In the works for four years, Netflix’s six-part Mr. McMahon documentary is unlike any pro wrestling documentary in recent memory in that it had access to WWE’s talent, tape library, and everything else but did not have to submit to WWE’s control.
Therefore, the documentary, directed by Chris Smith and executive produced by Bill Simmons, takes an honest look at some of the controversial aspects of WWE history—even before we get to the part about Vince McMahon’s disgrace and departure from the company.
Mr. McMahon was conceived as a multipart documentary about Vince McMahon and WWE, with the cooperation of McMahon, the company, and most of the major living stars, including Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels. McMahon, in particular, agreed to sit for dozens of hours of interviews, all in 2021.
And then, McMahon was deposed from the company in 2022 after a series of sexual misconduct settlements came to light. After he executed a boardroom coup the following year and returned to push through WWE’s merger with Endeavor, the Janel Grant lawsuit — and concurrent federal criminal investigation — knocked him out for good.
That meant McMahon stopped cooperating with the documentary, which reconvened Dave Meltzer and a few other journalists for new interviews earlier this year. Thanks to whatever deal the filmmakers and Netflix negotiated with WWE—just in time for RAW to jump to Netflix next year—the filmmakers maintained use of the footage and the right to use it.
Not Perfect, But Honest
The result is not exactly perfect, but still one of the more honest documentaries about wrestling history you’ll ever see.
The interviews with McMahon are held in a wrestling ring, and the first thing you notice is that he looks uncannily weird—some combination of makeup, plastic surgery, and who knows what else. He almost looks inhuman.
Things That Stood Out
The film goes through the past 45 years or so of WWE history, and if you’re a big wrestling fan, almost none of this is going to be new to you. But a couple of things struck me about this approach:
Many of the chapters are like better versions of Dark Side of the Ring episodes, including the participation of people closer to the action than in those cases. In the Owen Hart part, we get the recollections of Bruce Prichard, who once did a three-hour podcast episode about Owen Hart’s life and career and skipped right over the part about his death.
And secondly, the show is willing to call McMahon out at times for being full of shit. We hear McMahon sharing several myths about Wrestlemania III, whether it’s the crowd size or the idea that Andre the Giant had never been bodyslammed before. Then, Dave Meltzer pops up to puncture all of those.
At another point, in the discussion of the Attitude era, someone says, “No one got killed, there was no rape, no use of knives or guns,” as we see all of those things actually happening.
Vince does let some howlers out. He claims that the Sgt. Slaughter-goes-Iraqi storyline was in place before Iraq invaded Kuwait, which is very much not true. The final Nitro went on the air in 2001 “without it breaking” beforehand. Not true either.
We also hear a lot from New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick. Sure, he’s a reactionary crank who regularly delivers deranged rants about Black athletes dancing and seems to hate everything about sports. But most of what he says about pro wrestling is on the mark.
Another longtime Vince enemy, Bob Costas, also gets his say, at one point stating “I don’t give a fuck.” I don’t think I’d ever heard Bob curse before, even when he worked for HBO for all those years.
My Takeaway
Overall, the documentary raises the same point that’s been raised about the likes of Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby: Yes, indeed, Vince McMahon is probably the most important figure in the history of pro wrestling and responsible for wrestling as it is today. He’s also almost certainly a sexual predator, a union-buster, and someone who long made a habit of humiliating his employees on television, including his own family members.
McMahon has had about ten different scandals that probably should have ended his career (the ring boy scandal, the ring announcer who accused him of rape, the steroid trial, the death of Owen Hart), even before we get to horrible stuff in the recent lawsuits. Josie Reisman’s biography last year, Ringmaster, remains the definitive Vince portrayal, but Mr. McMahon is worthwhile too.
I’m just glad this documentary happened because these exact circumstances probably won’t happen again. While everyone has opinions about Bill Simmons, I’m glad he’s using his clout on projects like this.
