HARTFORD, Conn. — Maybe he really is “The Best in the World.” Shane McMahon is now 2-0 over The Miz in increasingly savage stipulations, having followed up his daredevil victory at WrestleMania with a gnarly win in a Steel Cage Match at WWE Money in the Bank. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for Miz, who (fairly) gauged his WrestleMania loss on the fluky side and selected the Steel Cage stipulation for the specific reason that Shane-O-Mac would be unable to escape his former tag team partner’s wrath.
Ironically, “escape” was the cornerstone of The Prodigal Son’s strategy; he made a run for it early and often, leaving Miz scrambling to simply keep him in the cage during the match’s early goings. The A-Lister, meanwhile, was out to simply punish Shane as much as he possibly could, leading to a strange strategic stalemate where Shane tried to drag himself out of the cage while locked in a particularly agonizing Figure-Four Leglock. He failed to do so, but Shane did manage to pull a steel chair back into the ring with him, setting up the showdown’s brutal, convoluted endgame.
The Miz prevents Shane McMahon from escaping their Steel Cage Match by flipping the McMahon Family scion back into the ring. Courtesy of WWE Network.
On the one hand, The A-Lister visibly kicked it into another gear once he laid hands on his weapon of choice, laying blow after blow across Shane O-Mac’s spine. On the other, the ref seemed reticent to allow a member of the McMahon family to lose, calling a rope break on a pinfall attempt that technically, given the rules of the match, should not have counted. Miz, of course, did not turn down the opportunity to further pulverize his rival, leading to a slugfest on the edge of the cage, a frog splash off the top rope, and, finally, a fateful confrontation with Shane slung over the side of the cage, with Miz trying desperately to wrench him over the top and into a superplex. As The Awesome One grasped for his opponent, Shane finally got what he wanted, writhing free of his shirt to plummet, gracelessly but decisively, to the floor to earn the victory.
Shane’s win left the WWE Universe stunned, Michael Cole visibly pursed with disapproval, and Miz deflated atop the cage. Understandably so. True, he got his licks in on an opponent who deserved it by any measure. But punishment isn’t the name of the game, victory is. Shane remembered, Miz didn’t. Despite the result, that’s going to be a hard conclusion to escape.
HARTFORD, Conn. — Maybe he really is “The Best in the World.” Shane McMahon is now 2-0 over The Miz in increasingly savage stipulations, having followed up his daredevil victory at WrestleMania with a gnarly win in a Steel Cage Match at WWE Money in the Bank. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for Miz, who (fairly) gauged his WrestleMania loss on the fluky side and selected the Steel Cage stipulation for the specific reason that Shane-O-Mac would be unable to escape his former tag team partner’s wrath.
Ironically, “escape” was the cornerstone of The Prodigal Son’s strategy; he made a run for it early and often, leaving Miz scrambling to simply keep him in the cage during the match’s early goings. The A-Lister, meanwhile, was out to simply punish Shane as much as he possibly could, leading to a strange strategic stalemate where Shane tried to drag himself out of the cage while locked in a particularly agonizing Figure-Four Leglock. He failed to do so, but Shane did manage to pull a steel chair back into the ring with him, setting up the showdown’s brutal, convoluted endgame.
The Miz prevents Shane McMahon from escaping their Steel Cage Match by flipping the McMahon Family scion back into the ring. Courtesy of WWE Network.
On the one hand, The A-Lister visibly kicked it into another gear once he laid hands on his weapon of choice, laying blow after blow across Shane O-Mac’s spine. On the other, the ref seemed reticent to allow a member of the McMahon family to lose, calling a rope break on a pinfall attempt that technically, given the rules of the match, should not have counted. Miz, of course, did not turn down the opportunity to further pulverize his rival, leading to a slugfest on the edge of the cage, a frog splash off the top rope, and, finally, a fateful confrontation with Shane slung over the side of the cage, with Miz trying desperately to wrench him over the top and into a superplex. As The Awesome One grasped for his opponent, Shane finally got what he wanted, writhing free of his shirt to plummet, gracelessly but decisively, to the floor to earn the victory.
Shane’s win left the WWE Universe stunned, Michael Cole visibly pursed with disapproval, and Miz deflated atop the cage. Understandably so. True, he got his licks in on an opponent who deserved it by any measure. But punishment isn’t the name of the game, victory is. Shane remembered, Miz didn’t. Despite the result, that’s going to be a hard conclusion to escape.
