Vince McMahon Announces Shane and Stephanie McMahon Will Control WWE Raw

Vince McMahon has made his decision: Both of his children will be running WWE Monday Night Raw.

The chairman of WWE announced at Payback on Sunday that both Shane and Stephanie McMahon will run Raw as co-general managers, via WWE:

Both McMahon children had a chance to claim why they should run WWE's longest weekly run television show. Stephanie cited Shane's decision to leave WWE seven years ago and noted it could happen again down the road.

Shane went with a more developed approach, noting the national media has brought up WWE more than ever, and the company saw an increase in WWE Network subscribers at the time of WrestleMania 32.

Vince conceded both of his children made valid points but made it clear that he "wants to see blood" between his children. Afterward, it was official, via WWE:

Fans did not initially greet the news with a ton of enthusiasm: 

Shane requested power over Raw when he came back to the company in February after nearly seven years away, but Vince forced him to earn the right in a match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania.

Although Shane-O-Mac lost the match, Vince allowed him to run the ensuing episode of Raw. He continued to run the show because of what WWE characterized as strong social media support for The Prodigal Son.

Shane continued uninterrupted until the final episode of Raw prior to Payback, as Stephanie McMahon returned to reclaim what she believed was her rightful position as the head of The Authority on WWE's flagship show.

It was revealed that Vince would choose between them, and each sibling was seemingly confident that he or she would earn Vince's approval.

According to WWE Universe, Shane was prepared to continue his makeover of the product at Payback:

Stephanie was unwilling to go down without a fight, though, and made it clear that she believed Shane would be out of the picture following the pay-per-view, per WWE Universe:

After Shane's return to WWE, Vince was seemingly firmly on the side of Steph and Triple H, as his stated goal was for The Undertaker to destroy his son at WrestleMania.

Although he risked life and limb by leaping from the top of the cell through an announce table, Shane refused to be ousted from the company, which left the decision in Vince's hands.

While Shane is running Raw only from a storyline perspective, the show has been better in the weeks since WrestleMania, which gave Vince good reason to consider keeping his son in charge despite their differences. But in the end, he's letting his kids run the show at the same time.

There's no doubt WWE has turned a corner in popularity since Shane returned to the company, but putting both him and Stephanie in charge should present an interesting dynamic on Mondays going forward.

This could set up both to run Raw simultaneously with their own visions, leading up to a winner-take-all match, like the Survivor Series 2001 match Shane and Stephanie were part of.

That will be further down the road, but WWE has a long-term storyline to work with and will need to take full advantage of it.

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