Review of the Netflix “Mister McMahon” Documentary

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