Vince McMahon Dead After Car Bombing?

You never know with Professional Wrestling mogul Vince McMahon but this is one stunt that might not go over very well....assuming of course it was a stunt.  McMahon was reportedly the victim of a car bombing.

Following the self-proclaimed "Vince McMahon Appreciation Night" in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, McMahon was reported to be acting out of character and prophetically revealed to his audience of millions that a "dark cloud" was in his future.

Stepping into his limo, the vehicle blew apart. 

"By the time we arrived on the scene, the entire automobile was on fire," explained a Wilkes-Barre firefighter. "It was like an inferno, and our guys were doing whatever they could to contain it as quickly as possible. In my 27 years with the fire department, I've never seen anything like that."

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Local authorities stated it was still too early to declare anything as fact, including exactly what caused the explosion, but described the blast as an apparent “car bombing.” They also revealed that as of 11:30 p.m. EST, no body had been recovered from the incinerated wreckage.

Shortly after the conclusion of Raw last night, WWE.com posted a huge splash image of Vince McMahon's white limo covered in flames with the headline: "BREAKING NEWS: MR. MCMAHON PRESUMED DEAD". The dramatic declaration is part of the TV angle of McMahon going crazy. With Stephanie McMahon taking more control over the company's media content, including WWE.com, the website is becoming more storyline-oriented.

WWE.com's story on the car explosion explains more about the storyline, including Mr. McMahon's body not being found yet and his prophetic speech at the One Night Stand PPV where he predicted his own demise in a black cloud.

But indeed the entire thing appears to be an elaborate publicity stunt.  The Wilkes-Barre local paper, The Times Leader mentions nothing about any exploding car or Vince McMahon's supposed death.  Likewise, as of Tuesday morning, the story only appears on Professional Wrestling related websites. 

By Tuesday afternoon, news of the stunt began to unravel.

The Times Leader confirmed that the explosion actually occurred late Saturday night.

Supervised by Zenith Pyrotechnology, the footage of the burning hulk taped Sunday night and the whole mess spliced together, said Andy Kratz, the township’s zoning officer.

“They did it, I believe, at 11 o’clock at night until 3 a.m. so no one would be around,” he said, adding that it was done in a section generally blocked from public view by the building and surrounding land features.

The pyrotechnics company had to get permits, which Kratz said they did about a week ago. “We have pyrotechnics shows in the arena all the time” for wrestling and ice skating, among other things, he said. “They say they do this quite a bit,” but usually not outside.

This is not the first time that a mogul in the world of fight entertainment has faked his own death, as bizarre as this might seem.

In 2003, Calvin Ayre, founder of Bodog Fight faked his own death in Cambodia.  Last year's Forbes Billionaire cover boy elaborated on that story, discussing how it and other elements of story telling had increased his exposure in the world of online gambling where his Bodog.com currently ranks as the number two North American facing brand.  Ayre delved into the world of Mixed Martial Arts last year. 

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Dan Shapiro, Sports911.com

Originally published June 12, 2007 8:23 am ET Updated 3:24 pm ET