doesn’t seem like sound strategy.
[Uproxx]
