Vince McMahon Debate: Is His "Death" Good Publicity?

Alright. It is no secret that WWE is getting huge coverage because of their recent storyline where Vince McMahon is blown up in a car. However, is this the kind of coverage that WWE needs right now?

On this post, instead of giving just one opinion on the subject, I decided to bring in Drew to share his ideas as well. So that means our readers will get two experts for the price of one. Here we go...

Jared: The Vince McMahon death storyline is NOT good for the WWE. Wrestling is getting huge publicity for this no doubt(major newspapers, people searching for answers on the internet, etc…), but having the chairman of the board getting blown up in a limo is bad publicity. On top of that, they made the fans actually believe that McMahon is dead (see my “controversial” post that I made a few days ago).

People make fun of me all the time for watching wrestling because they say it is “so fake” and “nobody gets hurt” and whatnot (another subject for another date)…but this storyline sure doesn’t help my argument against those people. I can point out that Jeff Hardy did a front-flip off of a 20 foot ladder onto Bubba Ray Dudley, or I can point out that Mick Foley was thrown off of a cell, through a cell, through thumbtacks, and he ended up having a tooth coming through his nose…but all that someone has to say to counter these arguments is “yeah that’s great and all, but didn’t they fake that the owner died from a car-bomb?”…and they can’t lose the argument.

This storyline makes wrestling look a ton more artificial than it actually is. Storylines these days are making WWE look dumber and dumber…like midgets dressed up as the Boogeyman, two guys from the 50’s, and the chairman being blown up.

Ladies and Gentlemen: this is NOT bringing back the attitude era…it’s just dumb and pointless.

Drew: WWE has recently been making an obvious conscious effort to return to American pop culture, just look at Trump's appearance at Wrestlemania, Vince McMahon's "death", etc. My argument is that THEY'RE DOING A GOOD JOB OF IT...and the Vince McMahon death angle only helps them.

When I was at work the other day, I mentioned that I was going to Charlotte to see a WWE show, and a completely random girl asked me, "Didn't their CEO or something just die?" If the McMahon death angle had not taken place, what would she have had anything to say?

This argument comes very close to the phrase "any publicity is good publicity." I think that in this case the phrase is true. For WWE, it's a good thing to be on the news for almost anything. Not only that, but since the staged carbombing WWE has shot up to #1 in Yahoo! searches, beating out even Paris Hilton. Now that's popularity.

If there were one downside to this angle, it is that it weakens kayfabe for the WWE. It reinforces everybody's knowledge that wrestling is fake. Is this so bad though? Even Shane McMahon has been pushing for "behind the scenes" wrestling information to be posted on WWE.com. This may be something that WWE wants.

This McMahon death storyline is great: it put WWE in the news and it surprised even the most savvy wrestling fans. Keep it up, WWE.