WWE SmackDown: Kevin Owens Gets Shane McMahon Fired by Winning Ladder Match

Shane McMahon's reign of terror over the Blue Brand was finally brought to an end this week, as Kevin Owens defeated "Shane-O-Mac" during Friday Night SmackDown's premiere on FOX in a ladder match to force him out of the company. Owens won the match after he gave McMahon a powerbomb into a ladder in the corner.

After the match, as per the conditions of the match, Owens brought McMahon to center ring and said "you're fired" and followed that up with a Stunner.

The story of McMahon's heel run can be traced all the way back to the Crown Jewel event in November 2018, when he inserted himself in the finals of the World Cup tournament for an injured Miz and defeated Dolph Ziggler to earn the title "The Best in the World." Miz then convinced McMahon to form an alliance, and eventually the two became SmackDown Tag Team Champions by defeating The Bar at the Royal Rumble. However the pair dropped the titles to The Usos just three weeks later, causing McMahon to turn on Miz and brutally attack both him and his father. Miz challenged McMahon to a series of matches over the next few months, starting at WrestleMania, but McMahon kept finding ways to win.

McMahon then recruited the likes of Drew McIntyre, Elias and The Revival to help with with rivalries, which resulted in him picking up a pinfall victory over Roman Reigns at Super ShowDown. Eventually Kevin Owens called McMahon out for constantly taking up airtime on SmackDown, turning himself babyface in the process. Owens beat McMahon at SummerSlam in a career-threatening match, but McMahon then held a $100,000 fine over Owens' head for attacking Elias (the special guest referee). McMahon then tried to fire Owens for not helping him win a King of the Ring tournament match against Chad Gable, but Owens turned around and hit him with a wrongful termination lawsuit.