What to say about the Mr. McMahon docuseries on Netflix? Well, it was more or less what I expected it to be. Any documentary that includes Vince McMahon's willing participation is obviously going to include a lot of skewed viewpoints, half-truths, and outright lies. Couple that with numerous talking heads who worked for Vince and consider him a mentor and father-figure, and there's no shortage of praise on display here, some of it valid, much of it not. Fortunately this series also boasts plenty of fact-checking and counterpoints from industry figures like Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer (who got a ton of screen time), author David Shoemaker, and New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick.
The doc was mostly filmed before the Janel Grant allegations were made public (This is made clear via numerous title screens), and thus mostly plays out as a history of Vince's business ventures and myriad scandals over the decades, seemingly intended for a less initiated audience than someone like me. There's not a lot of new information here if you're a wrestling aficionado, but it is one of the few McMahon history pieces where we get so much input from Vince himself. We get the usual distortions and self-aggrandizing like "WrestleMania III drew over 90,000," "Ted Turner was mean to me in the 90s," "I was right to let the show go on after Owen Hart died," "I had no choice but to screw Bret out of the title," yadda yadda yadda, and fortunately (again), numerous voices of reason are on hand to refute most of Vince's more ridiculous claims.
What I really took away from this series though, is what a broken, psychologically disturbed individual Vincent Kennedy McMahon really is. He insists on multiple occasions that the Mr. McMahon character he portrayed on television was nothing like who he is in real life, but even his most devoted associates chime in claiming the opposite. We get the gamut, from "Some of that character is him" to "They're the same person," but everyone seems to unanimously agree that the malignant sociopath Vince played on TV isn't all that different from who he really is. And given the litany of accusations of misconduct - both direct and indirect - over the years, and how consistently Vince denies all wrongdoing for any of them, it seems pretty clear that the Mr. McMahon character was merely an exaggeration, and a mild one at that, of the man himself.
This is a person whose father abandoned him and his mother shortly after he was born, and who faced physical abuse at the hands of his stepfather and apparently sexual abuse from his mother. Vince didn't know his father until age 12, and came to idolize the elder Vince, who took him under his wing but also kept him at arm's length emotionally. According to Vince Jr. his father never said "I love you" or "I'm proud of you" until just before his death in 1984, when Jr. had already taken over the WWF and become a success. Talk about major mommy and daddy issues, it's no wonder Vince has such toxic relationships with so many people. The guy was never taught how to properly love another human being on any level, and fancied himself such a street-tough bad boy type he never bothered to seek psychiatric help for his unresolved childhood traumas.
Once you understand where Vince came from emotionally it's easy to see why he made it his life's work to build this pretend world around himself where he reigned supreme and wielded unchecked power over other people. It also helps shore up the idea that no matter how bitter the breakup between WWE and any given talent, they always seem to come back; Vince sees it as a challenge to win back everyone who's ever denounced him, because then he gets to declare victory over them in the end. Bruno, Hogan, Bret, Warrior, Brock, it doesn't matter. They all come back to him. It explains why he always vowed never to retire from WWE, and why he says vile shit like "I have no sympathy for people who want to retire. Fine, go die." If you were so psychologically scarred that the only joy you found was in your empire of make-believe, would you want to give all that up and face reality again? Of course not.
Vince McMahon created a bubble for himself where everyone around him craved, NEEDED his respect and validation at all times. Whether it's the veterans who viewed him as a surrogate father or the younger talent who just wanted him to notice them, the WWE environment was very obviously designed in such a way that Vince himself would get all the love in the world. Hell, HIS OWN SON talks about how all he wanted was Dad's approval, and that's why he jumped off Titantrons and Cells and let Kurt Angle overhead suplex him through glass. Vince somehow made his affection for others such an attractive, unobtainable commodity that his own family was willing to risk life and limb for it.
Even in the face of a mountain of appalling sexual misconduct/rape/trafficking allegations everyone from John Cena to Mick Foley (what a disappointment that one was) says they still plan to love and appreciate him until they learn more. Yes, the same Mick Foley who lent his celebrity to RAINN, helping that organization fight sexual violence. Jesus H. Christ, Mick, how could you possibly think that comment was a good look? Meanwhile you have Vince himself saying of his early rape victim Rita Chatterton, shit like "That was consensual. And even if it wasn't, the statue of limitations has expired." Sooo then, IT WASN'T CONSENSUAL. Way to tell on yourself, pal.
Side note: Since the Janel Grant stuff came out after this series was basically done, they don't spend a ton of time on it, but I truly hope they come back and add a seventh episode to cover that resolution. Let's finish the story.
Just as sickening are moments where Vince refuses to take any responsibility for Owen Hart's death, or even for opting to continue the Over the Edge PPV with Owen's blood stain still on the mat, because "The people came to see a show, they didn't come to see someone die." So then it's okay for you to have forced Owen's close friend Jeff Jarrett to wrestle immediately after Owen's body was carted out of the ring? Or the moment where Chris Benoit's murder/suicide case was brought up and Vince disavowed any correlation with either steroid use or CTEs, even though he later mentions he worked with concussion expert Chris Nowinski to learn more about CTEs and decided to ban chair shots to the head. So then, CTE is a real issue that affects wrestlers. Are you so protective of "the business" you can't even acknowledge that it's incredibly dangerous and that you as its custodian have a responsibility to make it as safe as possible? Or the moment when Vince was acquitted at the steroid trial and implied he was an exonerated hero (even though this rampant steroid abuse was confirmed as having gone on under his watch, even if he himself wasn't mandating them).
This man is so desperate to be loved he can't ever take responsibility for his mistakes and shortcomings, and instead has a very deep-seated persecution complex. When it was revealed in the early 90s that multiple WWF higher-ups were taking advantage of underage "ring boys," instead of saying "We take this very seriously and we've fired the parties involved," Vince turned it into "Everyone's out to get our company and I think Ted Turner is paying them." Gee, where have I heard that kinda talk before? Ya know, if Vince McMahon and Donald Trump would've just gotten therapy for their emotional problems so many people in this world would be so much better off today. It's ironic that these two public figures who pretend to be such big tough guys also spend so much time whining about how everyone's out to get them. It's not enough they're self-installed masters of the universe who are bound by nothing, we have to love them too. Two real-life Citizen Kanes falling to pieces before our very eyes. The doc actually draws parallels between Vince and Trump, citing Trump's rise to power as pro wrestling having injected itself into politics.
All in all, Mr. McMahon is a very well-produced and edited biography that seems destined to piss off a lot of people for very different reasons. Vince's apologists will think it's a "hatchet job," like Bruce Prichard who throws a mini-tantrum during the doc itself, saying the filmmakers ignored "Vince the human being and turned it into a gotcha piece." Uhh, Bruce? Vince said at the outset he doesn't want people to really know him, and furthermore he essentially narrates the entire series. If Vince gives his entire side of the story and still comes off like an asshole, gee, do ya think maybe this means he's an asshole? Meanwhile everyone who isn't an apologist will think the doc goes too easy on him and spends way too much time glorifying his accomplishments. I can empathize with those people; there are a lot of "Look at this massive thing he built" moments that feel way too similar to all the WWE-produced fluff pieces over the years. Yes, I can acknowledge that Vince McMahon is the single most important figure in pro wrestling history, but he's still a pretty rancid human being who's destroyed a lot of lives and has gotten way too many free passes. I don't care how much someone like The Undertaker thinks he owes Vince, I can't fathom anyone saying unironically, "I would take a bullet for that man." Maybe if Vince's father had just loved him unconditionally, he wouldn't have felt the need to squeeze love from everyone else.
I give Mr. McMahon ***1/2 out of *****.
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