WWE’s Top 10 Most Controversial Storylines
By Tim Sherry
7. Tim White’s Lunchtime Suicide Series
In yet another suicide-themed angle, former referee Tim White spent the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 attempting to off himself on WWE programming. White, retired from the industry since 2004 due to 2 different major shoulder injuries, retired to Cumberland, Rhode Island where he bought a bar. Why the company thought bringing him back a year and a half later just to make an absolute fool out himself in a bunch skits is anybody’s guess.
White made his first suicide attempt during Armageddon 2005 in his bar being interviewed by Josh Mathews. The skit ended when a drunk White fired a shotgun but was unsuccessful in his quest. As the weeks followed he tried to die a few different other ways which included ingesting rat poison, hanging, slitting his wrists, suffocating himself with a bag, and sticking his head into an open industrial strength fan. All in all, he attempted suicide a whopping 14 times, albeit unsuccessfully.
The angle was met heavy criticism. Being that the videos began airing just about a month after Eddie Guerrero’s death were extremely distasteful and disrespectful. Sure, for adults it was kind of funny. A sort of cheap laugh at someone else’s expense. But for WWE’s younger fan base, it was wrong.
White ended up officially retiring once again from the WWE in 2009 after not being on the air for close to 3 years. But the legend of Lunchtime Suicide will unfortunately always be remembered.