30 Most INSANE Things Wrestlers Have EVER Said On Live TV
10. Stephanie McMahon's Post-9/11 Message
Only a McMahon could (inadvertently?) twist one of the worst terrorist attacks in modern history into a sob story about being a McMahon.
WWE’s September 13, 2001 edition of SmackDown - one of the first events of its kind anywhere in America following the 9/11 attacks - opened with an uncharacteristically restrained speech from Vince McMahon. His words, while grandiose and loaded with carny rhetoric, seemed at very least on trend with the dual senses of national unity and mourning. Later on though, Stephanie took her turn.
What followed was repugnant and insane then, and bizarre now. She stared through the shaken audience and compared the 9/11 terrorists to the U.S. government because they dared to prosecute Vince McMahon during the 1994 steroid trial. Yes, in her mind, the federal investigators were on the same level as hijackers that had murdered thousands of innocent people. Any messages of solidarity or sympathy were swallowed up by a tribalistic adoration of the company and her minted family.
Worse still? This wasn’t a live, off-the-cuff blunder. Like most of the speeches on the show that night, this was a pre-taped vignette, meaning it passed through multiple layers of production before airing. At no point did anyone in WWE question the sheer lunacy of her statement.