In the wild world of wrestling, there has always been one name that ruled over the entire kingdom. Mr. McMahon. Since creating a wrestling empire in the early 60s, the McMahon family has turned WWE from a small-time wrestling startup, to a full-blown media conglomerate that reigns supreme. And through it all, there was one man that ran the entire business with an iron fist. Vince.
After inheriting the business from his father, Vince McMahon Sr., Vince Jr. has taken his father’s business to heights that no one could have ever expected. He became the main force behind wrestling, transforming it into a mainstream sports entertainment brand that rakes in billions of dollars annually, and garnering a global following that’s bigger than almost every other sport.
A larger-than-life character, Vince has literally become the face of the company. When you think of WWE, you think of Vince McMahon. Alas, like with most things in this world, with that massive rise, must come an equally devastating fall, and with a man like Vince, it was a fall that shocked the whole world, and yet, remained absolutely unsurprising for die-hard followers of the brand.
Throughout the late 90s and early 2000s, Vince had been embroiled in multiple scandals revolving steroid abuse of his wrestlers and allegations of sexual abuse. Despite the severity of it all, Vince seemed to be untouchable, dodging every punch that came his way, leaving him just mildly bruised in the process. It seemed like nothing could stop him. That was, until January 2024, when a former employee of the company filed a lawsuit against him after he allegedly sexually assaulted and trafficked her to several wrestlers and fellow male employees of the company.
With Vince’s world now in utter turmoil, the man stepped down from his throne and began living in the shadows, leaving the public with more questions than there were answers. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for this entire drama to eventually get it’s own documentary series which, ironically, is now streaming exclusively on the platform that the WWE will soon call its home, Netflix.
What begins as a retrospective of his career, Mr. McMahon eventually delves into the massive scandal that befell him. The creators of the documentary didn’t actually set out to tell that story, but the lawsuit was filed when they were filming it, and that’s when the dominos started to fall. It’s somewhat poetic that a documentary that was meant to tell the whole story of his life, did indeed get the beginning, middle, and ultimate end to the Vince McMahon story.
Despite playing out as a very typical, run-of-the-mill documentary of a notable figure’s life, Mr. McMahon does give some insight into how McMahon ruled the WWE with complete impunity, willing to destroy any competition that came his way with ruthless aggression. This is a man that stopped at nothing to get what he wanted; consequences be damned.
Throughout this four-episode series, we get to hear several sides of his story from wrestlers, writers, as well as former employees, and try to get an understanding of who this man was beyond just the character we saw on screen. If there’s one thing that was made clear from all of this, it’s that the line between fiction and reality is so blurred that we still don’t know who Vince McMahon is. It’s a fascinating tale that seems almost too fantastical to be real.
It seems painfully obvious why the directors decided to paint McMahon as a sort of villain which, don’t get me wrong, he most certainly is in many ways. That said, they still manage to get a side of him that many people forget. That he is still a man. That he is still a person like you and me. Should he be forgiven for his crimes? Absolutely not. But even those mistakes don’t take away from the fact that he built a massive empire out of nothing. Without him, the wrestling world would not be where it is today. And this is where the documentary truly shines. By giving us a different window into his entire persona.
There is, however, one story that stood out ahead of all the drama. With each episode, we got to hear from his family. Specifically, his wife Linda, daughter Stephanie, and son Shane. And that’s where the story gets somewhat emotional.
In the case of Shane McMahon, Vince is someone that he was desperately seeking approval from. Seeing Shane literally fight tooth and nail to seek his father’s acceptance is something that a lot of sons can related to. You feel his pain. You see him struggle just to make his father proud. It’s a moment I never saw coming. I didn’t think I would see myself in Shane and find something in Mr. McMahon to relate to.
As I said earlier, a lot of this does play out like in a formulaic way, going through the motions of history, much like many other biographical documentaries you’ve seen before. But what the creators have done differently is to deliver a nuanced family story amidst all the sensationalism.
Even if you’re not a wrestling fan, even if you’ve never heard of Vince McMahon, this is still a must watch. It is a reminder that in this life, while a parent’s pride is something that we’re always striving for, we must also take a moment to actually be proud of ourselves. It wasn’t the message that I expected to take away from watching this, but I’m glad that I did.
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