10 Flops WWE Should Never Have Tried Again
3. Killing Off Mr. McMahon
2007's limosine explosion angle was shelved in the wake of Chris Benoit-led tragedy and media controversy. It was a smart play from WWE; the last thing they wanted to do was pretend the long-running Mr. McMahon character was dead when there was some real-life misery taking place.
Around one year later, the company made another attempt to end McMahon's presence on television by having some staging collapse on top of him after he'd been (shoot) giving away wads of cash on air. Again, it didn't work, which seems rather obvious considering Vinnie Mac is still running rampant on Raw and SmackDown today.
Goodness knows they tried.
'McMahon's Million Dollar Mania' ended on a sour note with Shane, Stephanie and others acting like daddy dearest was in an "unstable condition" and might not pull through. This, like the first faked death, was a publicity stunt, albeit one that didn't have any comprehensible end game.