Former Fan Favorite Shane McMahon Has Turned into a Ratings Killer for WWE

It's little over three years since Shane McMahon ended a seven-year exile from WWE to return to the company amid one of the biggest pops in recent memory.

Shane-O-Mac has occupied a number of roles in the weeks, months and years since his triumphant return, be that part-time wrestler, babyface authority figure or even genuine good guy trying to halt the force of evil inside and out of a WWE ring.

However, his latest run, as a villainous, egomaniacal tyrant who thinks he's the best wrestler in the world, all the while abusing his power on a near-weekly basis, has sucked the life out of the company in the weeks heading out of WrestleMania 35.

McMahon's match with The Miz at that show was a solid addition to the card, if not one of the more enjoyable brawls on the night itself. However, given how he emerged victorious, it should have been painfully obvious then that the 49-year-old's reign of terror would continue.

But even his long-standing feud with The Miz was at least tolerable because it wasn't detracting from the main event matches on both Raw and SmackDown on a weekly basis. Now, fans can't really avoid seeing McMahon at least a couple of times each week: on both shows.

At a time when WWE has more in-ring talent than ever before, it's no surprises the company's ratings are taking a hit when tired angles and feuds like these are being done all over again.

His current feud with Roman Reigns is an archetypal example of the kind of storyline WWE reverts to every few years: a mega babyface against a villainous authority figure. Mr. McMahon vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was, of course, the gold standard in that regard, but even rivalries like The Authority vs. Daniel Bryan were made to feel worth caring about.

Reigns vs. Shane-O-Mac? It doesn't really have any storyline direction and looks to have been put together just to have another supposed big match to add to the card at Super ShowDown on June 7.

The fans in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, may well care about a match like that, but most casual wrestling supporters aren't going to be hooked by a guy who is almost 50 fighting a top babyface. The outcome is painfully inevitable.

And the air of inevitability surrounding McMahon's entire booking post-WrestleMania is one of the things that is making this all the more unbearable. To see it on one show is bad enough, but fans felt as though they were vocally airing their discontent on Raw this week when he was in the ring.

He is also dragging good, promising talent down with him. His allegiance with Drew McIntyre makes no sense whatsoever, save for the fact McIntyre's physical presence makes him a handy-looking enforcer for Shane-O-Mac.

But given how McIntyre had been positioned as a future world champion in recent months, to now have him working as McMahon's bodyguard and not having a storyline path of his own is ridiculous. The Scot should be targeting Seth Rollins and the Universal Championship on Raw; instead, he's doing Shane-O-Mac's dirty work for him.

Shane McMahon has been one of the most consistent performers both as a wrestler and an entertainer for years in WWE. However, the company is using him too much, too often lately, and it must surely be contributing to the struggles it is enduring at the minute.