Stop the "Vince was murdered" storyline IMMEDIATELY!
Monday, June 25th, 2007A couple unfortunate weeks ago, WWE decided to spice up its storyline with a murder mystery. In out-of-character fashion, Vince McMahon acted a bit goofy after losing the ECW title, and at the end of a Raw broadcast, walked out into the parking lot and got into his limo, which immediately blew up.
The storyline, intended to call to mind the “Who Shot JR?” cliffhanger of the classic TV show Dallas, started out with a bang, but soon grew disturbing and tacky as the WWE played out the concept, because rather than playing it for humor, the company played the storyline straight, airing clips of somber, apparently-grieving wrestlers spilling tears over an owner who, within the storylines, never made any friends.
Pro Wrestling Views was among the first to call for the storyline tone to change or be dumped because it cheapened how the WWE had treated real deaths, like those of Eddie Guerrero and Owen Hart. That call seemed further justified as last week it was learned that classic WWE Diva Sensational Sherri Martel, who died at age 49; Martel passed away in her sleep, with circumstances still under investigation. No foul play is suspected in Martel’s death, though toxicology tests are being run as part of the autopsy to determine if drugs or alcohol were involved.
Now, with a current WWE superstar involved in a possible double murder-suicide, there can be no further justification for continuing the “Who Killed Vince?” storyline. It’s simply too disturbing and too close to real life events. Forget the marketing, forget the T-shirts, forget the engraved pens. The storyline must be dropped immediately to make room for wrestlers and fans to deal with their mixture of grief and anger on a deserving target: a real-life tragedy.
