Former WWE Writer On Why Storyline With Vince McMahon's Real-Life Brother Was Dropped
The McMahon family is wrestling royalty, so the average fan knows all about the history about Vince, his wife Linda and their children Shane and Stephanie. But how many fans are aware of Vince's brother Roderick McMahon? The World According To Wrestling podcast recently released its third episode with former WWE writer Court Bauer as the special guest and he detailed a scrapped storyline that would've involved McMahon's real-life brother.
Bauer began working for WWE in 1999 and eventually became one of the company's key writers. In 2007, a storyline was created that centered around Vince McMahon's presumed death. That's where Roderick McMahon was supposed to come in.
"I always think what could've been because we were gearing up to do something with Vince's little known brother Roderick," Bauer said. "His family was going to come in the following week and be part of the funeral for Vince McMahon and I was always pushing that I would love to get another side of the McMahon family involved with WWE. I think it would've been fascinating because people forget that Vince has a brother and I think that that story would've been amazing."
Bauer said he was hoping the storyline would allow fans to see a different side of the McMahon family. Vince McMahon had built his "Mr. McMahon" character to be a dominating and borderline-evil personality, so Roderick would've been the opposite. Bauer said he there was also the possibility of involving Roderick's children in the storyline, so there could've been some cousin vs. cousin battles as well.
"How Vince the tycoon he is, the ruthlessly aggressive guy, you know, took over the family business," Bauer said. "His poor brother, what happened to him? And now there's a refresh on the McMahon dynasty and all of the rivalries and stuff you could tell now, all of these new stories that are there because Roderick has children that you could play with in this setting."
The entire storyline was scrapped due to the actual death of Chris Benoit. Vince McMahon had to appear on the tribute episode of Raw, thus breaking kayfabe.
"But that was all scrapped when the Benoit family tragedy happened so... it's one of those stories like a lot of wrestling," Bauer said. "What could've happened."
You can listen to the whole interview on The World According To Wrestling podcast by clicking here.