Shane McMahon’s WrestleMania 33 match, opposite AJ Styles, was an achievement in and of itself, but a betrayal of what it really means to be an established super-worker. Carried by AJ Styles, he pulled off an adequate if insulting impression of one—but the Shane McMahon of the Attitude Era stayed, and excelled, in his own lane.
Tenacious and cocky in a likeable way, he played his role wonderfully in this preposterous soap opera match that only WWE could ever pull off, let alone pull off with such impeccable tonal range. Funny, violent, dramatic, daft, serious—this match was laid out with such guileful brilliance that, on the biggest show promoted by the biggest company at the height of its height of popularity, Linda McMahon—Linda McMahon!—received one of the biggest pops of the night by simply standing up out of a wheelchair.
