5 WWE Superstars who have feuded with a McMahon

This week's episode of Smackdown Live saw the start of another storyline directly involving the McMahon family. After weeks of animosity built between Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens, both Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon appear to have been brought in as well.

The sight of KO headbutting the mighty Vince McMahon sent shockwaves through the WWE Universe and has set up a monumental showdown between Shane and KO inside a Hell in a Cell.

Of course, this is not the first time a McMahon has been brought in to feud with a WWE superstar, and fans will now be wondering where this particular incarnation is going to fit amongst the others.

As we look forward to what is going to transpire, here is a look at five other times a WWE Superstar has feuded with a McMahon:

---

#5 Randy Orton vs. The McMahon Family

Sealed with a kiss

Randy Orton has had his up and downs over the course of his career. While the company has always been high on the idea of pushing "The Viper", fans have usually remained undecided. Some might claim that a lot of his popularity was a result of him being the alternative choice to John Cena for the past decade plus.

While he has gone through several heel and face turns over the years, Orton, in most people's opinion, always comes across better as a heel, and as far as his heel runs go, the best one has to be his rivalry with the McMahon family in 2009.

While the dynamics of a McMahon-centred storyline works better when the family are the heels, Orton made Vince, Shane and especially Stephanie, come across as sympathetic babyfaces.

The feud actually dated back to Randy's time in Evolution and the hangover from the animosity built between him and Triple H. The 2009 story angle was also the first time the WWE addressed the fact that Triple H and Stephanie were married in real life, as opposed to just in kayfabe.

Orton went about destroying the family one by one with his new faction, Legacy. He first punted Vince in the head, causing him a kayfabe concussion, then did the same to Shane before delivering a DDT to Stephanie McMahon and kissing her unconscious body in front of her husband.

Despite all the weeks of build involving the McMahons, the main event of Wrestlemania 25 was largely seen as a let down as the match ended up being a one on one bout between Orton and Hunter. It wasn't until Backlash of that year that we saw more involvement from Shane, which would prove to be the last feud we would see him in, until his surprise return a few years ago.

#4 Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon

Here come the girls

Perhaps it is unfair to claim that the success of the Bella Twins is down to their respective husbands. In fact, there was a time early in their relationship when Brie was the bigger star than Daniel Bryan, receiving more screen time than him and rubbing shoulders with several main event superstars.

In recent years, however, Brie has been able to work off her husband's popularity, even employing parts of his move set in order to win matches.

After his WWE Championship victory at Wrestlemania 30, Daniel Bryan was soon forced into a lengthy absence due to requiring surgery. Fans were understandably frustrated at this considering the amount of time it had taken him to reach that particular apex. In his absence, Brie was able to step into the spotlight, feuding with Stephanie McMahon, one of Daniel Bryan's long-term adversaries.

Brie had initially quit WWE in protest at how her husband was being treated, but after Stephanie went about making her sister Nikki's life a living hell, Brie made her return and entered a short but somewhat interesting rivalry with Vince's evil daughter.

In one memorable episode of RAW, Stephanie slapped the new Mrs. Danielson as she was watching the show from ringside. This prompted Stephanie to be arrested in scenes that brought a lot of satisfaction to the army of Steph haters in the WWE Universe.

The whole affair led up to a match between the two at Summerslam where a promising feud was abruptly turned into something confusing and pointless.

As Nikki came to the ring, seemingly to help her sister, she ended up joining Stephanie's side, thus becoming the face of the diva's division. After some cringe-worthy segments involving the two sisters, all seemed to be forgotten as Brie also turned heel and created Team Bella along with her sister and Alicia Fox.

As McMahon storylines go, it wasn't the strongest, but it did inadvertently bring more of the focus to the women on the roster, which one could maybe argue precipitated the events leading to the women's revolution.

#3 Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon

20 years in the making

The jury might still be out on who has had the greatest individual impact on the wrestling business, but two names that are commonly mentioned as part of this conversation are Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon.

Throughout the 80s, the WWF managed to take professional wrestling to unprecedented levels of acclaim worldwide and a huge part of that was Vince McMahon's booking of the Hulk Hogan character.

While the 80s was a period of perfect harmony between the two, the 90s was an entirely different affair. First came the lawsuits in which Vince McMahon was put on trial for allegedly giving steroids to his wrestlers. During the trial, Hogan admitted to taking steroids to help his performance but stopped short of blaming McMahon directly.

Then came his very public signing with Vince's main rival WCW. Hogan helped the southern promotion reach a level surpassing that of WWF in the mid-90s which threatened to bury McMahon's company for good. When WWF finally conquered Ted Turner and Eric Bishoff in 2001, many were wondering whether Hogan would be coming home to the company he helped build.

It would take a while after the initial purchase of WCW for Hogan to arrive back on WWF television, but it wouldn't be long before a rivalry would form between the Hulkster and his former boss. The feud basically wrote itself considering the amount of history between the two, but with Vince's overacting and Hogan's huge amount of experience on the mic, this turned into a signature programme for the WWF in the lead up to Wrestlemania 19.

The highpoint of the feud came when the Mania contract signing took place, with Vince laying out his feelings towards Hulkamania and how he never really needed Hogan in the first place. He then attacked the Hulkster and made him sign the contract in his own blood.

Even after their match was concluded, the two continued to feud with Hogan being forced to introduce the Mr. America gimmick after Vince forced him to take time off away from the screen.

It always seemed inevitable that these two would meet again after Hogan's first departure. Luckily they managed to fit it all in before it was too late for either of them.

#2 AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon

Better than expected

While many storylines involving McMahons fail to live up to expectations, the one between Shane and AJ Styles from 2016 actually surpassed them. Their meeting at Wrestlemania 33 felt very much like a pointless, thrown together programme that benefitted nobody, but when the bell rang, fans across the world were treated to arguably the match of the night.

The feud essentially stemmed from AJ Styles's dissatisfaction with not being able to challenge for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania.

After defeating Luke Harper to earn the number one contendership, Randy Orton, the 2016 Royal Rumble winner, announced that he would now like to face champion Bray Wyatt despite previously refusing to.

This led to a match between Orton and Styles which Orton won. Despite actually backing Styles in the debate, Shane McMahon got the brunt of AJ's wrath, claiming that the Smackdown commissioner wasn't utilising his greatest star correctly.

In one memorable backstage incident, Styles threw Shane's head through a car window leading to his suspension. Shane then convinced Bryan to lift it so that the two could face each other at the show of shows.

As previously mentioned, the match delivered in a big way and it also led to AJ's face turn where he now enjoys huge amounts of popularity on the blue brand and looks set to someday lead the WWE again as its signature champion.

#1 Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon

The feud to end all feuds

There are certain storylines and feuds in professional wrestling that enjoy universal approval from fans. When it comes to the WWF/E, one of these feuds is the near five-year angle involving Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

This storyline was so important for the business of professional wrestling because it had elements that appealed to a wide range of fans. Some watch wrestling because of the sheer entertainment value, while others also appreciate the 'behind the scenes' goings on and judge storylines in terms of how much money they bring into the company.

Stone Cold vs. Vince was not only entertaining as hell, it actually saved the WWF from near annihilation after being pummelled in the ratings by WCW for over a year. It also helped to give very talented mid-card stars a chance to enter the main event scene, thus building one of the strongest cohorts of WWF stars ever known.

The dynamics of the feud also worked so well because of how relatable it was. Vince McMahon played the evil boss who, because of his money and influence, thought he could do whatever he wanted to his employees. Stone Cold came in as the all-American blue collar worker, standing up to authority and living the kind of lifestyle most in American wanted.

At times, the feud pushed the boundaries of acceptability with each man's life being threatened on multiple occasions, but this also fit with the times perfectly in terms of TV entertainment in the 90s.

All feuds involving Vince have since been measured by this classic and it is difficult to see how anything in the company's future is going to be able to top it.