10 Times WWE Nepotism CRUSHED Hot Angles

Hey, that's a nice WWE angle you've got there. Be a shame if family or friends RUINED it!

By Jamie Kennedy /

Nepotism is hardly exclusive to professional wrestling.

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It's in pretty much every walk of life, and certainly exists in most businesses across multiple fields. Someone's family member or friend receives a golden opportunity they otherwise probs wouldn't have without key connections. That's just the way life works, and it's tolerable in WWE most of the time.

Sadly, there have been occasions when nepotism has wrecked potentially hot storylines, matches or situations though. This has been a real problem with the McMahon family over the years, so it's pretty refreshing that Vince, Shane and Stephanie are currently off TV doing other things behind the scenes or away from the company full stop.

They're not the only guilty parties, of course. Look, everybody understands that it's who you know more than what you know sometimes, but that's harder to stomach when "who you know" crushes good television under the weight of avoidable bias just because someone is related or good buddies with someone else.

Every single one of the angles examined here had no chance once nepotism reared its ugly head and ruined the moment for beleaguered fans.

10. Shane McMahon Avenges Randy Orton’s Punt

This is the first of two 'Super Shane' moments that'll make you cringe.

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Randy Orton looked like a vicious killer heel when he punted Vince McMahon in the skull on the 19 January 2009 episode of Raw. The following week, Shane returned looking like a dad who'd just picked the kids up from school and...delivered a UFC-style beatdown on Randy that was frankly embarrassing to watch.

The revenge angle made sense, but did WWE really need to have Shane-O go out there and find air with most of his knackered rabbit punches? Worse, red hot villain Orton had no choice but to sell them as he stumbled backwards up the ramp, and everyone watching sat around looking like that side-eye monkey .GIF.

Someone standing up to Randy's over-the-score behaviour should've been badass, but pretending that Shane was the best boxer since Mike Tyson flat out sucked. The angle was dead as soon as McMahon started air punching.

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