10 Most Shocking Vince McMahon Controversies
9. The Death of Vincent K. McMahon
Vince McMahon has had his fair share of bombastic ideas and has been known to cross the line in his quest for ratings and mainstream exposure. In 2007, he planned possibly his biggest stunt ever, which began with “Vince McMahon Appreciation Night” where over the course of Raw the malevolent owner of the company appeared dejected and depressed as he life’s achievement was celebrated all around him.
That night, Raw went off the air with Vince leaving the building and getting into his limousine, which immediately exploded into a giant fireball. Plans were made for the next week on Raw to host a wake of sorts for McMahon, featuring his entire family, including his never-seen-on-TV brother, Rod McMahon, but what would happen later that week would change everything.
In between episodes of Monday Night Raw, Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before taking his own life, and suddenly the death of Vince McMahon seemed utterly tasteless and crass. The angle was immediately dropped and WWE ran a poorly-timed tribute show to Benoit (before details of the grisly affair came to light).
In hindsight, everything surrounding those two weeks are a massive black mark on WWE’s history and are best forgotten.