10 Times WWE Failed At Forced Emotion
5. Stephanie McMahon Confronts 9/11
WWE's treatment of the unspeakable tragedy was 99% bang on. Their most cynical detractors might have expected them to run an angle on the back of it, but they showed uncharacteristic restraint and class in their SmackDown! tribute.
Edge in his video tribute broke kayfabe by revealing his real name before sending out an understated missive, during which he expressed his uncertainty about whether or not going on was the right thing to do. The normally bombastic Rock focused on the disturbing imagery of the Ground Zero rubble, in stark contrast to his usual lighthearted disposition. New York native Tazz patently did not want to be in Houston. Understandably, he was essentially begging to get sent home to his family.
Stephanie McMahon, however, decided to forego the victims altogether and compare the tragedy to the steroid trial her father was subject to in the early nineties, in a totally bizarre crowbarring. "A few years ago, some people tried to destroy my family. They attacked my father's reputation."
Vince was acquitted - but the steroid culture was so evidently pervasive then - and remained well in vogue in 2001 - that she should have shut her mouth out of stupidity as much as she should have out of respect.
Worse still, unlike the performers around her, she was steel-eyed and focused. The tribute seemed methodically rehearsed. At no point during any practise runs did it occur to her that she might have been in danger of appearing self-involved.