Netflix released a six-part docuseries on WWE co-founder Vince McMahon this week. The series tracks his life and role within the wrestling promotion, including his successes, failures and scandals — including the lawsuit he currently faces alleging sexual harassment, abuse and trafficking.
The series has been in the works since 2019 and was close to completion in 2022, but it had to pivot and expand when the Wall Street Journal reported that McMahon had paid out $12 million in settlements to four women. That led to two more episodes being added to what had been planned as a four-part series.
McMahon attempted to purchase the documentary after getting worried about some of the footage, Puck’s Matt Belloni reported this week, but Netflix declined to sell the project. McMahon also requested that his longtime ally and then-associate in TKO Group, Ari Emanuel, share his concern about the WWE impresario’s portrayal in the docuseries, according to Puck.
Despite the controversy, Netflix cut a deal earlier this year to air programming from the Vince-less WWE beginning this coming January. While some of the stories in the show were known to wrestling fans, there were still new reveals in the “Mr. McMahon” docuseries and deeper insights from those directly involved.
Here are the biggest takeaways from “Mr. McMahon”:
Vince McMahon canceled his final interviews after $12 million in affair payoffs became public
The “Mr. McMahon” docuseries was first announced publicly in 2020, with most of the interviews for the series being completed by 2022. However, once the reports of McMahon paying $12 million in settlements to four women went public, McMahon canceled his final interviews for the series and ultimately declined to re-engage with the production.
McMahon publicly criticized the docuseries ahead of its release, while noting he had not seen the entire series. He accused the production of using editing tricks and out-of-context quotes to create a worse impression of him than reality.
He also accused the production of mixing up the real Vince McMahon with the “Mr. McMahon” character. In the series itself, while Vince makes the same claim, multiple other interview subjects note that there is little difference between the two. Those stating that Vince is essentially the same as his character include Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and others.
Vince McMahon’s dad planned to sell the company to Gorilla Monsoon, not Vince
While Vince McMahon bought the promotion that became WWE from his father, he revealed that Gorilla Monsoon would have been allowed to purchase the company and run it after Vince Senior retired. While McMahon has previously tried to push the potential dangers around purchasing the company and the chance it could fail, his wife Linda states in the documentary that they used the company’s profits to pay off the shareholders, pointing out that there was far less risk of defaulting and having to return the company to Vince Senior than the younger McMahon has at times led the public to believe.
Hulk Hogan admitted to helping McMahon stomp out Jesse Ventura unionizing wrestlers
A labor union has never developed in pro wrestling, with changes in the industry making it less likely to happen now than in the past. Jesse Ventura, at the time a WWE star, tried to organize wrestlers in the 1980s — but Hulk Hogan went straight to Vince McMahon and informed him, helping McMahon to quickly kill the effort.
Hogan has previously denied informing McMahon for nearly 40 years, despite Ventura repeatedly voicing his suspicions that Hogan was the one who told McMahon about the unionization plans. Ventura had suggested to other wrestlers that they should threaten to walk out ahead of WrestleMania 2, but McMahon managed to break the unionization efforts by threatening to fire anyone involved once he was tipped off by Hogan.
WWE TV would have been canceled if McMahon was found guilty in ’90s steroid distribution trial
Kay Koplovitz, former CEO of USA Network, said publicly for the first time in this series that if Vince McMahon had been found guilty in his 1994 steroid distribution trial, the plan was to remove WWE programming from the air.
While WWE could have survived such a move, it would have drastically rewritten the history of the professional wrestling industry shortly before the rise of stars such as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Wrestlers interviewed for the documentary noted that while McMahon never told them to take steroids, the message was clear from looking at who was promoted — and McMahon would certainly advise performers at times to work out harder, which was seen as code for doing whatever it takes to develop a bigger body.
Hulk Hogan got immunity in federal steroid trial, then flipped and testified in support of McMahon
Hogan notes that he faced up to 17 years in prison for being involved in distributing steroids. However, while indicating to the federal government that he would testify as a federal witness in return for immunity, he took the stand and delivered testimony that fully exonerated McMahon — after he’d signed his immunity deal. McMahon also wore a neck brace during the trial after receiving surgery shortly beforehand, with many suspecting that it wasn’t needed at the time and that he was doing so in order to get sympathy in court.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin doesn’t believe in the long-term effects of CTE brain damage
Scientists have discovered that repeated trauma to the head can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE — a neurodegenerative disease. Neuroscientist and former pro wrestler Chris Nowinski lays out the effects in the docuseries, but one person who doesn’t believe in the science here is Steve Austin.
Austin said he’s only received one concussion throughout his long career and that he doesn’t believe in CTE. The issue was raised in the documentary in connection with pro wrestler Chris Benoit, who killed his wife, his son and himself after a career that appeared to be filled with numerous head injuries.
McMahon himself also said he didn’t believe CTE had led to Benoit’s actions, while Nowinski noted that Benoit’s brain had been studied after his death and Nowinski had personally seen the scans showing the existence in his brain of CTE.
Tony Atlas says WWE executive Pat Patterson used to try grabbing his penis
One of the many transgressions covered in the docuseries is the “ring boy” scandal of the early 1990s, in which multiple WWE employees allegedly sexually harassed underage staff who were hired to help set up the wrestling rings in different venues. Ring announcer Mel Phillips and former wrestlers Terry Garvin and Pat Patterson were all implicated, but McMahon insisted Patterson was innocent and he was brought back to the company after initially resigning.
But in the docuseries, his innocence is called into question by former wrestler Tony Atlas, who states that Patterson was always trying to grab his “pecker.” When asked why he didn’t report it, Atlas explained that Patterson was the promotion’s booker and that doing so would have likely led to Atlas being fired.
Shane McMahon resents Vince refusing to buy UFC
WWE and UFC eventually merged under Endeavor’s Ari Emanuel, forming TKO Group. But UFC wasn’t always so big, and when it was at a low point in its history, Shane McMahon went to Vince with the idea of purchasing the company. Vince didn’t like the idea of buying into a business where instead of creating characters and stars, they were subject to the realities of not being able to control who wins and fighters choosing to retire.
Vince seems to express doubt that UFC would have been a success under Shane, implying a lack of faith in his son’s business acumen. While not discussed in the docuseries, it has previously been reported that Shane tried pushing his father out in order to take over WWE at one point, but was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to Shane himself being pushed out.
Paul Heyman noted in an interview witnessing Vince once telling Shane when they disagreed about business that Shane’s idea wouldn’t happen as long as Vince was alive, at which point Vince took a knife and handed it to Shane, telling him to stab him in the heart if he wanted it to happen — and that if Shane didn’t do so, he’d also have to take that into consideration as he’d then know than Shane wasn’t man enough to do it.
Stephanie McMahon refused to do an incest pregnancy storyline with her dad
Vince’s daughter Stephanie McMahon participated in some wild storylines over the years, but one that she refused to do: getting pregnant and having it revealed that Vince was the baby’s father.
Stephanie became a TV character in the late 1990s during the company’s “Attitude Era.” Her first huge storyline involved her being about to marry wrestler Test, when it was revealed in a storyline that Paul “Triple H” Levesque drugged her, had already married her and raped her. While Stephanie went along with that storyline — and the time it led to her spending around Levesque ultimately led to them falling in love and getting married in real life — having her dad get her character pregnant was a step too far.
Stephanie also turned down Vince’s idea of her real-life wedding to Triple H being put on pay-per-view. The docuseries notes that Vince booked himself in a match against Stephanie just six days before the wedding and that his wife Linda threatened to divorce him if she ended up getting a black eye during that match.
Brock Lesnar was offered sexual favors with Vince’s mistress as part of a deal to come back to WWE
McMahon currently faces a lawsuit from Janel Grant for sexual harassment, abuse and trafficking. Among the allegations in the suit and reported out by the Wall Street Journal is that a WWE wrestler who also wrestled for UFC — which, given the other details available, could only be Brock Lesnar — was offered sexual favors with Grant by McMahon as part of an agreement to return to WWE. Lesnar has never commented on the allegations.
Rena Mero, also known as the wrestling character Sable, previously sued WWE for $110 million in a sexual harassment suit before settling and later coming back to the company. McMahon himself stated that he didn’t remember much about the suit when asked about it in the docuseries. Mero would later marry Lesnar.
McMahon is also currently under federal investigation. The suit was put on hold at the request of the Justice Department as it conducts its own investigation into McMahon’s alleged activities.
Among other allegations in the suit are that Vince hired Grant as a WWE employee at a salary of $100,000 per year, then doubled that to $200,000 per year in return for continued sexual favors. Grant’s suit includes text messages with Vince that seem to verify many of her claims. The explicit suit states that McMahon trafficked her, forced her to have three-way sex with another WWE executive against her will and that McMahon defecated on her face as part of their sexual activities.
While Grant and McMahon agreed on a settlement, both sides believe that it was violated — McMahon stopped paying Grant after the Wall Street Journal broke and indicated that he believed she was one of the sources for the story. Grant went public with her claims after McMahon stopped payment on their nondisclosure agreement.
McMahon says his relationship with a female referee was consensual — but that even if it wasn’t, the statute of limitations passed
The company’s first female referee, Rita Chatterton, accused Vince McMahon of raping her. McMahon said in the docuseries that it was consensual — but that even if it wasn’t, the statute of limitations had expired by the time she came forward.
His interviews were conducted before New York opened a one-year period where sexual abuse victims could come forward. Chatterton did so and received a seven-figure settlement in 2023.
Beyond the settlements noted above, the sexual allegations in the docuseries include that the company covered up the rape of wrestler Ashley Massaro while they were on a tour of military bases in Iraq, as well as that McMahon had attempted to force Massaro to perform sexual favors for McMahon and that she was put in humiliating storylines when she refused. Massaro died by suicide in 2019 at 39 years old.
The only time Vince’s dad told him he was proud was after McMahon raided other promoters’ companies and stole their talent
The entire wrestling industry was long built on a territorial system with different promoters overseeing different parts of the country, but Vince McMahon led the charge in upending that tradition by hiring the biggest stars from many of the rival leagues and then running shows in those territories.
Vince says in the docuseries that as his dad was on his death bed, his father said of the other major promoters, “F–k ’em. I’m proud of you.” McMahon described that as the biggest moment of his life and noted how his father, who he didn’t grow up with, had never expressed that pride in him before.
“Mr. McMahon” is available to watch now on Netflix.
