What was planned for McMahon's death angle?

[Tom]

Sorry if there is already a thread similar.

So, when they did the whole limo explosion with Mr. McMahon, where was it leading? Obviously everyone knows why the angle was cut, but I've always wanted to know what they were planning with it. The whole thing was to take McMahon off of TV, but who were they going to reveal as the perpetrator, and why was it done?

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

I think the plan was to have either Mr Kennedy or Paul London be behind the limousine explosion and they would receive a massive push from it. It would have benefited both men imo, as Mr Kennedy was a guy that was ready to make a big break in the WWE and but he never got to hit the level he was capable of in the WWE. As for Paul London, I believe parts of his planned push were eventually put into "The Brian Kendrick" character, while Paul himself got released (which is a shame, as I always preferred Paul over Brian)

As for why...I'm not sure. I don't think the pinpointed motive is that important other than "Kennedy/London were pissed off as McMahon". It probably would have given them an anarchistic gimmick and I feel Kennedy would have suited this role perfectly. Shame it didn't come to fruition.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Supposedly, Mr. Kennedy was going to be the big reveal. At least that's what I had heard. As we remember he was holding the Money In The Bank briefcase that summer. He was on the rise, that was for sure.

Personally, I'm glad that angle amounted to a pile of shit and didn't continue. Obviously, I wish it didn't take Chris Benoit's suicide and murder of wife Nancy (better known as Woman of WCW/ECW fame) to do it.

Anotehr thing to mention was how they treated this kayfabe death of McMahon's with more legitimacy than tragically departed legends like Sensational Sherri, who had died the same week.

Every part of my being hated this angle, and it pissed me off as a fan, stuff rarely angers me when it comes to something like wrestling but the way people in this business have died, to see McMahon have trivialized things the way he did, just convinced me even more as to why I don't follow WWE like I had in years past.

Fuck them for this, disgusting is all I have to say.

 

[Jerichoholic8894]

From what I remember. Mr. Kennedy was supposed to be the big reveal. Then he was rumored to be the illegitimate son of Vince. Neither obviously happened, but for different reasons.

Another name I heard thrown out there was Paul London, due to him smiling before McMahon "died". But that seems more like something that would happen in one of the old Smackdown games where unlikely people in unlikely storylines happened.

 

[Tom]

Paul London? Wow, that's interesting. I thought his smiling was just him shooting on the segment for the lack of use of him and Kendrick (sort of to the point of not caring about the consequences). I could believe Kennedy since I know they were wanting all sorts for him during that time.

 

[vampxx24]

it was supposed to be kennedy. this was the same storyline as the illegitate son of mcmahon. kennedy was in line for a huge push and was supposed to be revealed as vinces kid and trying to kill him off as revenge for neglecting him for shane and steph. kennedy then got himself in trouble by failing a wellness test which caused him to drop the mitb briefcase to edge and ruining the entire storyline. kennedy then would turn face then shortly after be fired. this then started kennedys/andersons personal web promos mocking things that happened in wwe( i think the most famous one was when he had his work out bag and was taking stuff out and he kept taking out bottles of "steroids" and saying OOPS that wasnt suppose to be in there. he then signed with tna once his 90 day clause was over. hornswaggle was then thrown into the gimmick of being the son as kennedys firing left a gapping hole into the storyline

people are mixing things up with paul london. paul was never in line or had to do with this. what happened with paul was he PISSED vince off. when they were doing this angle they showed vince walking out to the limo with all the superstars on the wall as he walked out. when vince was passing paul, paul then broke character and burst into laughter. this pretty much sealed his fate as shortly after it broke paul was in huge trouble and vince was pissed at the character break

 

[HBKistheHOF]

Well ever unanswered question in WWE history post 2006 seems to all have the same answer, Hornswoggle!

Hornswoggle would later be revealed as the illegitimate son of Vincent K. McMahon & would even go on to have somewhat of a feud with his "biological" father before it was finally revealed that Finaly was his "true" father. Hornswoggle was also an insane, leprechaun! The little guy could have just snuck under the car & planted a bomb prior to Vince walking outside to get back at Vince for stealing his lucky charms! Completely logical!!!

But I was never really a fan of the whole idea & unless WWE had some ridiculously elaborate, awesome angle that was very well thought out planned to be the pay off (which I'm pretty positive they didn't), the angle seemed pretty much destined to fail from the get go. Obviously the events that led to the angle being called off were horrific & something no decent human being should ever want to happen to anyone.

But in the end I think the angle ending with that explosion & becoming a distant memory was for the best.

 

[Tom]

it was supposed to be kennedy. this was the same storyline as the illegitate son of mcmahon. kennedy was in line for a huge push and was supposed to be revealed as vinces kid and trying to kill him off as revenge for neglecting him for shane and steph. kennedy then got himself in trouble by failing a wellness test which caused him to drop the mitb briefcase to edge and ruining the entire storyline. kennedy then would turn face then shortly after be fired. this then started kennedys/andersons personal web promos mocking things that happened in wwe( i think the most famous one was when he had his work out bag and was taking stuff out and he kept taking out bottles of "steroids" and saying OOPS that wasnt suppose to be in there. he then signed with tna once his 90 day clause was over. hornswaggle was then thrown into the gimmick of being the son as kennedys firing left a gapping hole into the storyline

people are mixing things up with paul london. paul was never in line or had to do with this. what happened with paul was he PISSED vince off. when they were doing this angle they showed vince walking out to the limo with all the superstars on the wall as he walked out. when vince was passing paul, paul then broke character and burst into laughter. this pretty much sealed his fate as shortly after it broke paul was in huge trouble and vince was pissed at the character break

I think you have your dates mixed up. Kennedy wasn't fired until 2009, this storyline was in 2007. I know he was considered for the son angle, but that was dropped because it got out on the internet that he would be revealed (something like that).

 

[#heel420]

It was going to lead to a huge push for Mr. Kennedy ultimately climaxing with Kennedy being revealed as Mr. McMahon's illegitimate child.

As for Paul London he said himself the smiling was nothing more than him being a smart ass.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I still wish this storyline could have played out. It had huge potential. Due to obvious reasons and real life tragedies that took place at the same time, it did not happen. I recall reading rumors that Kennedy was supposed to be behind the explosion. It was going to tie into his Money In the Bank cash-in and a massive push. He was going to be Vince's son onscreen too, he even hinted at it in a promo where he talked about him being named Mr Kennedy while Kennedy was Vince's middle name. If I remember correctly that promo was right before Kennedy lost the briefcase and got de-pushed. Kennedy's mistakes made us get stuck with the Hornswoggle angle that came later.

They still could have gone through with the Kennedy being Vince's son part of the angle had Kennedy not gotten de-pushed. He lost the briefcase to Edge (who almost immediately cashed in on Taker) and did nothing relevant again in WWE until his release two years later. Now he is in TNA. People mention London but I honestly do not recall really hearing too much about him being involved when this was going on. It was all Kennedy. This was going to be HUGE for him if it played out. It's a shame we will never know, whether that was the case or not.

 

[AJ1981]

it was supposed to be kennedy. this was the same storyline as the illegitate son of mcmahon. kennedy was in line for a huge push and was supposed to be revealed as vinces kid and trying to kill him off as revenge for neglecting him for shane and steph. kennedy then got himself in trouble by failing a wellness test which caused him to drop the mitb briefcase to edge and ruining the entire storyline. kennedy then would turn face then shortly after be fired. this then started kennedys/andersons personal web promos mocking things that happened in wwe( i think the most famous one was when he had his work out bag and was taking stuff out and he kept taking out bottles of "steroids" and saying OOPS that wasnt suppose to be in there. he then signed with tna once his 90 day clause was over. hornswaggle was then thrown into the gimmick of being the son as kennedys firing left a gapping hole into the storyline

people are mixing things up with paul london. paul was never in line or had to do with this. what happened with paul was he PISSED vince off. when they were doing this angle they showed vince walking out to the limo with all the superstars on the wall as he walked out. when vince was passing paul, paul then broke character and burst into laughter. this pretty much sealed his fate as shortly after it broke paul was in huge trouble and vince was pissed at the character break

I think everyone here is confusing the explosion storyline with the illegitimate child storyline that replaced it. WWE came up with both storylines under direction from NBC who wanted some sort of arc plot to draw viewers in each week. According to an interview with Christopher DeJoseph (Big Dick Johnson) a former WWE writer did with the PWTORCH a couple of years ago the storyline was to be a long term one and there was no culprit set in place at the time it was discontinued due to the Benoit tragedy. Back to Mr. Kennedy the reason he dropped the MITB briefcase wasn't a wellness violation it was an injury. Kennedy suffered a suspected biceps tear during a house show that would keep him out of action for 3-4 months, however it turned out it was misdiagnosed and it was simply a haematoma that required a couple of weeks out, but by then he'd already dropped the briefcase. As for Paul London his smiling was unscripted and caught a lot of heat for doing it. London stated in a interview with Power Slam magazine that wrestlers were instructed to act intimidated and not look at Vince, however London found the whole thing ridiculous and couldn't help smiling

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

People mention London but I honestly do not recall really hearing too much about him being involved when this was going on.

Paul London had this big grin when McMahon was walking out of the Arena. That wasn't planned and I heard McMahon was furious with London backstage. Though the commentators started bringing up London's grin and, as I recall, in the Vengeance: NOC PPV they did a poll asking the fans who did it and London's name was one of the choices.

So yeah nothing was planned with Paul London but I guess his grin they had to put him in to add spice with the angle. Though I would have loved it if London got the chunk of the votes (we will never know since the angle was pulled after the Benoit Incident).

 

[The Big C]

There is an article from 2007 that was written by Ben Smith at WrestlingTruth. He goes through the entire angle and he writes that according to Dave Meltzer, the angle was to culminate in Vince still claiming he faked his own death, while revealing an accomplice to it. There were many superstars in the running, but the front runner was Mr. Kennedy.

I have linked the article if anyone wants to check it out.
http://wrestlingtruth.com/wrestling-columns/115-vince-mcmahon-death-angle-explained-06022007/

 

[Nygiantsfan1029]

My question is how long would the WWE gone through with it the Benoit stuff didn't happen and how would they bring Vince back. Remember guys in WWE kayfabe Al Wilson is still dead. lol

 

[johnbragg]

I don't think they had a plan.

I remember what I came up with that week, though. If you find the clip on youtube of Vince walking to the limo, he looks lost and disoriented, like a broken man.

What should have happened? Vince disappears. Goes off the grid. HHH, Stephanie, Shane, Linda can't find him. Gone.

So WWE is in chaos for a while until the family and the WWE board establish control, get the legalities pushed through to get Vince ousted as Chairman and president, etc.

Then, months later, Vince returns, and with couple of chosen wrestlers goes to war with the new regime.

 

[JJ15776]

First up, let's clear up all the Mr. Kennedy stuff. People are getting very confused.

He won MITB at WrestleMania 23, in 2007. He lost his briefcase to Edge on May 7 - a month before the limo explosion - because he injured his arm(although it turned out that his injury wasn't nearly as serious as they thought, and he returned to action soon after). Later that summer, they began the illegitimate son angle which was supposed to end with Kennedy being that illegitimate son...but he was implicated in a steroid scandal and suspended for 30 days, so in storyline he was suspended for "impersonating a McMahon" and Hornswaggle took his place. He was not fired for real until May of 2009, and it had nothing to do with steroids.

Anyway, back to the limo explosion angle. The plan all along, as actually happened, was for Vince to reveal that he faked his own death. It would've been revealed that he had an accomplice...possibly Mr. Kennedy. This would've, ultimately, lead to a match where Triple H defended the McMahon family against Mr. Kennedy, the same way the illegitimate son angle would have gone. The long term payoff was still used, just a year later at WrestleMania 25, in the Triple H-Randy Orton feud.