Wrestling stunt goes too far

On June 11, 2007, World Wrestling Entertainment chairman Vincent Kennedy McMahon was supposed to be celebrating "Vince McMahon Appreciation Night" with the fans on Monday Night Raw. However, many of the fans were unappreciative of him, which paved the way to the event at end of the broadcast.McMahon walked out of Wachovia Arena in Scranton, Pa.., at the end of the night with a strange look on his face, quite possibly foreshadowing impeding peril. At the same time, many WWE fans watched on the big video screen from inside the arena as McMahon paced slowly to his white limousine out back. These fans had to think something was out of the ordinary, and they were right. McMahon opened the limo door, got in the car, paused for a few seconds and closed the door.

Maybe you're saying that's not that strange. Oh, well I forgot to mention that when he closed the door, the limousine blew up. That's right; the door closing sparked a car bomb that ignited the car with McMahon presumably inside.

Immediately, numerous news sources picked up on the story, regarding it as real. There was media frenzy in the aftermath because the WWE was acting as if McMahon really had died. Some people around the country actually also thought McMahon was in the limo and had perished. Both WWE headquarters and Scranton police and emergency rescue organizations received phone call after phone call regarding McMahon - what had happened and what his condition was. In the days and weeks following, McMahon was billed as being "presumed dead," although absolutely no remains could be found inside the heavily charred limo, which actual forensic agents found quite strange.

So, the WWE immediately "hired" federal investigators to look into this. There were press conferences with these hired men incorporated into WWE programming, which led to a "whodunnit?" angle. The WWE had an entire storyline planned out where arrests would be made, and McMahon would never appear again on WWE television and would conceal himself in private affairs off-screen as well.

But on Aug. 6, McMahon reappeared on WWE television. What? On a Monday Night Raw broadcast from Buffalo's HSBC Arena two months after he "died," he was back. How did that happen? Oh, that's right; McMahon wasn't in the exploding limo. It was a stunt that went horribly wrong for the WWE. Legitimate people within the CIA and actual federal investigators were less than pleased with McMahon's company for this distasteful storyline.

Two weeks after he "died," the WWE planned a tribute show and memorial service for their "fallen" leader. They brought in a casket, flowers, candles and pictures. The wrestlers were all to wear black suits, and it was to be a somber night. That never happened though, because reality struck earlier in the day, and real deaths occurred under the worst of circumstances in wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and son. With not much known then about the Benoit deaths, the WWE changed their McMahon memorial remembrance show into a Benoit memorial remembrance show. McMahon appeared in the ring prior to the show, saying that, although the show was supposed to be about his alleged demise, in reality a wrestler and his family were dead. Consequently, the McMahon death angle was immediately dropped.

The whole story never should have started and was terribly done. When he reappeared, he said he staged his demise because he had to know if the fans cared and had to know what they thought about him. That's an attempt at an explanation, but it only came after television ratings had slipped, which was the reason for his return to television in the first place.

When the WWE extends its unreal storylines into real life, it crosses a line. When it takes ideas, puts them into mainstream media and reports them as real, it crosses a line. When it plays off a limousine explosion as a real event and makes it seem like a man has died, it crosses a line. The line between fantasy and reality is very evident. The WWE is on one side of that line and should stay there.

e-mail: madigajm@sbu.edu