WWE’s Vince McMahon pile drives up but shocking streak needed to go further

when it starts, Mr. McMahon is a perverse love story to WWE founder Vince McMahon, one of the most controversial figures in entertainment. Quickly, the story changes, as allegations of sexual misconduct emerge, which offers a stark realization of the clear agenda of the mini-series to show “the real Vince McMahon”. This was always a difficult prospect, and McMahon’s early refusal to say “The real stories“Watching yourself doesn’t exactly set your own agenda.

To understand Vince McMahon, and to understand the difficulties of Mr. McMahon As an extension, you must understand that wrestling requires “marks”, the industry equivalent to “robes” in the parlance of carnival workers. McMahon’s empire was built on the art of the con, selling the deception and magic of professional wrestling to “marques” who would fall for the heavily monetized Russians. Mr. McMahonHis promise was always to peel back the layers, but the documentary started from a losing position. It wasn’t a story that wanted to be told.

The allegations and the removal of McMahon from WWE actually worked well in Mr. McMahonIt’s a favor. Tiger King Director Chris Smith is effectively given access to talent and footage that would never be signed for a guerrilla documentary telling the same story. Because of the shift in narrative, and the presumed agenda, Mr. McMahon Worth a Capture the peacekeepers-style film about making the documentary as his intention was flipped upside down. I wish it could go further.

mr. McMahon is a glossy, impressively made documentary series

The director of Tiger King knows how to make good-looking documentaries

It is absolutely a well made documentary, from Ringer Films and Bill Simmons, Made with glossy production values, and with a huge pool of available talent, But at times it feels too much like it was made by WWE films. That said, while some of this insight will be familiar to most wrestling fans, there are more thick lore drops from early in WWE’s past – clips from McMahon’s time on Letterman Or his talk show Tuesday Night Titans.

Is that enough to fight against the fact that most people will have already made up their minds about Mr. McMahon Before they watch it, either way? In episode 1, it doesn’t feel like that, because it seems like it’s going to be a glossy but well-choreographed story of WWE that occasionally pulls focus on McMahon.

But the tone shifts dramatically in episode 2, Which focuses more on a catalog of controversies and legal issues for the company. Set against the way McMahon presents himself – as well as some of the talking heads that celebrate him, you get a real insight into the art of the con.

As Mr McMahon delivers on his own agenda of truth

Facts are fluid and the boundaries between fact and fiction are not entirely clear

Mr. McMahons cut from the denial about breaking the investigation into Vince McMahon saying to him “I wish I could tell you the true stories, holy shit!“and then”I don’t want anyone to know the real me!“Is One of the most incredible pieces of documentary film made I have ever seen. The documentary does a good job of showing the dark side of wrestling – though not to the level of Vice’s excellent Dark side of the ring series – and it’s very obvious why McMahon objected to it.

Inevitably, McMahon claims the documentary is misleading. In a statement released immediately before the release, he claimed that the juxtaposition of his real life and his WWE character “Mr. McMahon” is a misrepresentation, and he asked viewers to watch with an open mind. The problem with this, of course, is that there are many more controversies associated with McMahon than the one that broke out during production, which the documentary shows in great detail. This makes for the unique situation of both an unreliable narrator and potentially biased viewers (on either “side”):

“A lot has been misrepresented or left out in an effort to leave viewers deliberately confused. The producers use typical editing tricks with out-of-context footage and dated soundbites etc. to distort the viewers’ perception and support a misleading narrative. In an attempt To further their misleading account, the producers use a lawsuit based on an affair I completed as evidence that I am, in fact, ‘Mr. McMahon.’ I hope the viewer will keep an open mind and remember that there are two sides to every story.”

What’s fascinating is Mr. McMahon Shows McMahon’s version of ​​the story of his rise to become the most powerful man in WWE, while He avoids acknowledging or apologizing for some of the dark things done in the name of this promotion. He celebrates the ticket sales, the cultural impact, and his own star-making power, as the filmmakers wrestle the narrative back whenever possible.

This sometimes means that stunning reveals—the exploits of Andre the Giant, wrestlers injuring themselves, the embrace of racism to inspire storytelling—are stated with blunt matter-of-fact simplicity, and then we move on. And at times, McMahon’s statements and defenses of certain events are jaw-dropping (as well as enraged when he claims not to remember key things to defend himself).

Mr. McMahon’s biggest failure is Vince McMahon himself

The real Vince McMahon? Not exactly

It’s jarring how much time is devoted to the general history of WWE, but the promise here – especially for wrestling fans – is Vince’s perspective, which hasn’t really been captured before. Unfortunately, this is a very difficult task. McMahon may claim his image is misrepresented, however It’s amazing how many times he’s faced with allegations or controversies, and his perspective is just a dismissive or “that’s just the way it was” attitude.

Son Shane McMahon says it best: “I think my dad gets the rap he wants.“It’s clear that McMahon saw this as an opportunity to present the story he wanted to be told, crafted from the gorilla’s position. As such, he is ridiculous, as Smith offers a more realistic perspective than other participants in the film. But There is too little focus on exploring the half-truths and lies, or analyzing in the anatomical detail all wrestling fans will crave in a similar way. Tiger KingWho became too invested in giving Joe Exotic the platform to build and dismantle his own brand on his own.

For an outsider, this is a good documentary and a powerful story of WWE’s rise and some of its darkest days in broad strokes. However, most wrestling fans know all the details, and Actually, because Vince’s true feelings would have been solid gold. In the end, we don’t get it, and his rebuttal statement is the icing on this particularly disappointing cake. It’s a perverse amusement to be in it saying things that someone else immediately debunks, though.

Are we really getting a sense of where “Mr. McMahon” ends and Vince McMahon begins? Isn’t that the point? If it was, the answer is a resounding no: but you can’t avoid the fact that McMahon is coming off incredibly weak. If you knew that, again, there is nothing new, but for the uninitiated, you will get the interesting feeling of the portrait of a monster that seems to pull his punches a little too much.

Mr. McMahon packs in a carnival of talent

McMahon’s allies, employees and some dissenters headline the case

The talking head element will be great for wrestling fans because of the big names brought in to talk about it, but there are precious few dissenting voices. Bret Hart feels like the one exception early on, as a troop of people benefiting from McMahon’s WWE tenure celebrate his achievements, while Dismissing the more unfortunate elements of his story as “part of the business”. Like Donald Trump film The Apprentice Ready for release, I am struck by the parallels of these two strong friends.

There are some scenes that WWE and its legends will probably look back on with regret — or so you’d hope (unless they’re claiming misrepresentation, of course. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s comments on CTEs are terrible; Hulk Hogan’s interviews are sycophantic; Stephanie McMahon also does not come out well The whole industry is incredibly fragile, and there is a real sense of closing ranks and offering only what is necessaryWithout being too incriminating.

You want them to be grilled more aggressively, but the documentary chooses not to have an advocate for the audience or the truth actively asking the questions. When Vince McMahon dismisses Chris Benoit’s murder of his wife and child, with the looming specter of CTE over the entire horrific event, he offers no more than “Chris was nuts, and that’s the only thing to take away from him” And it’s hard to resist screaming for some challenge.

Dave Meltzer, prominent wrestling journalist, and Phil Mushnick, a New York Post writer probably come the best. They act as a sort of fact-checking line, edited fatally close to other talking heads telling obvious half-truths. They give them the shovel to bury themselves, and some do it quite violently by themselves. When Jimmy Hart says he’s careful because he doesn’t knowWhat they want out there“, you get a sense of the problem.

Final thoughts on Mr. McMahon and a note on the future

Mr. McMahon is a shocking documentary for Netflix to release ahead of their big money deal with WWE Bring “the product” to the platform in 2025, but this is a smart confirmation at the same time. What better way to remind everyone how different the dark past was to their era of wrestling than to expose the skeletons in the closet, after all?

I honestly do not believe many people will come out of Mr. McMahon With a different opinion from Vince McMahon. HThis perspective offers nothing more than the feeling that he is working the audience again; That he builds his brand of character – or cleans it – under the pretense of a tell-all. This means that anyone who knows the harsh truths of wrestling’s past is not going to win much.

on the other hand, The general audience that Netflix is ​​courting here is an entirely different matter. For them, the added perspective that McMahon does not Suggestion, and what comes from the contextualizing voices in particular, can be deeply affecting. McMahon has controlled his story for so long that seeing it laid out — even in this form with some pulled punches — offers a lot of value. Just revealing how great this con job has always been Mr. McMahon A familiar watch.