What if WWE never bought WCW?

#2 Shane McMahon stays face

Shane McMahon may not have turned heel so soon or for so long if there weren't WCW and the Alliance to account for

Leading up to WWE’s real life acquisition of WCW, WWE pushed a storyline of Shane McMahon, as a face, rising up to challenge his megalomaniac heel father. The storyline was ostensibly built for WrestleMania 17, with a blow off match that was much more heavily weighted toward sports entertainment shenanigans than an exhibition of athleticism in the ring.

WWE wove the buyout into the McMahon family angle, though, with the suggestion that Shane had bout WCW out from under his father’s nose right before WrestleMania. Besides being a subplot to their feud at the time, WWE set up the foundation for Shane to be the on-air leader for the WCW brand. Most indications are that WWE wanted it to be a legitimate second brand, and would market WWE and WCW not so differently from how it markets Raw and SmackDown today, and so Shane could reasonably be the face presiding over his brand.

However, when the initial reception to WCW was cold, and no networks were interested in a show under its brand, WWE altered course to make them a heel faction, and take Shane with them.

In the long term, things may have played out similarly in this timeline, with Shane ultimately flip-flopping across face and heel lines. Without the WCW buyout, though, he also may have rode out his face momentum much longer.