The WWE championship hasn’t been headlining SmackDown Live exclusive pay-per-view (PPV) events in favor of Shane McMahon’s story. When the traditional 5-on-5 men’s Survivor Series match saw Monday Night Raw defeat SmackDown Live, Shane McMahon fought off an attack from Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and was ultimately the final member of the blue team to be eliminated.
Now, he’s been inserted as special guest referee for what will likely be the main event of Clash of Champions, a tag team match pitting Owens and Zayn against Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura. He was also the one that booked it so that if the bad guys lost, they’ll be fired from WWE.
This poll from WWE.com showcases just how much he matters to the main event scene:
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Shane McMahon is really the only answer to that question, and that is the issue. SmackDown Live is the Shane McMahon Show, even more than Monday Night Raw is the Stephanie McMahon Show and that’s really saying something.
Perhaps this storyline will culminate in General Manager Daniel Bryan ousting Shane from his position of power and the blue brand can actually become the “land of opportunity” it currently claims to be. As of now, SmackDown is no better than Raw in how it positions its talent. In fact, its worse, and that needs to change sooner rather than later.