Topics: WWE, Vince McMahon
A WWE writer's idea pitch was deemed so wild and offensive that Vince McMahon left the room without saying a word.
For years until recently when he stepped down from the company he built after allegations of sexual assault and tracking and was replaced by Hall of Famer son-in-law Paul 'Triple H' Levesque in the hotseat, McMahon had the final say on all WWE storylines and characters.
The Undertaker gimmick, whereby Mark Calloway played an undead individual who would make his opponents 'Rest in Peace' was arguably his best creation.
But as is the case now, a team of writers would come up with pitches in meetings - though one in particular was instantly rejected.
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Dan Madigan wrote the script for the 2006 WWE slasher film 'See No Evil', starring WWE legend Kane - but he also worked on the writing team and revealed shockingly controversial plans for a Nazi character in a 2004 creative meeting where McMahon and daughter Stephanie were present.
The idea, which Madigan told Power Slam magazine he thought "would be a scream" was for the wrestler Heidenreich to be repackaged as Baron Von Bava, a Swastika-wearing Nazi soldier who had been frozen by scientists after World War Two but was revived by Paul Heyman, the son of a Holocaust survivor.
Von Bava would be a complete fascist who goose-stepped to the ring - with Madigan even demonstrating the march to his writing colleagues and bosses.
Speaking to Power Slam magazine in 2008, he explained: “To make the story even more insane, I wanted Paul Heyman, a Jewish New Yorker, to be the one to revive the baron and bring him to Smackdown to be his manager.
"I thought it would be a scream to have Paul E. come down to the ring and introduce Baron von Bava, only to have the Baron come down to the ring goose-stepping and wearing the red Swastika around his biceps.”
Having seen a highly inappropriate necrophilia angle in WWE in 2002, Madigan added that he thought he had presented "good ideas" that "worked out well" inside his mind but McMahon, who once pushed for an incest angle involving his daughter, did not agree.
It's claimed that after seconds of silence, the former WWE head honcho got up from his chair, collected his jacket and left the room in a calm manner without saying a single word - prompting another writer to quip, "Well, that's a first".
Heidenreich was paired with legendary manager Heyman and faced The Undertaker, while he also had a bizarre moment where he forcibly read poetry to commentator Michael Cole.
It's claimed Madigan's ideas were regularly shot down after his infamous pitch and he left WWE in November 2004.
