WWE's real-life tragedy that led to Johnny Knoxville's original in-ring debut being canceled

On January 29, 2022, Jackass star Johnny Knoxville will compete inside the WWE ring. He will enter the 30-Man Royal Rumble match, with the winner advancing to the main event of WrestleMania 38.

His recent involvement with WWE started at the turn of the new year, when Knoxville posted on social media. He stated that was going to do whatever it took to compete in this year's over-the-top-rope battle and claim his place at WrestleMania.

Eventually, he secured his place. In a segment involving Sami Zayn, Knoxville threw the former Intercontinental Champion over the top rope to prove that he is capable of competing in such a match. Initially, Zayn had assumed that the Jackass star would make a mockery of the business by entering.

Many may be wondering why Johnny Knoxville is getting such an opportunity. The simple face of it is that it is to promote his upcoming film release. Jackass Forever will be released the week after the Royal Rumble event, so his appearance is timed perfectly for the promotion of the release.

However, some may not know that this isn't the first time Knoxville has been game and set to compete in a WWE match. In 2007, behind the scenes, Knoxville and his cast mates were penciled in to face Umaga at that year's SummerSlam pay-per-view in a Handicap match. However, things didn't quite go according to plan.

His fellow cast mate, Steve-O, had caused quite the controversy. During his earlier appearance at WWE RAW in October 2006, Steve-O, along with Chris Pontius, was involved in an in-ring segment with Umaga. He took a beating but instead of selling the moves, Steve-O proceeded to laugh, until, according to Wrestling Stories, Umage legitimately knocked him out.

From there, Steve-O became quite a thorn in WWE's side, and wasn't exactly playing by the rules for the company. When the plans were devised together for SummerSlam, the stunt performer revealed the details via his MySpace account.

It appeared WWE was losing its patience with him, as another incident stemmed from when the company was recording promotional material for the event, involving a drug-fuelled Steve-O wanting to be choked by wrestlers for his own upcoming DVD release.

The SummerSlam match was eventually abandoned, but it wasn't because of Steve-O.

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So why did Johnny Knoxville's 2007 SummerSlam match get cancelled?

Following a double-murder and suicide involving WWE's own Chris Benoit in June 2007, Johnny Knoxville pulled the plug on his appearance. The company decided that without a key Jackass star appearing, then the whole thing wasn't worth doing and the match was ultimately shelved.

Benoit's actions rocked not just WWE and professional wrestling, but the whole world. It was a tragic event that stemmed from years and years of toil and substance abuse.

The world of WWE is now a better place, with its zero tolerance wellness policy, and also a number of moves used in the ring are banned, such as chair shots to the head.

Johnny Knoxville did appear for Vince McMahon's promotion the following year in 2008, once it had changed its internal policies to protect its wrestlers. Knoxville was involved in a segment with The Great Khali on WWE RAW.

Now, after all these years, he will finally get to have a match, albeit a Royal Rumble match, inside the squared circle. So far, his appearances on SmackDown have been entertainingly embroiled in a war with Sami Zayn. Let's see what he gets up to once his music hits at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri.