10 Insane Moves WWE Will Make To Save 2020

7. Attempt To Kill Off Mr McMahon (Again)

CM Punk
WWE.com

There exists an odd push and pull between the Mr McMahon character and the WWE audience that have loyally lined his pockets all these decades.

Raw numbers have plunged dramatically over the past several years, but the odd advertised appearance from The Chairman always results in a very small spike for whatever reason. The law of diminished returns has barely applied too because - unlike how he treats a lot of other things on the show - he only does odd ones here and there before the novelty wears off.

Or so went the rationale before the Triple H 25th Anniversary edition of SmackDown, anyway.

There, he appeared unannounced and at times unintelligible. The gradual decline of McMahon's performance abilities had been such that the losses were only marginal during those aforementioned Raw one-offs. This was a different, altogether-more disheartening scenario. McMahon bantered Triple H off the face of the planet with his bizarre arrangement of rants and recollections, but not with any of the style or verve his persona once exuded. The fact his spot wasn't promoted ahead of time implies an internal lack of faith in himself to do it, too.

"I can't be on TV if I'm dead!" was an early boy-popper for the Bruce Prichard podcast, but McMahon never got to see his plan through. Could he finally secure the numbers and escape hatch this sort of plot is destined to offer?

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett