Honestly: Shane McMahon Should Become All Elite

Anthony Ricciardi breaks down his thoughts on the rumors of Shane McMahon going to AEW, and how he thinks how it should be booked.

“Never say Never”

This phrase has been used so many times over the years in professional wrestling. Over the years we have seen so many things happen that no one could have ever predicted. We’ve seen people leave WWE on bad terms swearing never to return, but eventually come back. One of those people was CM Punk, but as shocking as it was, it probably wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t first return to the wrestling world in AEW. That opened the door to the possibility of a WWE return when WWE saw an opportunity to capitalize on the lightning rod of controversy that is CM Punk when AEW dropped the ball on it.

I’m not here to relitigate the failed CM Punk in AEW. That has been something I talked about multiple times in the past. The reason I bring it up is that it was a shocking return when Punk returned to the wrestling world after a 7-year absence and it falling apart less than two years later was even more shocking and returning to WWE after almost 10 years just adds to the whole never say never phrase.

While Punk and WWE seem to be thriving in their new rekindled relationship, AEW has never truly recovered from the loss of CM Punk. Ratings and PPV buys are reportedly down significantly and almost weekly images come out showing arenas significantly empty for AEW shows. AEW has tried to rebound by signing some of the biggest free agents in the business, Will Ospreay, Mercedes Mone and Kazuchika Okada, but none of these signings so far has shown any indication of moving the needle in the right direction.

Millions are being spent on a roster that many have complained is bloated but AEW is struggling right now. I have said on Wrestling Republic’s Daily Broadcast and on Take it to the Table, that AEW’s greatest strength is Tony Khan. He is a passionate owner that loves what he is doing because he loves the business. Because of his father’s backing he can spend millions on a product that he loves and unlike other wrestling companies that need to turn a profit to keep a company running, that isn’t an issue for Tony Khan because he doesn’t need it to turn one. I’m not saying he wants to keep losing money, but what I mean is he can survive for a long time without it making one because it isn’t his main source of income and he has more funds than he is losing with AEW at the moment.

However, AEW’s greatest weakness is also Tony Khan. Because like a lot of fans have played fantasy booker before and have been successful at it in video games or perhaps have been watching a long time, we are all in some way convinced we can book a wrestling company. It is one thing to book a one-off show like 2018’s original All In or perhaps a monthly show like PWG, but to book weekly episodic TV week after week with no off season and never-ending forms of competition for your product is an entirely different animal.

I have written a number of fantasy booking articles for the site before, I have never claimed to be able to book weekly episodic television, but I do think I can come up with storylines that could work or gain the interest of the fanbase because I’ve been watching a long time and have studied this business’ history so I think I have a pretty good idea what works.

 The lifeblood of this business is storytelling, it is what has always been the source of its success. Who are these people, why are they fighting and why should I care? These are the questions that WWE HOFamer, legendary booker/performer, Paul Heyman has said these three questions must be answered in order for a story to work. The why should I care is always the most difficult one to answer, because with all the years of wrestling content and stories, it is very hard to come up with something new and compelling to get the audience to stay invested not only with their time to watch the weekly show but to spend the money to go to a show in person or to buy the PPV.

The one constant that helps pull an audience in, is if the storytelling is built onto a foundation of realism or at least built onto perceived realism that can help with the believability. Part of what made Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart, such a compelling story back in 1997 is that people knew that in real life they genuinely hated one another but at the same time even though they didn’t like each other they were still professional enough not to take liberties with each other in the ring and were able to turn a profit from it. The Edge/Lita/Matt Hardy love triangle was again built on the foundation of realism.

Paul Heyman built the appeal of ECW by pushing the concept that it was the alternative and a US vs THEM attitude towards the WWF and WCW. However, that was perceived realism because in truth the WWF was secretly funding ECW and keeping it afloat.

Relatability is also just as important as realism when it comes to storytelling. Part of the appeal of ECW was in the late 90s there was a rise in counterculture and being different was appealing to the youth movement for teenagers and young adults so ECW was therefore their representation in the industry. The Austin vs McMahon rivalry which was a huge driving force to propel the WWF back to the top of the industry and to heights they had never seen was built on the relatability that a huge portion of the audience could relate to a bad boss or a bad teacher or some other type of oppressive authority figure that they could see in McMahon and the audience would see themselves in Austin and live vicariously through him.

AEW Needs A Boost

Every Thursday on the Throwback Thursday edition of the WR Daily Broadcast, myself (Anthony), Clark and Shad cover that week’s AEW Dynamite and a weekly Throwback topic. I know I am frequently accused of being a AEW hater and the truth is it is the complete opposite. The wrestling business thrives when there are more alternatives. AEW has truly helped this industry whether people want to admit that or not. Right now, WWE is doing record business and professional wrestling is literally on every night of the week practically with it being more accessible than ever before.  

The only thing I truly hate about AEW is that I truly believe they can be so much more and so much better than they are. They have this Saturday weekend indie show running in a small arena mindset where they think they can just book dream matches with little to no storytelling and think this will work on a large scale but outside of the niche hardcore wrestling fanbase it won’t work. There is a reason PWG has never tried to go on tour or do more than a few shows a year because they know it just won’t work.

Very few companies have successfully done the weekly episodic television because it isn’t easy. AEW has the talent, the TV and the financial backing but what they are lacking is the consistent quality storytelling. Listen we all know that the results are predetermined and the two people fighting in the ring usually don’t really hate each other but like any TV show or movie the audience wants to be drawn in and feel compelled to watch it.

Professional wrestling programming for many viewers is an escape from the stress that they deal with day to day. It is a form of entertainment that has never truly been respected by the sports or entertainment industries or society as a whole. You either love the art form and gravitate towards other fans that also love professional wrestling or you’re in the other group that we as fans all have to deal with “I don’t know how you watch that; you know its fake right?”. As if the show or movie that they love is real, because we were all there when Happy Gilmore won the Tour Championship in 1996, that totally happened right?

Anyway, back to AEW, a few months ago, the Elite (Young Bucks, Okada and Jack Perry) formed and did the unthinkable and attacked Tony Khan. Tony Khan had previously said he didn’t want to be a TV character and personally I think it was a mistake to write off the possibility because having an authority figure on the show from time to time can be helpful. We had previously seen Tony appear here and there to make announcements or book a match but in the fallout of the Punk situation it was a good as time as any for Tony to finally agree to make an appearance to be physical.

We praised the spot the day after it happened on the Throwback Thursday edition of the Daily, this looked like an angle that could have been huge for AEW. When Tony Khan played into it outside of the wrestling bubble by appearing at the NFL Draft in a neck brace to sell the injuries he sustained at the hands of the Elite. This was entirely the right move because it added a layer to the story and gave them publicity that they couldn’t buy when Tony Khan is appearing on global TV in a neck brace.

The next week the Elite were running TV as the sole authority figures and abusing their powers which was 100% the right move. They even covered their bases by straight up saying that their EVP talent contracts were iron clad and Tony Khan couldn’t fire them. Is that really believable that you can beat up your boss and not get fired? No, but we didn’t bat an eye at Austin doing it for years. Yes, I know Austin was the biggest cash cow the industry ever saw but the point is we can suspend believability.

Everything was being booked correctly, as Kenny Omega who was an OG Elite member showed up to confront his fellow EVPs about their actions attacking their friend/boss Tony Khan the previous week. The Bucks had previously fired Hangman Page and Omega from the Elite, but this is the first time that they had interacted since the Bucks did it while Hangman and Omega weren’t there. The Elite would soon take out Omega leaving no other authority figure to challenge the Bucks abuse of power.

At Double or Nothing in a Stadium Stampede match, the Elite correctly went over as they should outlasting a random collection of talent representing Team AEW. The evil authority figures correctly won and for weeks the abuse of power should have continued until Tony Khan returned with a real true team AEW to take the Elite out.

However, like AEW has done in the past they made things too convoluted, and the wheels fell off the story. Tony Khan appeared backstage running the show like nothing was wrong with no neck brace, announced a temporary EVP in Chris Daniels and now AEW has four different authority figures. This element makes exactly zero sense because as sole owner of AEW, Tony Khan could overrule any and every decision that the Bucks make. There is zero reason for him to name a temporary EVP in Chris Daniels, when we all know Tony Khan is once again there every week. Also, are we supposed to believe Chris Daniels EVP vote is worth three votes compared to the Bucks two votes to overrule them?

None of this makes sense and that is what drives me nuts is that AEW will have elements of a great angle but somehow screw it up. Tony Khan should not have been shown on camera at all to sell the fact he is not there so the Bucks are running rampant abusing their powers. Then if you wanted to bring Christopher Daniels as a President at the orders of the owner Tony Khan or perhaps his dad, Shad appears on TV and announced I’m disgusted on what you did to my son and I won’t let you kill AEW and he announces Daniels as temporary President of AEW. Daniels should not have the same job title as the Bucks it should be a higher position so that he can truly overrule the Bucks. Then you could have the power struggle take place between Daniels and the Elite.

Obviously, they failed to do that, and the ratings have taken a massive hit as this story which should have been a massive hit has been a failure, but it is not all lost and can possibly be fixed. Which if anyone in AEW happens to read this, here’s your blueprint on how to fix this thing.

Shane Could Be An Elite Pivot

A lot of damage has been done here because Tony Khan just completely screwed up the booking of this thing so at this point this whole thing needs a massive reset. Maybe the mother of all resets/pivots to truly make this work. This is how you do it, essentially you need to redo this thing to get it back on track before it went off the rails.

It starts with Daniels truly being a thorn in the Elite’s side. You need to finally make it clear that Daniels has greater authority than the Bucks combined power. After a few weeks of this, the Elite decides to take out Daniels to close out Dynamite. Nothing happens on Collison anyway so they can just hype up that Tony Khan will address the actions of the Elite on next week’s Dynamite.

You hype it up all night and Tony Khan comes to the ring in the main event spot, and this is crucial Tony Khan needs to come off as pissed and he has had enough the Elite’s games. I know that there has been the strong belief that Tony Khan can’t act, which I completely understand that, but Tony Khan shouldn’t have to act it should come from inside him and draw on his personal love of AEW and his animosity towards AEW’s critics.

Tony should cut a promo something along these lines:

“I love AEW, and I’ve done everything possible to make this the best professional wrestling product in the world. I could not do this alone, every wrestler that has stepped in this ring to everyone working backstage to each and everyone of you fans that have supported us the past 5 years. I cannot thank each and everyone of you enough for making my dream for AEW a reality and to have people that I trusted turned their backs on me.”

Out comes the Elite

Matt Jackson: Let me stop you right there Tony, if you truly loved AEW you would have stepped aside because you may own AEW, but WE ARE AEW.

Nick Jackson: I don’t remember you being there in 2018 for the first All In.

Tony: You’re right Nick I wasn’t there in 2018 but neither one of you had the vision or funding to get a promotion off the ground. I came to you after being impressed with All In. I was told by others including Jim Cornette that it was a mistake to get into business with you two. I trusted you both but over the past 5 years you may have contributed to this company positively, but you’ve also hurt this company multiple times in the past that I naively looked the other way on or made excuses for you because I thought we were friends.

Matt: Tony we were never friends, you were always the money mark.

Nick: We just put up with you until we couldn’t do it anymore because you were killing our company. So, Tony, we suggest you step aside and let us run our company.

Matt: You can’t fire us Tony, remember iron clad contracts, so it is best for AEW and your health to just step aside.

Tony: This is my company; this is the sickos company and I won’t allow you two to take over or kill our company

Nick: Oh are you going to stop us?

Hangman’s music hits and he comes out on the ramp then Omega’s music hits and he comes out to confront the Bucks setting up this tag match for All In.

The Elite ultimate plays the numbers game to sneak away with the win for retention.

As the weeks go by and the animosity continues to build between the Elite vs Tony Khan, this leads to the Tony Khan booking a rematch of the Bucks vs Hangman and Omega with the tag titles on the line again.

During the match, the tron comes on and we see Tony Khan laid out busted open and all you see is someone standing over him. However, all the known members of the Elite are at ringside so who is the mystery man. The distraction allows the Bucks to sneak out a win.

This writes Tony Khan off of TV for a while so this resets the stage for the Elite to run AEW like power hungry dictators. The next week’s Dynamite ends with the Elite taking out Hangman and Omega as they are left busted open as the show closes.

This writes them out as well so there is stopping the Elite.

The next week’s Dynamite they release a press release that Matthew and Nicolas Jackson have a major announcement. The show closes with the Bucks promising the mystery man and the person that opened all their eyes to Tony Khan’s abuse of power will be revealed at the next PPV.

The closing segment of the PPV is the Bucks talking about how much they know what is best for AEW. We are here to save AEW and the person that inspired us to take back what is rightfully ours and not Tony Khan’s is this man.

Then hits the signature “Here Comes The Money” Shane McMahon comes walking out to truly shock the world. Since WWE doesn’t own the song this is totally doable. The closing shot of the show is the Elite embracing with Shane McMahon.

Shane McMahon coming to AEW would truly shock the system and is something that if done right can truly be a game changer in the sense it can bring eyes to the product. Having someone with the last name McMahon on a rival wrestling program is something that will get people talking.

Shane has such a history and presence in this business for the past 25 years. He was the last person on camera on the very last WCW Nitro on TNT. So just the visual of him once again on a rival promotion’s product is a unique visual and this time, he isn’t a WWF employee on their new asset.

Shane can be presented as the invisible hand that guided the Bucks to turn on Tony Khan and almost act like the Eric Bischoff of the nWo type role. Shane McMahon should cut a promo like this:

“Shane O-Mac is All Elite baby! So why have I jumped ship to a rival promotion? I’m a fourth generation McMahon in this business, this industry was altered forever by my family. For years I sat waiting for my time to take my rightful place on the throne. I was the true heir to the empire, but the king refused to abdicate the throne and when he was forced out, he didn’t choose me his own blood to take the thrown I had spent my life waiting for no he gave it to someone else.

So, when I saw the blatant abuse of power of Tony Khan, I had to reach out to my new friends, Matthew and Nicolas and said fellas don’t wait for your time on the thrown to arrive just take it now learn from me.”

 As the weeks go by this can be the abuse of power of the Elite dictatorship can run through AEW and you can have Shane’s interactions with former WWE talent like Bryan Danielson and new talent for the first time.

This ultimately leads to a Tony Khan return and he needs to be pissed off and says this needs to end. The Bucks are right I had my lawyers review their contracts and I cannot fire them, but for the fate of AEW, I will make you an offer it is Team AEW against Team Elite in a Blood and Guts match live on PPV. If Team AEW wins, the Bucks will lose their jobs, but if the Elite win, they will control AEW.

Team Elite will be made up of the Bucks, Okada, Perry and Shane McMahon. Over the weeks building up to the PPV you can have a Tony Khan and Shane McMahon interaction. Tony Khan announces two of the members of Team AEW off the bat being Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. There will be speculation on who the rest of the members of the team are. As the weeks go by you can fill in the other members being Darby and Danielson.

The question being who is the fifth and final member. You can tease a number of different people, including MJF. Max of course being the scumbag he is says Tony you paid me a lot of money but I have an iron clad contract so I get paid no matter who wins this match so I really don’t care. Find some other schmuck that is willing to get in there.

Moxley gets announced as the fifth man but the night of the show the Elite take out Moxley leaving Team AEW a man short. We see Danielson backstage and he says Team AEW has found a replacement.

The replacement turns out to be MJF, Danielson reminded MJF of the tattoo he has on his leg and deep down the scumbag is still lovable.

All these men should be able to put on an insanely incredible Blood and Guts match. To have two insane lunatics in Darby and Shane willing to jump from insane heights this should have several memorable spots.

Ultimately Team AEW should come out on top, ending the Elite’s reign of terror.

ITTMP