AS I SEE IT Bob Magee Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets PWBTS.com
What kind of utter crap was that last Monday night? Even after the real-life death of Sherri Martel, couldn’t Vince McMahon have scaled back his macabre death fantasy and murder mystery…even for a couple of nights?
Nope, we got it in turned up even louder. And of course, we had to have the tearful Stephanie McMahon coming out and “honoring” her father to end RAW to crowd boos.
And….if the 136 replays of Vince’s car and the fake McMemorials weren’t enough, we have yet ANOTHER 3 hour McMassive Mock Memorial Service later tonight.
They finally got around to mentioning Sherri Martel’s death at 10:20 pm ET last Monday, buried far enough inside the show that few even saw it. Was it REALLY asking that much of WWE to give fans a weekend, or even a night, free of this crap…and taken the time to give Sherri Martel’s death a REAL acknowledgement? Would it have been THAT hard to put Shawn Michaels on a remote and ask him to say a few things about her? Or Flair? or any of the many people Sherri’s worked with?
What’s even worse is the beginning of a murder mystery by “Federal investigators”…at the same time that there an actual investigation into Sherri Martel’s death. While there are no toxicology reports as of this writing, in news that seems to have largely fallen beneath the radar; a bombshell was let loose last night by Dave Meltzer on his Wrestling Observer Live radio show when he made the statement on his Wrestling Observer Live radio show June 17 that Sherri Martel’s death “was not a typical wrestler’s death,” was “not a suicide” and “she did not die of natural causes.”
You figure out what he meant, readers.
But Vince has to continue on with his murder mystery, even under those circumstances.
WWE is now even going so far as to have an official “I did it” t-shirt on WWE.com.
Here’s the text of the ad:
On June 11, 2007, the unimaginable occurred when Vincent Kennedy McMahon’s limo exploded as he left Raw’s McMahon Appreciation Night leaving the question: WHO DID IT? As we continue to mourn this sudden loss, suspicions are arising.Everyone knows Mr. McMahon had a multitude of enemies, maybe it was YOU!
Declare yourself the presumed killer by owning the I DID IT T-shirt today!
Black. 100% cotton. Screen-printed in the USA. Imported.LOVEly…
Tastelessness, thy name is McMahon.
Some fans are also more than a little unhappy with this angle:
From Jen Powell:
“Ya know I was fine with the McMahon angle until 2 things happened. First the bell being rung at ECW and Smackdown. I don’t even care about the WWE.com promoted it to a point but I will mention that. I have tuned in to many times and cried tears listening to the bells ring. And to tune in and hear them for a storyline is just messed up. That is when I knew they were gonna mess this up and take it to far.The second thing was Sherri’s passing. Her death was second rate on WWE.com.
She was a great star and deserved more respect than that.I respect the right of WWE to run a storyline.. stupid or not.. but damn have some class. To me this is more tasteless than using a dead wrestler’s name to promote storylines.”
From Duane Pischke :
“After watching Raw tonight, I just feel ill. I watched the tribute shows when Owen and Eddie passed away, and they were honorable, emotional events.
To see Vince, in my humble opinion, bastardize them and any other wrestler’s death for this stupid storyline, is just wrong. Let alone they didn’t have the memorium pop up for Sherri Martel until 1020E. I guess you can’t have it at the start of the show, one has to have wrestlers in the ring doing the ‘whodunnit’ thing first. Instead of trying to show up the Sopranos, Vince should’ve just got in the limo, and ‘rode off into the sunset’….”
From “Jodie”
“I love reading your As I See It Column on PWBTS. I believe a lot what you say about TNA. As I amwatching Raw right now, I noticed that they haven’t even MENTIONED Sherri Martel. Of course its only the beginning of the show, but still, they are hyping up the ‘death’ of Mr. McMahon. As a fan I am insulted that they actually think I am that stupid to not see that it was a complete set up.The only good thing that has happened with the WWE was the draft. Raw got an awesome combination with the tag team of London and Kendrick. Those two bring so much energy to any show that they work. Also with the Great Khali going to Smackdown leads to another feud with Kane. Despite his non existence ring skills, he does carry a presence that rivals that of The Big Show in size. Also with Mr. Kennedy going to Raw is big. You love to hate the guy but you respect him because of his great skills on the mic and in the ring.WWECW even has a chance to get better with the addition of an ECW Original Chris Benoit, and Raw gets a better mix of challengers for the WWE Championship with Lashley and Booker T (I really hope they get rid of that King Booker crap because it is just insulting).
That is the only good thing going on right now. This crappy storyline is an insult to wrestling fans and degrades the memories of fallen wrestling stars who have passed away, especially the memories of Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero and now Sherri Martel, whom they STILL haven’t acknowledged as having passed away.”
Until next time…
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