#4 Wrestlemania X7 – Street Fight: Shane McMahon Vs Vince McMahon
I’m not going into the background of this in detail, because it’s awful. It features Vince divorcing Linda McMahon triggering a nervous breakdown in Linda, then committing her to an institution and having her medicated into a coma-like state. There are also TV moments between Vince and Trish Stratus that are horrible to watch back. Shane wanted revenge on his dad for his behaviour.
In the week leading up to Wrestlemania, WCW had closed its doors – bought out by WWE. On Raw, Vince acknowledged the purchase but said he wanted Ted Turner to officially sign at Wrestlemania. This delay allowed Shane to usurp his father by turning up on Nitro, declaring he had bought WCW himself. At the time, this was huge. We had WWF not only recognizing WCW on screen but using their logos and intellectual property. Fair enough, the Invasion storyline was incredibly badly handled, but at the time Wrestlemania came around fans of both companies had no idea what was coming and were excited.
Mick Foley is the special referee – thanks to Linda pre-signing some open contracts, including one that allowed Mick to officiate a match of his choice at Wrestlemania.
This was never going to be a “classic” in terms of wrestling, but the storytelling to pay off the family feud (allowing the transition into the Invasion) is done exceptionally well. Sure, it’s overbooked in terms of interference – Trish Stratus appears, pushing Linda in a wheelchair and slaps Vince in the face, before engaging in a fight with Stephanie and chasing her out; Vince attacks Foley with a chair after Foley tried removing Linda; Vince lifts Linda into the ring, and sits her in the corner, attacking Shane in front of her; Linda “wakes up” and low-blows Vince; Foley revenge attacks Vince. But, the finish is another instant classic Shane McMahon moment.
With Vince down in the corner and a trash can in hand, Shane has an idea. He puts the trash can on Vince’s lap, making him hold it, and climbs to the opposite corner. Shane then leaps across the ring, dropkicking the bin into Vince, and picking up the win.
This saw Shane introduce the coast-to-coast dropkick into WWF/E, following Rob Van Dam popularising it in ECW (as the Van Terminator). It was unique to Shane, provided an exceptional visual, and again showed how much he was willing to risk in the ring. It also put all of the “family” feuds to be in one moment, clearing the decks for the WCW/ECW Invasion over the coming months.