Publicity stunts can be beneficial for companies on occasion. In 2008, WWE were in the midst of a change. Shifting to a more child-friendly 'PG' product, the promotion were looking for things which might draw attention to what they were presenting. For that very reason, Vince McMahon decided to start giving away bags of cash on episodes of Monday Night Raw. Starting in early-June, McMahon hosted 'Million Dollar Mania', instructing people to watch Raw because they could be in with a chance of bagging a lot of money. All in all, WWE gave away around $500,000 before the PR stunt was canned. After just 3 weeks, parts of the Monday Night Raw set collapsed on top of McMahon, and he was said to be in critical condition. The storyline was never really given a satisfactory conclusion, rendering it pretty pointless. 'Million Dollar Mania' didn't up the Raw ratings as WWE had hoped, because fans demanded more satisfying storylines, matches and wrestling in order to tune in. There's little doubt that the money frittered away by McMahon could have been better used by WWE, it didn't even have an impact on how many people watched WWE programming.
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.