N&A: All About McMahon’s “Death:” Why it Was Done, How it Was Done, and What Follows

It was the most memorable angle in professional wrestling in the last decade, perhaps other than the death of WCW and its purchase by WWE. At the end of the 6/11 RAW, Mr. McMahon got into his limousine and as the door closed, the luxurious car exploded completely for the chairman to end up “presumed dead.” A lot has already been written on the segment, especially on this site, including a column by yours truly. A couple of weeks later, we find ourselves in the aftermath of McMahon’s “death,” and with a shaken up pro wrestling world.

While many have sounded off on the angle, talking about what happened, when it happened, and what it means for the short-term future of the company, the most important question that should always be asked with a controversial angle that has failed to find an answer – why was the segment done in the first place? Why not just write Vince off of TV like the Faux Kane for example and forget of his existence, or just tell us that he’s back on a mission of becoming a genetic jackhammer? The answer to the why question lays deeper into the grand scheme of things when it comes to WWE programming. Following this year’s WrestleMania, the company saw itself in a really awkward position. With a few superstars on the climb, and for once an idea of long-term planning within their programs, WWE decided going back to basics is the way. We were witnesses of more wrestling, less talk, and at least one or two good to decent matches a week, a schema WWE has used in the past when trying to get back to basics but has had to dump for different reasons. The end result this time around was no different, only this time the reasons were pretty legit. The injuries to Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Ken Kennedy, and Booker T put the company at ridiculous odds, as five of its main event wrestlers who had programs planned through the summer and beyond were now out with injuries. With the overall ratings suffering a decrease in the last few months, pressure from the USA Network was increased to the max, and to make things worse, the channel through Bonnie Hammer (USA and SCI FI Networks President) was pushing for a return of RAW to its glory days filled of soap opera and shocking moments, entirely contradicting what WWE had started establishing prior WrestleMania and shortly after. Having no other choice but to respond, WWE went with the McMahon “death.”

According to sources, Dave Lagana had proposed a similar stunt in February 2005 (the old SmackDown days) where Carlito and then associate Jesus (Aaron Aguilera) were to hire people to bomb Teddy Long’s limo on SmackDown, as he was leaving in his car. Carlito was just in for a push at the time, having stabbed John Cena in an angle that caused Cena to be out of action (when in reality he was filming “The Marine” in Australia); however the idea never came close to fruition as it was protested by Brian Gewirtz and finally nixed by Stephanie McMahon who agreed with Gewirtz that the idea is too far-fetched to work, and it never even reached Vince. Ironically, Gewirtz is the main writer of RAW, the show on which two years later from the original proposal, Mr. McMahon’s limo did blow up in the exact same angle.

The actual idea to kill off Mr. McMahon was first proposed internally a long time ago – sources saying more than a year ago. With the pressure put on by the USA Network for a soap opera storyline and “shocking value” entertainment, they called Russo… joking… they decided it was time to go with the Vince angle. With five main event guys out, the company also figured it could be the storyline to carry them into the summer. The plan was finalized four weeks ago, when planning for the stunt began. A special stunt team was brought in from Hollywood, and permits in Wilkes-Barre were gotten the last week of May allowing them to run the stunt. Kudos to the company, as they did a tremendous job with the actual production of the segment. They actually did two stunts – the car exploding was filmed on 6/9 late at night at the Wachovia Center, and the footage of the limo on fire was filmed the next night on 6/10 past 11 pm in a part of the arena blocked from public view. WWE brought in firefighters on the scene as well, to put out the fire and film a segment that they used on WWE.com and next-week television shows to further the storyline. The videos were all spliced up with the live satellite of McMahon walking into a brand new limo at the actual ending of RAW. They then cut to the explosion of a similar-looking 80s limo they had filmed, and after the show brought out the charred up limo as RAW was going on live on 6/11 so the audience leaving the arena could see the damaged car.

Then the backlash began. A lot of people loved the ending, and were praying for no further continuation of the angle. It really was the perfect ending of a character who has been portrayed as the ultimate heel for nearly two decades, and was involved in storylines with the three biggest draws in the history of professional wrestling – Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, and The Rock. It was the perfect “goodbye” from a man we have learned to respect for what he’s done professionally, and hate for what he’s done as a TV character. It was the perfect symbolic ending that showed good wins over bad at the end, and that “Satan himself” as Jim Ross would say only got his. It was similar to the reasoning many Sopranos fans had as to why Tony Soprano should have been “whacked” in the final episode of the show – only because he is a gangster, he is a bad guy, and that is what happens to bad guys. Unfortunately, WWE is forced into furthering the storyline which kind of kills off the originality and embrace of the 6/11 ending. There was of course a large group of fans that felt the fake death angle is bad taste, something that has no place in wrestling and would have never been done by promoters of the past. The ten-bell salute done on ECW and SmackDown was the tip of the iceberg, as in the wake of the deaths of Eddie Guerrero, Brian Pillman, and Owen Hart, doing such a salute is nothing but disrespectful. The timing of the angle is bad, as it also coincides with the unfortunate news we got a few days ago of the death of Sherri Martel. Several stock-holders have also gotten in touch with the company to note that they feel the angle is morally wrong, and while entertaining when it comes to the initial reaction, could damage the company overall. With such a split audience, I’m sure the reader’s opinion falls on one or the other end of the spectrum of thought, or perhaps even somewhere in between. Pick your poison.

The backlash that came out of the angle has been tough backstage at WWE. After Martel’s death, many upper management members in the company wanted nothing to do with the storyline, and thought it should be dropped as soon as possible. This past week’s RAW rating came in at a 4.2, making matters even worse, as obviously people tuned in to see what this “presumed death” is all about. Many wanted the angle dropped, and to carry on, while a small group of upper management led by Stephanie McMahon wanted the storyline continued into the summer. They’ve booked a three-hour show for this coming Monday, where we will either get the person who did it, or the storyline will be furthered even more. So where do they go from here?

The major storyline that is expected to play out over the next month is the obvious “Who tried to kill Mr. McMahon?” The plan is to reveal the identity of the “murderer” either sometime next month or to build up to an answer for the Great American Bash PPV, exactly a month from this writing, on 7/22 in San Jose. Things in WWE change on daily basis nowadays, but I would assume the company goes through with this as long as they can, with twists and turns added in the way.

What will WWE get out of this after all, is also an important question to ask. Surely, the short-term results are obvious, and although ECW and SmackDown’s angles haven’t bounced up from the storyline, RAW’s rating skyrocketed to 4.2 this past week. However, going off of shock value for too long is no good news long-term. Not to mention that with a storyline like this, no house show matches can be scheduled, not even a “match” that decides the end of the storyline, unless they bring in Shane McMahon to wrestle the person who “did it.” If the ratings continue to remain above 4.0 for more than a month, then they can consider this successful, and say people tuned in to follow the soap opera. If the ratings fall down to the 3.6, and even 3.8 level, and Great American Bash falls short of making at least a 25% jump from last year’s buys, then this has been a failure. There’s no wrestling program to book here, technically, so it will be interesting to see what the company does. Perhaps “hiring” a wrestler to do a job for them would be a logical way.

As far as who the culprit will be, you can pick and choose from literally everyone. They will probably tease people’s involvement for a long time to come (much like this past week’s RAW), and perhaps get a few celebrities involved as well. So get ready to point fingers at everyone from Steve Austin and Bret Hart to Donald Trump.