The feud between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon (hopefully) finally have ended tonight, when Kevin Owens defeated him in a ladder match. We originally thought their story might end at SummerSlam, when they had a match with the stipulation that KO would be fired if he lost, but unfortunately there was no such stipulation on Shane, and after Kevin’s victory things just went on. After weeks of humiliation and ultimately an unfair firing by Shane, Kevin finally got some leverage when he threatened legal action. Last Tuesday on the last USA episode of Smackdown, they finally arrived at a deal: After tonight’s ladder match, whoever lost would be gone from WWE. So that means Shane’s time (as an onscreen character) with the company is done, at least for the time being.
The match started early when Kevin Owens rushed up the ramp to attack Shane a the first opportunity. From then on it was a brutal back and forth. The storytelling led most fans to expect Kevin to ultimately be victorious, but Shane got the upper hand enough times to make it feel like WWE might be messing with us and maybe Shane was going to frustratingly pull out a victory once again.
Fortunately, just as Shane had almost climbed all the way to the briefcase, KO powerbombed him off the ladder, bouncing him off another ladder that was set up in the corner and spilling him halfway out of the ring. That gave Kevin plenty of time to retrieve the briefcase. After he’d won the match, just as Shane was struggling to stand, KO got in his face with the mic and shouted “Hey Shane? You’re fired!” So that’s the last we’ll see of Shane McMahon for a while, knock on wood.
