House of ZAN Forum

[Ravage]

...about Vince MacMahon, but he is possibly the shrewdest and at the same time most respectable "big business" tycoon I've ever seen.

The way he opened ECW tonight was a classy gesture, I thought, considering the really weird/morbid circumstances surrounding Benoit's death. Vince didn't point any fingers, didn't accuse Chris of anything, just said "For tonight, there will be no mention of him".

My level of respect for Vince went up a notch.

[Dana]

Yeah.. I think Vince had a very small amount of time to make a decision on what to do about RAW, so judging by what everyone knew about Chris, he figured Benoit was a victim of a crime. The general feeling in WWE had to be just like it's been with us -- nobody could believe that Chris could do this.

The way I see it, Vince had four choices:

1) Go on with the show as planned, which would be in extremely poor taste at the time, likely causing the worst backlash the WWE has ever faced.

2) Cancel the show entirely, leaving the various networks who carry it to fill in not the normal 2+ hours, but a full 3 hours of time, which would cause the networks to be extremely put out, which is bad for business.

3) Only mention that Benoit and his family were found dead, more details coming, then change the entire Storyline around on 3-4 hours notice (which is an almost impossible undertaking), or just have RAW as a whole bunch of non-Storyline matches.

4) The "easiest" and potentially "best" option available to them - a Chris Benoit tribute show. Difficult to put on with such short notice, but easier than rewriting the show - most of the wrestlers would be in too much shock to safely perform anyway.

Vince bet on Benoit being a victim, not a murderer, and took option 4. I also bet on Benoit as a victim, not a murderer. We made the wrong call. I suspect, if we were in Vince's shoes Monday night, we would have put on the tribute show as well.
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[Grand Master Sef]