12 Ups And 15 Downs For WWE In 2016
9. Shane As Superman
It’s OK to admit if you freaked out last year when Shane McMahon showed up on Raw after being absent for six years. It was a true big moment for WWE and its fans.
And then WWE took that reaction and parlayed it into retroactively creating a mythos that Shane was an indestructible daredevil who would stop at nothing to win. That led to Shane-O-Mac facing the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match at WrestleMania XXXII, where the 46-year-old executive fared better than 98% of the WWE roster would have been allowed to.
And that right there is the problem: As much as people reacted for Shane’s surprise return to WWE, that genuine reaction wasn’t a blank check to push him as being able to be competitive with the greatest performer in WrestleMania history. And you knew Shane wasn’t going to be wrestling regularly – or even able to give a “rub” to another wrestler – so it was a total waste, one that is emblematic of WWE’s problems.