10 Times WWE Stipulations Meant Nothing

Shane McMahon has been a, let’s just say divisive figure, in recent times. But before we were treated to the sheer ludicrous sight of him being crowned Best in the World and embarking on that torturous heel run, he was still skipping about as the babyface Commissioner of SmackDown. Standing opposite him, were the dastardly duo of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

The Owens-Shane rivalry had begun when the former beat the living daylights out of daddy Vince. Now normal companies would respond by firing the employee who powerbombs the CEO, but since this is WWE, the solution was a Hell in a Cell match between the boss’s son and the perpetrator in question.

Here Zayn made his return as a bad guy and helped his best friend win. This kicked off a months long program which roped in then General Manager Daniel Bryan. After about seven thousand encounters and plot twists, including the historic return of Bryan to in-ring action, the heels were fired for their most recent attack on Shane. Their response was to administer a similar beating to Bryan who had announced the axing.

This ultimately led to a tag match at WrestleMania with the stipulation being if Owens and Zayn lost, they would stay fired. Lo and behold, they did lose and, they did not stay fired. Not long after, they showed up on RAW and were hired to wrestle there. Who even cares about stipulations anymore?