Miz and Shane McMahon’s fun tag team is the only good thing to come out of Crown Jewel

The Bar (c) vs. Shane McMahon & the Miz

SmackDown tag team championship

This feud is a strange one, not because of the content but because of its origin.

The Crown Jewel event last November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was socially and creatively maligned. Right here, I’m just going to discuss the creative aspect.

It was a show best forgotten about. It was the end of Shawn Michaels’ disappointing comeback. It featured Brock Lesnar pretty much squashing Braun Strowman to win the vacant Universal title, ensuring Raw’s main belt would be held hostage for likely another six months. And of course, there were no women on the card since it was in Saudi Arabia.

The Best in the World tournament seemed just as useless. A random tournament for a random trophy, reminiscent of the just as forgettable trophy Braun Strowman won at the Greatest Royal Rumble. And to take the show into almost comedic bad booking territory, Shane McMahon randomly took the place of the Miz in the last round after the Miz sustained a kayfabe injury and won the tournament.

But surprisingly enough, that actually turned into something good.

Miz immediately took to calling himself “Two Thirds Best in the World” and suddenly started claiming kinship with Shane since they had worked together to win the trophy for SmackDown. Shane O’Mac was having none of it, kindly letting it be known he really wanted nothing to do with the boisterous superstar.

But that wasn’t going to stop the A Lister, who took his thinking one step further and suggested they become a tag team. It didn’t go well at first, when Miz sprung a match on Shane last minute and then proceeded to lose to a couple of nobodies. But he still persisted.

Finally, an impassioned speech about trying to please his father, something Miz knows Shane understands all too well, convinced the Money to team with him.

Lucky for us he did because Miz and Shane have great comedic chemistry together, and nowhere was it more evident in this segment where Miz suggested outfits for their team, despite Shane not having any of it. This segment alone may make this story worth it.

Miz immediately went to try to get them a big match, and after the Bar were successful in a bout against the Usos, the A Lister came down and offered them the chance to defend their titles against him and Shane. His bravado earned him a Brogue Kick, but the confident Bar also accepted the match.

This led to Miz having a couple matches with Sheamus and Cesaro. The last one, Shane was in his corner and ready to throw hands on behalf of his partner. Despite that, they were both left laying ahead of tomorrow’s tag title match.

This has been a fun story and at the same time, likely serves as a test for a Miz face turn. The A Lister has had a run as a good guy, which was rather underwhelming. However, that was almost five years ago. In that time, Miz has continued to grow as a performer.

Teaming him up with Shane, a McMahon who is always cheered, is a good test. And he’s passed so far in playing a babyface without losing that Miz attitude. If it falters, they can always have Miz turn on Shane and play it as a ploy the whole time. But if it seems to be going well, they can go the other way and have Miz play the babyface in the breakup and feud with a heel Shane.

It’s likely a month or two in the future until we see who ends up with what alignment after the break up. Right now, they’ve got some tag titles to win.

The Bar will defend their tag titles against the Miz & Shane McMahon tomorrow at the Royal Rumble, starting at 7 pm on the WWE Network. And keep at CagesideSeats.com for all of your Royal Rumble coverage.