'Mr. McMahon' probes the murky depths of a wrestling tycoon

There’s a recurring caution that runs throughout the NetFlix limited series, Mr. McMahon. Director Chris Smith does not belabor the point, but he makes sure viewers are reminded every once in a while that almost all of what we know about the life and career of wrestling mogul Vince McMahon has been carefully curated by McMahon himself.

Consequently, even in a supposed honest examination of the man who more or less invented the concept of “sports entertainment” for the 21st century, it would be wise to question everything.

Fortunately, Chris Smith is up to the task of teasing out various strata of truth. His breakthrough documentary, American Movie (1999), remains among the greatest and most revelatory movies of the 1990s. Smith has gone on to examine the nature of fact and fiction in other projects such as Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017) and Tiger King (2020). The blurring of the lines between façade and reality has been his primary area of interest.

You might learn more than you want to know on Netflix's Mr. McMahon

That being the case, the story of Vince McMahon must have been like catnip to the director. The six-part series does a deep dive into McMahon’s life. McMahon is a constant voice, sitting for interviews in an empty squared circle and speaking in a below-sea-level growl, he comes off as both arrogant and vulnerable. He denies obvious contradictions. He admits to humiliating defeats. All the while, that warning about authorship remains.

Journalist David Shoemaker reminds us in episode 5 that all we know about Vince McMahon comes from Vince McMahon.

It is through the other interview subjects – the people who have worked for and fought against the tycoon – that we begin to separate the fact from the fiction. Many of the WWE’s biggest stars give in-depth accounts of their time with McMahon.

Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) is a major presence in several episodes. A buttoned-down John Cena shows up at the end. Shawn Michaels, Mark Calaway (The Undertaker), and Anthony White (Tony Atlas) are all given an ample chance to weigh in.

The most interesting wrestler interviews come from Bret Hart, who may have more cause to despise McMahon and his business practices than anyone in the industry. Even Hart, who was humiliated in his native Canada in one of wrestling’s most notorious moments and who later lost his brother Owen when an in-ring stunt went horribly wrong, admits that as a businessman and showman, Vince McMahon has few equals.

He is the closest thing the world of entertainment has seen to PT Barnum in the past century.

Smith also gets rival promoters who have worked against McMahon – and ultimately worked for him. Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff are very smart wrestling veterans who have a love-hate relationship with McMahon. Heyman may tilt toward love, while Bischoff, who came close to driving McMahon out of the business in the ‘90s, may lean the other way. But both are in awe of McMahon’s single-minded desire to win.

The third piece of Smith’s interview groupings is the journalists like Shoemaker. Most notably, he has Dave Meltzer, the dean of pro wrestling journalists, and Sharon Mazer, whose 1998 book Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle helped make McMahon’s work a subject worthy of scholarly appraisal.

He also has Phil Mushnick, the firebrand from the New York Post who has been bludgeoning pro wrestling and Vince McMahon for decades. Though he does not appear as frequently as Meltzer or Shoemaker, Mushnick’s presence is crucial. It lends balance to the story.

Even though many of the subjects are highly critical of certain aspects of McMahon’s career, virtually all of them admit grudging respect for his accomplishments. Many of the wrestlers themselves claim that McMahon has served as a father figure.

Which brings us to the final piece of the story Smith tells. The WWE began as a family business (and also began as the WWF) and McMahon has involved his immediate family – wife Linda, son Shane, and daughter Stephanie – in a major way over the past several decades. Linda, the current Secretary of Education in Donald Trump’s cabinet, is heard from a little bit, but both kids are major players in the story.

Of course, there is a wealth of archival footage from matches and promos. Some of it is behind-the-scenes material that offers new light on certain topics. Hardcore fans may know a lot of the stories being told, but I suspect even they would find some new insight form time to time.

And through it all, you have to keep wondering how much of this continues to be a Vince McMahon creation. The six parts of the series, each approximately an hour long, are as follows:

Part 1, 'Jr."

Chronicles Vince’s early years through the early 1980s. McMahon buys the WWF from his father and turns it from a regional promotion into a national powerhouse. The birth of WrestleMania and Hulkamania. The crossover into other areas of entertainment like MTV. The John Stossel controversy.

Part 2, "Heat"

Hulkamania conquers the public. WWF spreads to network TV. The failed attempt to move from Hogan to the Ultimate Warrior and the triumph of WrestleMania III. Darkening clouds in the form of steroid scandals and the emergence of a legitimate rival close out the decade.

Part 3, "Screwjob"

McMahon survives a major legal scare but is confronted by a new landscape in the 1990s. A rival promotion, the WCW, begins poaching talent and presenting more adult-oriented storylines. They dominate the Monday night wars of the mid-1990s.

Culminates with the Montreal Screwjob, famous in wrestling lore as both a low point and a turning point for McMahon and the WWE.

Part 4, "Attitude"

McMahon comes roaring back to life with the most creative period in his company’s history. The Attitude Era, highlighted by Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, takes wrestling to new heights while bursting through many of the industry’s previously sacred rules.

Violence becomes more graphic and extreme. Misogyny becomes overt. Tony Atlas sums up perfectly, “There used to be good guys and bad guys. Now, there are bad and worse.”

Part 5, "Family Business"

Focuses on Linda, Shane, and Stephanie and the development of the evil “Mr. McMahon” character. The WWE crushes the challenge from WCW and buys them out. But the absence of a rival seems to weaken the product and McMahon begins looking for new worlds to conquer, including professional football.

Most of the expansions into other forms of popular entertainment fail. Austin and the Rock depart and new stars are required. The birth of the Ruthless Aggression era was headlined by John Cena.

Part 6, "The Finish"

Mr. McMahon becomes less of a presence as new stars are promoted. The Chris Benoit tragedy rocks the entire industry and opens a door to brain trauma in wrestling. Women emerge from the Attitude Era as more viable performers. Ultimately, new allegations against McMahon forced his retirement during the production of the series.

That last bit may have robbed Mr. McMahon of a coherent ending. Production wrapped with his story, and his legacy is still unresolved.

Though Smith gets plenty of authority speaking on camera, he does not have the likes of promoter Jim Cornette or announcer/executive Jim Ross. Their participation in the popular Dark Side of the Ring series may have prevented them from contributing to Smith’s project. That Canadian series is an excellent watch for wrestling fans, diving into some of the industry’s most notorious chapters.

Mr. McMahon certainly doesn’t avoid such stories. But like its subject matter, it is interested in appealing to a wider audience. Vince McMahon was a master at blurring the line between fantasy and reality in the products he sold.

His grandest creation, as is true of all moguls, was himself. Chris Smith does a fine job of beginning to unravel the mystery in an entertaining series, but he never reaches the center. The subject – be it the Dr. Jekyll-like Vince McMahon or the Mr. Hyde-like Mr. McMahon – still controls the narrative.