10 Stupidest Decisions By WWE In 2007
2. The Chris Benoit Tribute Show
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but there's no getting around the fact that WWE eulogised a murderer on live television before the facts of the crime were clear. The three-hour June 25th, 2007 episode of Raw was a tribute to show to Chris Benoit (as well as Nancy and Daniel), who were announced as dead just hours before.
A solemn Vince McMahon opened the show standing in an empty arena and announcing the news of the tragedy. Throughout the night WWE replayed Benoit's greatest matches as well as testimonials from his co-workers and friends. Ironically, that night's broadcast was set to be a 'eulogy' for Vince McMahon, who had 'died' in the storyline just weeks prior.
Everyone there was dressed for a funeral but the chairman had to drop the act in light of the very real tragedy. Some of his colleagues' comments were illuminating and showed much about Benoit's behind-the-scenes character. Triple H, for example, talked about how The Crippler forced a young rookie to perform one thousand squats after disrespecting Shawn Michaels.
Most chilling of all were the words of William Regal, who looked spooked and refused to comment on Benoit as a man, simply saying that he was one of the best wrestlers in the world (JBL had supposedly asked Regal whether or not he thought Benoit killed his family before the recording). As the night wore on, rumours began to swirl around the internet and the facts of the case rapidly became apparent.
Over the course of the weekend, Chris Benoit had killed his wife Nancy and son Daniel before hanging himself. The next morning, the news was everywhere (and believe me, it was major news in America) and the company were forced to go into 'damage limitation' mode.
Vince McMahon opened that evening's episode of ECW on SyFy by essentially apologising for the tribute show and stating there would be no more mention of Mr. Benoit's name going forward.