Shane McMahon's Best and Worst Moments with WWE

If WWE is a circus, then Shane McMahon is the human cannonball, willing to brave immense danger for the sake of entertainment.

His highlights have often been the result of his taking stunning risks, whether he has leaped from great heights or crashed through glass. He has always been more stuntman than wrestler, but taking punishment beyond anything anyone would expect of him endeared him to the audience. 

Here was the WWE owner's son tossing the silver spoon from his mouth and throwing himself into the tallest fires he could find.

His worst moments were often attempts to shock that fell flat. It was when he genuinely surprised the audience or forced fans' jaws open with a breathtaking plunge that he created the most lasting images. The following is a look at all of that, discussing Shane-O-Mac's highs and lows in chronological order.

Worst: Abandoning the European Championship (1999)

Credit: WWE.com

The European Championship's prestige vanished after a number of poor decisions. Arguably the worst of those came with Shane McMahon at the center.

Less than two months after winning the title from X-Pac in early 1999, McMahon simply decided to retire the belt. Rather than fight with everything in him to maintain control of the championship, he put it in his bag and forgot about it, as if it were a trophy from the office bowling league.

As Elliot Binks of What Culture pointed out, "Having a Superstar show such disregard for the importance of the title is detrimental enough, but for the Superstar in question to be little more than a part-time talent is even worse still."

Mideon would later stumble upon the abandoned title, and McMahon awarded it to him to further gut the belt of its worth.

Best: The Fall (2000)

It didn't take a whole lot of skill for McMahon to carry out the climax of the Hardcore match against Steve Blackman at SummerSlam 2000. Instead, it took the kind of guts most of us can't imagine conjuring.

After trying to escape the martial artist by climbing the SummerSlam set, McMahon found himself trapped high in the air. A series of shots to the spine with Blackman's Kendo stick knocked him off the steel structure, causing him to plummet from an insane height.

In an era rife with huge risks, it took something this nutty to truly grab the audience's attention. Even McMahon diving onto Big Show at Backlash 2001 couldn't top this.

McMahon wasn't able to pull off classic matches or wow fans with a slick exchange on the mat, so he chose to make his mark by playing daredevil. And the fans loved him for it.

Best: Shane Buys WCW (2001)

On the final WCW Nitro, after word spread that WWE had bought out its longtime rival, fans soon had a curveball thrown at them. One might have expected to see Vince McMahon appear on the show to gloat, but not the owner's son to swoop in and buy WCW for himself.

The storyline acquisition created a surreal image—Shane McMahon addressing his father from Florida, with the Nitro logo stretched across the bottom of the screen.

The Invasion angle that followed didn't live up to expectations, but WWE did well to create a wealth of buzz as its chief competitor called it a day. Family drama had overflowed onto the screen. A battle of two companies was about to begin.

And Shane-O-Mac played his role perfectly. He was the right mix of smug and strong—the young lion challenging the alpha male who had long ruled the pride.

Best: Coast to Coast at WrestleMania (2001)

Shane McMahon clearly inherited the "it" gene factor from his father, but he has always been a superior athlete to Vince. When the two battled at WrestleMania X-Seven, he showed that off with an impressive leap from turnbuckle to turnbuckle.

The brutal father-son brawl had a host of bells and whistles, from Linda McMahon low-blowing her husband to Mick Foley playing a punch-happy referee. The apex of the contest, though, came when Shane propped a trash can onto Vince and dropkicked the steel from the other side of the ring.

A packed Astrodome roared as Shane once again provided a show-stealing moment.

That's been his expertise. Like he did that night in Houston, he has often managed to create one image that sticks with the audience long after the bell rings. 

Best/Worst: Suplex Through Glass at King of the Ring (2001)

When Kurt Angle suplexed Shane McMahon into the glass of the King of the Ring set in 2001, the blow didn't break the glass. Instead, McMahon cracked his head on the floor, dazed. 

As Angle told Wrestle Talk TV, it was supposed to be sugar glass, but someone mistakenly installed Plexiglass. So instead of this moment being a foolproof stunt, it suddenly morphed into a hugely dangerous one.

Regardless, McMahon demanded to be thrown again. Angle obliged. It took several attempts, but the two eventually created the eye-catching violent moment they were looking for.

McMahon twice flying through that glass helped give this match a permanent place in WWE lore. It was the highlight of a contest filled with high spots. 

The fact that it could have been disaster is largely forgotten. Not only did the very real glass slice both men up, but McMahon dropped onto his head more than once. Thanks to an error from those in charge of installing the structure, the memorable stunt could have led to a broken neck or worse. 

Worst: Electrocution (2003)

A monster battled an executive in an ill-advised storyline in 2003.

After Kane was unmasked, he morphed into a raving, uncontrollable monster. WWE pairing that character with Shane McMahon wasn't itself a bad idea; the hackneyed plot was this angle's undoing. As Scott Keith wrote in Wrestling's Made Men, "The whole Kane story was too silly for words for the most part."

The worst of it came when Kane tied Shane to a ring post and electrocuted his testicles. Kane hammed it up as the grinning villain. Shane convulsed dramatically with every spark.

It all felt like something out of a bad B horror movie. 

The feud did little for Kane other than give him another moment that won't show up on his Hall of Fame introduction video. Not surprisingly, this is one of the images WWE doesn't remind its fans of. 

Best: Surprise Return to Raw (2016)

If you ever needed proof that absence does indeed make the heart grow fonder, watch Shane McMahon's return to Raw.

After disappearing from the WWE scene in 2009 to become a full-time executive, he shocked the crowd by interrupting his father and sister. The crowd lost it when it saw Shane-O-Mac back to dancing on the entrance ramp once more. An often cynical fanbase simply soaked up the moment for once.

The moment hit home in a big way. Jim Ross wrote on his blog, "Shane's return was one of the most emotional moments that has been featured on Raw in years."

In an age where wrestling secrets are nearly impossible to keep quiet, it was powerful for the audience to experience such genuine shock. No one saw this coming.

The confrontation with his father led to Shane finding himself preparing to face Undertaker at WrestleMania.

For that match to be successful, Shane will have to lean on that blend of courage and insanity that has been his calling card thus far. Is the next great Shane-O-Mac moment on its way?