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.
-The Wendi Richter screwjob opened the episode. Richter said it was a painful night and her dreams were completely shattered. She said she was humiliated. Vince said life isn’t fair sometimes and he doesn’t fight fair. Richter said Vince is a businessman. Vince recalled Richter coming backstage, looking at him, bowing her head, and walking out. Vince said it wasn’t personal for him. He said there’s nothing he wouldn’t do for “our business.”
-Hulk Hogan said he told the truth during Vince’s steroids trial when he said Vince never sold him steroids or told him to take steroids. Vince said Hogan was crafty in terms of giving the government what they wanted but not what they really wanted. Bret said it was common sense that all of the main event guys were on steroids, but he said he never saw Vince tell him or anyone else to take steroids.
-Vince recalled when they were about to read the verdict, he thought, “Holy shit, that’s the moment you’ll never forget.” Vince said his life was about to change. Vince was found not guilty, but Dave Meltzer disputed Linda McMahon’s claim that it proved they didn’t have a steroids problem in the WWF. Vince said he didn’t learn anything other than that some people in the federal government suck.
-The focus shifted to the war with WCW. There was a lot of focus on the Huckster and Nacho Man skits that also spoofed Ted Turner. Eric Bischoff recalled showing the skits to Turner, who thought they were hilarious. There was a brief clip of Turner laughing while watching one of the skits. Vince McMahon said former USA Network executive Kay Koplovitz was friends with Turner and made them stop. Koplovitz was shown saying she found the spoofs to be distasteful and felt they were friendly competitors with Turner.
-Bruce Prichard said he wished they had been above doing the skits. Prichard said he figured out that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were leaving the company because they were asked to take part in the skits and declined to do so.
-Paul “Triple H” Levesque and Shawn Michaels made their first appearances while talking about being in The Kliq with Hall and Nash. Michaels spoke with Vince about doing some type of tribute to Hall and Nash on their final night at Madison Square Garden. Vince agreed to do something. Prichard said it was sacrilegious to an old-timer to have in-ring rivals act like the show is over and all is good.
-Stephanie McMahon said she was at MSG that night thought it was cool, yet she also knew how upset her father would be.
-Cody Rhodes said it was cool to anyone his age, but it was the cardinal sin to the older generation of wrestlers.
-Undertaker said he wasn’t there, but he didn’t like it. Bret Hart said they killed wrestling that day by pulling back the curtain. Various people spoke about kayfabe and Undertaker mentioned that he worked hard to protect the business and his character.
-Levesque said it was becoming an antiquated thing and everyone knew. Levesque brought up newsletters and said there was a lot of innuendo. Michaels said he has no idea what kayfabe was still so important. He said that was their point and that everyone knew. Michaels said it was an innocent act that became a controversy.
-Vince said he let it happen, but there were repercussions. Levesque said he had to pay the price because Michaels was champion and Hall and Nash were gone. Levseque recalled having a King of the Ring win for him. Levesque said the Curtain Call received the pop of the night. He recalled telling Vince that the world was changing and they needed to change with it. Vince said yeah, but not right now. Vince told him that he had to do something, so Levesque would have to eat shit and like the taste of it.
-The Outsiders arriving in WCW and the lawsuit that followed was chronicled. “Stealing is in the eye of the beholder, isn’t it?” Bischoff asked. Bischoff mocked Vince for complaining about WCW raiding the WWF talent roster, and correctly pointed out that Vince did the same thing to the territories.
-Vince was asked if he saw any similarities to what WCW did to what he did to the territories. Vince said Turner’s philosophy was to hurt his competitor, whereas he wanted to compete. Vince said some might think it’s hypocritical for him to say that he doesn’t hurt others, he just does what’s best for him, yet when others come after him he doesn’t think they have the right to do it. Vince said what he says at times is totally different than he thinks. He said as a businessman, you have to put things out there that are not the way you feel, but it controls thought process by doing that. Well, then…
-Hulk Hogan’s heel turn and the launch of the NWO was detailed. Cody Rhodes said the turn may have been a case of there being too much heat. Vince said Hogan did the turn really well. Hogan reminded viewers that he played a heel before his Hulkamania run, so it wasn’t his first rodeo.
-Vince was asked if he regretted not hiring Eric Bischoff as an announcer. Vince said he doesn’t regret anything in his life. He said everything they were doing in WCW was basically a WWF creation.
-Bret Hart re-signing with the company and then being told by Vince that he couldn’t afford it. Shane said Vince tried to help Bret have leverage with WCW, then said all he had to do was do business the right way by dropping the WWF Title to Shawn Michaels.
-Shawn Michaels said he didn’t think Bret had a problem losing the match, it was that he didn’t want to lose to him. Bret said Shawn was “a real dick” at that time.
-Shawn got emotional while talking about his relationship with Vince. He said he’s spent more time with Vince than his own father. Michaels said he was in a bad place for a number of years and Vince put up with it, so he gave him his loyalty. Shawn said Vince didn’t want Bret didn’t leave Montreal as the champion, so he did his part in making sure that didn’t happen.
-The usual Montreal Screwjob story was recapped. Undertaker said Vince did what he had to do for business. Vince said he didn’t regret any of it. Prichard said it all led to the Mr. McMahon character. It concluded with classic footage of Vince saying that the screwjob would not be the final nail in the company, they were just getting started.
-This episode was a sprint through the beginning of the Monday Night Wars and the screwjobs involving Wendi Richter and Bret Hart. So much of this has been covered ad nauseam in the pro wrestling world, but it has to be recapped again given that the documentary was made with the larger mainstream audience in mind. Even so, there are just too many stories that are getting surface level coverage at best.
Be the first to comment