By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
The following are the notes I am taking while watching each episode of the six-part “Mr. McMahon” documentary that is available for streaming on Netflix.
-Paul Heyman opened the episode by saying that the great success enjoyed of Vince McMahon, was driven by the overcompensatory behavior, rebelling against the first 12 miserable years of his life. Heyman said Vince escaping the abuse has been his life pursuit in creating an atmosphere in which he is untouchable and invulnerable to outside forces and in control of his own destiny.
-David Shoemaker said what we know of Vince’s childhood has only come from Vince himself. Shoemaker recalled Vince bringing up in a Playboy interview years ago that he suffered physical abuse from his stepfather while also implying that he was the victim of sexual abuse from his mother.
-Vince said he’s not afraid to look back. He said his childhood was difficult. He said there was fighting, infighting, and incest. Vince said once you get the crap beat out of you as a child and you’re still breathing, you win. Vince said he believes in getting rid of anything that bad happens to you. “Go the f— out there and go forward,” Vince said.
-Shane McMahon spoke about soaking it all in when he was younger. He recalled taking wrestler jackets to the back and being a referee while earning his stripes. Shane said he loved becoming an on-air character and said it was something he wanted to do since he was very little.
-Stephanie said growing up, some people loved her because of who her father was while other people would not give her the time of day because of who her father was.
-Paul Levesque said he pitched the idea of interrupting Stephanie’s wedding and revealing that he and Stephanie were married in a drive-thru wedding in Las Vegas while she was inebriated. Levesque recalled the fans chanting “slut” at Stephanie. He said Vince made the money sign with his hand in response.
-Stephanie said she looks back and can’t believe some of the stuff she did. She conceded that it was “sometimes a little weird” that her father was the person having her do some of the things she did as an on-air character.
-Levesque recalled being with Stephanie every day during the on-air McMahon-Helmsley storyline and that’s how they got to know each other. Vince said Levesque is a wonderful human being and they were friends. Vince recalled Shane being against the relationship. Vince said Shane asked if he was going to let his daughter date a wrestler. Vince said that’s who he was as well.
-Vince and Levesque recalled Vince pitching the idea of holding the actual wedding on pay-per-view, but Stephanie said absolutely not. Vince had Stephanie wrestle on television six days before their wedding. Stephanie said her mother threatened to divorce Vince on the spot if Stephanie suffered a black eye or broke her ankle.
-Sadly, there was no wedding footage of a drunken Michael Hayes singing at the wedding.
-The Vince and Linda relationship was chronicled. Vince said Linda was 17 when they were married. He said he promised that he would always love her and there would never be a dull moment.
-Stephanie said Linda never wanted to be on television and said she wasn’t a good actress. Linda said she’s not nearly as good at it as Vince, Stephanie, or Shane.
-Trish Stratus spoke of getting into the business via fitness modeling. She said she was a fan. She also said the role of women at the time was overtly sexual.
-Vince smiled while recalling that he kissed Trish in front of his wife, who was in a wheelchair during an angle on Smackdown. Trish said Linda was “super cool” about it and said they were all in on it. Linda said you must evoke emotion.
-Vince said he didn’t think the family had an objection to his on-air relationship with Trish. Vince said they were characters. Shane said he didn’t really care for it. Vince said Shane is a bit more conservative than the rest of the family. Vince said it was characters entertaining in a storyline.
-Trish said people still bring up Vince’s character making her get down on all fours and bark like a dog. Trish said they wanted the fans to feel the emotion they felt. Author Sharon Mazer said that while Vince was doing a performance and getting everyone to hate him, he was giving the fans a titty show. Dave Meltzer said he thought the segment sucked, but the show was geared to guys. Trish said they knew when they did the scene that the comeuppance would come at WrestleMania.
-Vince and Shane spoke about their first match at WrestleMania. Shane recalled wrestling his father when he was younger. Shane recalled Vince grabbing his hair and pulling back. Shane accused him of cheating. Vince told him that’s what he does in life. Vince said he cheats and he wins, and Shane needed to learn that lesson.
-During the match, Vince said Shane didn’t want to hit him, so he hit Shane several times and then it wasn’t a problem for Shane. Trish recalled slapping Vince during the match. Trish said Vince told her not to pull back and she did not.
-USA Network Bonnie Hammer said Vince was a master at blurring storylines. Hammer said he would twist something that started out as a piece of reality and then he would take it step by step so that viewers didn’t know what to believe or not to believe.
-Sable’s departure and sexual harassment lawsuit against the company was acknowledge. Vince said he didn’t remember much about the lawsuit and claimed it was kind of a blur. “All I know is she came back to work, so…”
-Footage aired of Sable’s return to the company and the on-air romance with Vince.
-Vince admitted that he remembered doing the 2001 Playboy interview and admitting to having affairs. Vince said he wasn’t playing a character then and he was very straight forward and honest. The interviewer asked if Vince was incorporating things from his life and inserting them into storylines. Vince said they were unrelated.
-Paul Heyman said Vince’s only monogamous relationship in his life is the business that he belt. Heyman said Vince doesn’t own the business, the business owns Vince. Heyman said Vince has super served it with his heart and his life. Heyman said if it hurts members of Vince’s family, those people be damned.
-Vince spoke briefly about taking the company public. He said it would allow them to go into the casino and restaurant business.
-Former WWE creative team member Brian Gewritz said WWE took control of the Monday Night Wars by 2000 and they used to laugh at WCW programming. Bruce Prichard said it felt like WCW wasn’t even trying. Booker T said you can’t win a war if you don’t have the right people making the decisions in the war room.
-WCW’s downfall and the company being acquired by WWE was covered. Gewirtz said they had a celebration on the flight after the sale. Prichard said it was insanity on the flight, but it was business as usual the next day. Eric Bischoff said he couldn’t bring himself to watch the Raw/Nitro simulcast. Vince said he expected to win. Gewirtz said it was bittersweet because Vince thrives on competition.
-Vince launching The XFL was up next. Vince said the ratings for the first week were huge and he thought it was a success. Gewirtz said everyone wanted to see it, but when they actually saw it the quality of play was bad.
-Bob Costas said he was bothered by the WWE sensibility that bothered him about the league. Costas admitted people think he’s a bit buttoned up about these things, but he wouldn’t have cared if there was some level of art to it, but it had none. Costas said the league was a disaster and pointed to the ratings collapse.
-Costas and Vince spoke about their HBO Sports interview. McMahon said he thought it was going to be a friendly interview. “Bob did his job,” Vince said. “He got me.” Vince said he was visualizing what it would be like if he had his hands around Costas’s neck. Vince said he was angry because he was set up.
-Vince losing the WWF name due to the World Wildlife Fund was addressed. Vince conceded that he didn’t want to give up the name. He said he’s had many failures and he doesn’t dwell on those and moves forward.
-Rock said he was approached about Hulk Hogan returning and his reaction was, “I f—ing love it.” Vince said there were times he wished he could choke Hogan over the years, but it’s about what the audience wants. Vince said you swallow your pride and bring him back.
-Rock spoke about his match with Hogan at WrestleMania and said he had goosebumps all over his body just thinking about it. Gewirtz, who today works for Rock’s Seven Bucks Productions, spoke about how Hogan and Rock looking side to side before locking up was not rehearsed and credited it to the two legends doing their thing. Rock said they didn’t change the finish to the match and he went over, but Hogan was the real winner that night.
-Vince’s ability to let go of past grudges for the good of doing business was touched on. Clips aired of Hulk Hogan returning and Eric Bischoff going to work for WWE were shown.
-The departures of Steve Austin and The Rock. They pivoted to “Ruthless Aggression” and the start of the John Cena era. Cena made his first appearance in the documentary as an interview subject.
-Cena recalled how he “shredded everybody” on a WWE tour bus when it came to rapping. Cena said he didn’t know Stephanie was on the bus and that led to him rapping as part of his character. Vince said Cena went balls to the wall and the audience loved him. Cena said when the audience starts to react to you, that’s when you garner Vince’s attention and that’s when their relationship picked up.
-Levesque was asked if there were ever times when they read a scrip and thought they went too far. Levesque said yes. Trish recalled getting a script that called for her to make out with another woman. Trish wondered whether it was a coincidence that she lost the title after she rejected that pitch. She said maybe and laughed.
-Vince recalled one of his storyline ideas was that Stephanie would get pregnant. Vince said he thinks his idea was that he was the person who impregnated her. Vince said that one didn’t make it.
-Stephanie said she calls her father Vince in business and Dad at home.
-Gewirtz said Vince had Stephanie and Shane do a number of different jobs in the company and was tough on them. Vince also said he was tough on his children. Stephanie said Vince was easier on her than he was on Shane, but she also didn’t challenge Vince like Shane did.
-Bonnie Hammer said she never understood where things stood with Shane in that sometimes he was embraced and other times he was not. She said she felt there was a bit of a black sheep thing at play.
-Shane recalled telling his father that they should purchase UFC when the company was in financial peril. Vince said he didn’t like the business model. Vince said they create characters in WWE and can use them forever, whereas UFC careers end. Shane said Vince passed on the opportunity to buy UFC. Shane said hindsight is 20/20, but it would have been a great investment. Vince said Shane only had a little bit of money and UFC required a huge investment, so it would not have worked if Shane had tried to acquire it.
-Paul Heyman recalled things escalating between Vince and Shane. He said Shane had an idea that he really believed in. Heyman recalled Vince telling Shane not while he was alive. Heyman said Vince handed Shane a knife and told him that if he wanted it so bad, he should stick the dagger in his chest because that’s what he needed to do to make that decision. Heyman said Vince told Shane that if he wasn’t man enough to do it, then he would have to take that into consideration. Heyman recalled Vince saying Shane could buy him out and try to get rid of him the way he would have had to have gotten rid of his own father.
-Vince said Shane left the company because he wanted to take his chair and thought it was time for Vince to leave. Vince said they grew apart. Shane said they weren’t seeing eye to eye, but Vince is the boss. Shane said he could watch the company implode or step away, so he stepped away. He said he gave his father a hug and that was it. Vince said family members don’t quite have the vision of someone who grew the business. Vince said he would advise anyone to not bring family into business because eventually it will implode.
-The episode closed with headlines regarding the scandal that ended Vince’s run with the company. A graphic noted that Sable settled her lawsuit with WWE in 1999.
-This episode was really all over the place. The family dynamic was interesting even though they went pretty surface level on the Vince and Shane split. Heyman’s knife story was wild.
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