One Moment WWE Wants You To Forget From Every Year (1985 to 2026)
20. 2007 - WWE Changes Forever
By 2007, so many of WWE's storylines were so ugly and awful in tone that real life horrors almost failed to pierce through the veneer. To this end, when the company decided to have the Mr. McMahon character reach his grisly end via exploding limousine, they thought nothing of using the same music/graphics/tropes that had become chillingly familiar when wrestlers passed for real.
McMahon's kayfabe death was stunt booking in the extreme, motivated as much by looking for every last cent down the back of the sofa as it was the real Vince's thirst to be taken off television. The Chairman's 'Battle Of The Billionaires' feud with Donald Trump was credited for drawing a monster number for WrestleMania 23, but his ECW Champion/breakdown/death arc that followed reeked of post-Mania desperation before real life intervened.
The 2007 Chris Benoit double murder/suicide that took the lives of Nancy and Daniel Benoit changed everything about professional wrestling in one way or another, leading to future business perceptions of it requiring a shift, audience relationships with it forever changing, and WWE having no choice but to make vast and sweeping adjustments to the way physical and mental health of its performers was handled.
"Seismic" understates the scale of introspection, review, reform and actual change required. But, for reasons as sensible as they are cynical, much of it will not and cannot ever be discussed.