2024 has been one of the most successful on record for the
company called World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF for those
like me who grew up in the 1980’s.) The promotion is in the
second year of being merged with Ultimate Fighting
Championship (UFC) under the TKO Holdings banner. WWE is
currently led by former Hollywood executive Nick Khan (no
relation to the owners of All Elite Wrestling Shad and Tony
Khan) and Paul “Triple H” Levesque.
Until the merger WWE was a family run business under the
last name of MCMAHON, CEO VINCE, former executive LINDA,
head of creative STEPHANIE and the son SHANE who did all
kinds of things. Then things got scandalous thanks to
reports from the Wall Street Journal and other media
outlets. That disgusting situation and the whole history of
McMahon/WWE is covered in the new documentary Mr. McMahon,
released by Netflix, under the control of filmmaker Chris
Smith (Tiger King) and executive producer Bill Simmons
(ESPN’s 30 for 30.)
As I mentioned there is legal action being taken currently
against Vince McMahon and others by a former employee named
Janel Grant filed in January. In fact before this
documentary and my review were released, Mr. McMahon
released a statement denouncing the mini-series. Every
episode of the series has an opening bumper stating the
majority of it was filmed BEFORE the allegations and legal
issues began in 2022.
But let’s go back to the beginning. This docuseries covers
everything you wanted to know about Vincent Kennedy McMahon
(who refers to himself as a junior to dad), the son of
Vincent J. McMahon and grandson of Jess McMahon. The elder
McMahon’s promoted boxing matches and professional wrestling
under the banner of Capitol Sports; from Maine to
Washington, DC. When the elder McMahon’s were in charge;
professional wrestling was under the mafia-like control of
the National Wrestling Alliance who made invisible borders
keeping the territories apart. While all this occurred,
Vince grew up in the Carolinas unaware of who Vincent J even
was. That changed at age 12. Take a brief moment to think if
Vince and Vincent J never reconnected in life where
wrestling as an industry would be. The docuseries covers
what happened when the Vince’s got together and son began to
work for Dad’s then named World Wide Wrestling Federation
and eventually bought it from him in 1983.
In addition to the family members listed above, people
interviewed for the docuseries include: wrestling legends
like Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, “Stone Cold”
Steve Austin, Tony Atlas, Mark “the Undertaker” Callaway,
Booker Huffman, Trish Stratus, Paul Heyman, Bret Hart, Shawn
Michaels, John Cena, Wendi Richter, Bruce Prichard, Cody
Rhodes, former wrestler and CTE Expert Chris Nowinski, USA
Network executives Bonnie Hammer, WWE creative member Brian
Gewirtz, wrestling media personality Dave Meltzer, media
legend Bob Costas, writers Dave Shoemaker and Sharon Mazer,
New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick and Wall Street
Journal reporters Ted Mann and Khadeeja Safdar who broke the
allegations.
If you are a wrestling fan who grew up in the 1980’s you
know how WWF took off when Hogan became champion and became
a global phenomenon. But you might not know or remember all
the scandals that plagued the company afterwards; including
the federal steroid trial of 1994, allegations of ring crew
members being sexually assaulted, the female referee rape
allegation, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka getting away from murder
charges, the Montreal Screwjob, the storyline of Vince vs.
God, the failed ventures of World Bodybuilding Federation,
WWE the Restaurant and the XFL, the “fake death” of Vince
and the Chris Benoit murder-suicide. Also there was the mid
1990’s emergence of completion from World Championship
Wrestling; financed by Ted Turner and run by Eric Bischoff.
The later episodes delve into the family dynamic on and off
camera as Shane, Linda and Stephanie all became part of the
TV shows as characters. If you aren’t aware Triple H and
Stephanie are married in real life. All of this came during
what was called the “Attitude Era” where the traditional
wrestling creative rulebook was tossed in a fire pit.
Example is Mrs. Stratus stripping to her underwear and
barking like a dog in 2001. The purchase of WCW in March
2001 is covered and how they creatively botched the talent
merger is also addressed. The “Attitude Era” was over and
new characters led to a “Ruthless Aggression” movement. The
infamous Donald Trump vs. Vince haircut match is brought
back to life.
Episode six handles the 2007 Benoit deaths and creative plus
business directions taken after. One being the creation of a
wellness policy and sending current/former stars to drug
rehabilitation. “Ruthless Aggression” eventually died off
and a “PG” style product came along with mainstream
advertising dollars. The last 27 minutes handle the reason
Vince McMahon is no longer in power and being sued. That is
also where Vince’s cooperation with Netflix ends. Funny
thing is Monday Night Raw will be on Netflix in January
2025.
I praise the filmmakers for showing the good and bad of
Vince, despite what Bruce Prichard says in the last episode.
One last thing to address is glaring omissions of interview
subjects. Namely Kevin Nash, Ric Flair, Dave Bautista, Roman
Reigns, Kurt Angle, former executive producer Kevin Dunn,
Jim Ross (currently under contract to All Elite Wrestling)
and Randy Orton. These could be lack of availability by them
or producers not thinking they were vital to the story they
were telling.
Thanks to Netflix specifically Jackie Lamaj for access to
this amazing docuseries. Alan Wojcik can be followed on
Twitter/X through @MyNameIsWojcik and
www.facebook.com/KayfabeWrestlingRadio
