The McMahon Family Saga: Unraveling WWE’s Most Bizarre Storyline

Few have ever captured its fan base’s minds in such a way as 2007’s epic quest of Vince McMahon’s out-of-wedlock kids. That soap opera-turned-farce narrative mixed family soap opera, corporation politics, and larger-than-life personalities for which WWE is renowned, and a spectacle both fascinating and confounding in its twists and turns. Let’s go through its twists and turns and have a flashback to its unforgettable journey that kept everyone in the world of wrestling in a tizzy.

The Setup: A Paternity Revelation

The controversy began in 2007 in the summertime when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon received a shocking report. As he reached for his trademark white stretch limousine, a paternity suit in hand, announcing that he had an out-of-wedlock child years ago, handed him a report. That report initiated a week and a half of rumor and intrigue, with wrestlers and even fans speculating about McMahon’s elusive offspring.

The Tease: Misdirection and Misdirection

The creative minds at WWE skillfully constructed tension over several weeks, teasing out information about Vince’s son in a series of increasingly exciting and revealing messages. Every episode of Raw included new information, with Vince’s aide, Jonathan Coachman, delivering veiled messages that only added to the intrigue.

Some of them most memorable ones included:

The illegitimate children “looked up” to Vince.

The boy was a current superstar in WWE.

They acquired a “fondness for gold.”

The mystery son was white and had blonde hair.

The following speculations fueled widespread speculations in fan communities. Perhaps a new face in the form of Mr. Kennedy? Perhaps a seasoned player in the form of Triple H? Perhaps a new face altogether?

The Original Plan: How Mr. Kennedy Lost Out

Behind the scenes, a significant amount of planning in WWE was involved in all of this plot. To start with, it was planned to introduce Mr. Kennedy (Ken Anderson) as Vince McMahon’s out-of-wedlock son. That would have been a significant boost for Kennedy, a new face who won a Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 23 recently.

The storyline was constructed to culminate in a Triple H and Mr. Kennedy headliner at WrestleMania 24, with all three McMahon family members in one capacity or another. It could have been a career-maker for Kennedy, and in one shot, an overnight sensation in the headliner picture, a new face in wrestling’s most prestigious family.

The Twist: An Abrupt, Unexpected Turn

But fate had a different scheme in store. In the days preceding when the big reveal in Green Bay, Wisconsin (Kennedy’s native city) was to occur, disaster happened. Kennedy was suspended for a transgression under WWE’s Wellness Policy.

Kennedy discussed the incident years later in an interview:

“The only reason that I didn’t end up becoming the son was I got suspended literally like five days before they were going to do the reveal in Green Bay. I was part of that Signature Pharmacy (story). There were like nine or ten of us that got busted for getting performance-enhancing supplements off an internet website, which kind of wasn’t how that all went down.”

The eleventh-hour firing ruined WWE’s carefully crafted plot. With its go-to “son” no longer in contention, its brain trust was forced to scramble for a new direction.

The Reveal: Hornswoggle’s Surprise Promotion

September 10, 2007, will go down in wrestling legend when Vince McMahon’s long-rumored, long-denied, and long-awaited illegitimate offspring finally saw daylight at long, long last. As a horde of wrestlers encircled the ring, a series of clues knocked out candidates one by one, and in a most surprising and hilarious conclusion, 4’5″ Hornswoggle crawled out from under the ring and embraced “father” .

The reveal of Hornswoggle as McMahon’s offspring elicited a reaction of disbelief, laughter, and bewilderment. It was a cry in a long distance for McMahon’s scripted build for a planned main event with Mr. Kennedy, and most of the fan base was disapproving at the direction in which the storyline took them.

Behind the Scenes: Hornswoggle’s Perspective

For Hornswoggle himself, plot development came as a full-blown shocker. In a series of sitdowns, he’s revealed that he received word about his new character, a McMahon, a matter of mere hours in advance:

“I was told that day [about the angle] at 3:45 in the afternoon. They might have known the backup, but I didn’t know until 3:45 that afternoon.”
Not even at the eleventh hour, Hornswoggle embraced the opportunity wholeheartedly. Later, he described it as a career high:

“The Vince McMahon storyline was the biggest thing to ever happen in my career. Legitimately the biggest thing ever, I still hold it very, very true to my heart and very close to my heart. It was the greatest thing that ever happened to my career at that time.”

The Aftermath: Laughter and Confusion

Once Hornswoggle became an acknowledged offspring of Vince, the plot took a humorous direction. In the following months, Vince struggled to make his pint-sized offspring become a tough one through a series of silly tests and combats with much larger opponents.

The period experienced significant events such as:

Hornswoggle challenged The Great Khali at Survivor Series.

Vince’s attempt at schoolin’ Hornswoggle in “tough love

An increasingly strong coalition between Hornswoggle and Finlay, who frequently rescued him

While these segments elicited a chuckle, they bore little relation to the general plot for most of the episode, one that had initially been in development. Most critics and many in fandom regarded that “illegitimate son” plot potential to have been squandered.

The Retcon: Finlay’s Revelation

Once the Hornswoggle-as-Vince’s-son plot began to falter, WWE opted to wrap it up in its characteristically over-the-top style. In February 2008, it transpired that Hornswoggle wasn’t even Vince’s son, but Finlay’s, and that the whole charade had been a grand scheme planned out by the McMahon family.

The reveal initiated a Belfast Brawl between Finlay and JBL at WrestleMania 24, concluding the lengthy and drawn-out plot. Despite a positive reaction to the bout, many deemed its conclusion to the “illegitimate son” plot to have been muddled and anticlimactic.

Heritage and Influence

The Vince McMahon illegitimate son plot continues to sit high in regards to most memorable and contentious angles in WWE history. It both showed the company’s talent at creating engrossing, multi-month, long-term plots and its willingness to go off the rails and into absurdity.

For Kennedy, it was a monumental failure. The storyline could have propelled him into title contention and potentially changed the direction of his career path. Instead, in 2009, he was released by WWE and never became a top competitor in a way that at one time seemed a real possibility.

For Hornswoggle, even with the humor involved in his character, the plot helped immensely in raising his career profile. It earned him added prominence and generated additional high-profile angles, such as a run with a stint in a role as the Anonymous Raw General Manager16.

The storyline also displayed WWE’s improvisational skill set. After having its first go at it foiled with Kennedy’s suspension, it delivered a memorable, at least, and infamous, at most, Hornswoggle’s unveiling.

Lessons Learned

The Vince McMahon illegitimate son plot teaches several lessons for narrative in wrestling:

Long-term planning pays off: The early storyline for the narrative, culminating in a headliner at WrestleMania, showed the worth of long-term planning and planned narrative in professional wrestling.

Flexibility is key: How WWE changed gears when its first options did not work reveals adaptability in a live performance is key

The switch between a headliner-level plot and a lighter, comedic direction with Hornswoggle shows that a change in tone can have a significant impact in terms of fan reaction.

Payoffs count: Viewers were not impressed with the overall resolution of the plot, and it underlines the importance of having strong payoffs for long-term angles.

Conclusion: In a Moment That None Can Forget

The 2007 Vince McMahon illegitimate son storyline may not have played out according to script, but it is an unforgettable part of WWE lore. It took the soap opera trappings of long-term professional wrestling and blended them with the uncertainty of a live performance, creating a plot that is still debated and discussed amongst its fan base today.

Regardless of whether one regards it as a work of humoristic art or a squandered opportunity, no one can deny that this story impacted everyone involved and altered television overall for WWE. It is a reminder of the limitless narrative opportunity in the universe of professional wrestling, in which family soap operas can transpire on a global stage, and in which a new plot development can arise at any time.

In the end, Vince McMahon’s illicit spawn’s narrative is a testament to wackiness, unpredictability, and complete engrossing of the WWE universe, in which reality and fiction blur and in which even the most outlandish plot twists can grab a worldwide fan base numbering a hundred million strong.