7 Ups And 10 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (June 3)

7. Shane The Submission Machine

Shane McMahon Raw
WWE.com

When Shane McMahon was wrestling sporadically in the early 2000s and when he first returned to WWE a few years ago, he was billed as getting by because of his daredevil mentality – he was willing to do whatever it took to win, which made up for his size and lack of experience.

Monday, the 50-year-old executive declared he’s like a fine wine who gets better with age and promised to tap Roman Reigns out with a triangle. Wrap your head around that one for a second.

If we could believe that WWE was dialing in on making Shane over into a delusional boss who made bold proclamations and had to rely on hired guns (like Drew McIntyre) to save him, it would be understandable. But we also just saw him win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, turn on his partner, and then win that feud in part by overcoming hellacious beatdowns during their matches.

This isn’t on the same level. Shane surely will need McIntyre’s help to remain competitive at Super Showdown, but he’s going to be presented as competent and able to hang with Reigns, which is maddening.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.