#1 Wrestlemania 35 (Falls Count Anywhere) AND Money In The Bank 2019 (Steel Cage): Shane McMahon Vs The Miz
After winning the World Cup (nope, not going there…), Shane and The Miz formed an unexpected tag team and even won the Tag Team Championships from The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro). After losing them, and losing a rematch, Shane attacked The Miz and his father, accusing him of wanting to use Shane to get over. Shane challenged The Miz to a match at Wrestlemania, which Miz made a Falls Count Anywhere match.
Shane baits The Miz in the early stages, using his emotion against him and showing off his martial arts style strikes. Shane nails Miz with an announcers monitor, laying him on the announce table. Shane heads to the top rope for his elbow drop, but Miz’s father steps in the way. Shane brings George into the ring and attacks him, which fires up The Miz and they brawl into the crowd. Shane gets a near fall with a DDT on a platform used to secure the support struts for the Wrestlemania set. Miz attacks Shane’s legs and back with a chair.
Miz uses Shane to destroy the entire international announcer’s area before putting Miz through a table for a two-count. Miz hits Shane over a fence, with Shane bouncing off the roof of a golf cart and falling to the floor. Surprisingly, Shane still manages to kick out. The Miz takes Shane up some stairs to a technical platform and delivers The Skull Crushing Finale on a metal floor, but Shane kicks out!
Shane manages to get hold of a case of some kind and hits The Miz, then starts climbing the scaffolding to one of the camera platforms. The Miz follows him up the other side. Miz lands a few shots before suplexing Shane off of the platform through a lower platform. Shane lands on top of The Miz, and the referee counts. Shane wins!
That didn’t settle the score, with The Miz angry at Shane attacking his dad again. Due to the draft, The Miz was moved to Smackdown, so we had to wait until Money In The Bank to pay off the feud. The Miz set the challenge for a steel cage to prevent anyone else from being involved.
Shane repeatedly tries to escape the cage early on, but Miz is able to grab him and pull him back to the ring each time. Shane takes a series of kicks from The Miz but counters a running kick to lift Miz and drive him into the cage. Shane sends Miz into the steel a few more times and gets a near fall from a neckbreaker. Shane sets up for the coast-to-coast but The Miz stands up, stops the dropkick and locks in the figure four leglock. Shane reaches the ropes, but there are no rope breaks – so he calls for the door and crawls to escape.
Miz has to release the hold to stop him. Shane manages to bring a steel chair in with him when he’s dragged back but doesn’t get a chance to use it as Miz boots him in the face. Shane runs for the door, but Miz stops him with a chair shot to the back, before swinging the door into his face. The Miz continues laying in chair shots to Shane’s back. The Miz hits a Skull Crushing Finale on the steel chair, but the referee stops the pinfall when Shane gets his foot on the ropes (not quite sure why).
The Miz drags Shane to the top rope, and tries a Skull Crushing Finale from the top, but Shane counters and throws Miz to the mat. Shane climbs the cage but takes two chair shots to the leg before he can escape. The Miz follows him and the two trade punches sat on top of the cage. Shane turns to get his legs on the outside and ends up laid across the top while Shane tries to drag him back into the ring. The Miz slams Shane’s face into the cage a few times and then throws him from the top of the cage to the mat. Shane kicks out after a splash from the top rope and manages to lock in a head and arm triangle – but Miz bridges up to get a near fall and force the break.
The Miz catapults Shane into the cage, but he catches it and tries to escape again. Miz catches him over the top and looks to suplex him back in. Shane hangs on and slips out of the attempt. Miz grabs Shane’s shirt, but Shane is able to slip out of it and fall to the floor to win the match.
Alright, so I cheated and included two matches at the number 1 slot, but they combine as a body of work to show Shane McMahon as he is now. He’s the cowardly, sneaky, privileged authority figure who is using mind games to get inside the head of his opponent. We all know Braun Strowman is prone to anger outbursts, and Shane will count on that. He will bait Strowman in, and use his anger and momentum against him.
At Wrestlemania 35, Shane McMahon took a beating and won via a fluke. At Money In The Bank, he repeated this inside a steel cage. It’s this luck and ability to manipulate consequences that Shane McMahon will need to rely on inside the cage with Strowman. He’s proved he can do it against The Miz, can he do it against a much larger and more powerful opponent? An added factor will be his alliance with Elias, and potentially Jaxson Ryker. Cage matches are supposed to keep people out, but we know that’s not 100% successful.
At 51, Shane’s time as even a sporadic in-ring competitor will be winding down. He’s got at least one more Wrestlemania moment in him, and seeing how he’s risked himself previously, he will want to show what he last left while he still can.
Does Shane McMahon deserve a slot at Wrestlemania 37? Maybe not. But he will make the most of it, and I expect people will be talking about it afterwards.